Nintendo apologises as Switch 2 price increase announced
Tom RichardsonBBC Newsbeat
Nintendo
The price of Nintendo’s Switch 2 will increase globally from September, the company has announced.
It said the console would rise from $449.99 to $499.99 in the US, and €469.99 to €499.99 in most European countries.
Nintendo told BBC Newsbeat a revised price for the UK – where a Switch 2 currently costs £395.99 – would be confirmed at a later date.
The company “sincerely apologised” for the impact on customers and said “changes in market conditions” had contributed to the decision.
Nintendo also announced price changes in Japan – where it’s based – would take effect later this month.
A special Japanese-language version of the Switch 2 and all versions of the original Switch console are set to increase there from 25 May.
“We sincerely apologise for the impact these price revisions may have on our customers and other stakeholders, and we deeply appreciate your understanding,” Nintendo said.
The company also revealed it has sold almost 20 million Switch 2 consoles since its release last June, and made 424.0 billion yen ($2.7bn; £2bn) profit – an increase of 52% over the previous year.
Why have prices increased?
Random access memory (Ram) and storage – two essential components used to build consoles – have shot up in price recently.
They are also used to build artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, and huge demand from those has caused a shortage and driven up costs.
Nintendo also faced pressure from US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans announced around the console’s release, and analysts have suggested uncertainty caused by the war in Iran could have an affect on supply chains.
When Sony announced it was raising the price of its PlayStation 5 by £90 in the UK and $100 in the US, it blamed “continued pressures in the global economic landscape”.
