On Wednesday, Nintendo announced that the Nintendo Switch 2 would go on pre-order in the United States on April 9th, 2025 with initial unit availability beginning on June 5th. Unfortunately, the video game company had to backtrack a little bit on its pre-order plans in the United States, directly because of tariff changes imposed by the government’s current administration, the BBC reports.
“Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” the company said.
From what we can gather, Nintendo no longer plans to offer the Nintendo Switch 2 for pre-order on April 9th in the United States, leaving uncertainty as to when U.S.-based consumers can place pre-orders. On the other hand, Nintendo still plans to launch the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5th, despite the pre-order hiccup in the United States.
Nintendo, which is based in Japan, is now contending with a 24% tariff – an added cost to import the product from one country to another. Tariffs are used by governments all around the world to generate income when importing goods from other countries, and in the case of the current United States administration, as a means to discourage importation and encourage domestic manufacturing.
There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, however, that that would be that pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 will continue on April 9th for the rest of the world, so the hiccup only applies to the U.S.-based market. Nintendo can either absorb the tariff cost or pass the added cost on to the consumer, which may result in higher asking prices for the Nintendo Switch 2 in the United States than the initially announced $449.99.
Nintendo may also attempt to negotiate with the current administration to waive or reduce the tariff costs, however this seems like a less likely avenue. Nintendo’s decision to pull pre-orders in the United States indicate that the company is assessing the situation and planning which path forward it might take to mitigate cost while still offering the Nintendo Switch 2 at a fair price to the American consumer.
Tariffs are also expected to impact the cost of Nintendo Switch 2 video games. With the new Mario Kart World announced to cost $79.99, it seems likely that some Nintendo Switch 2 games may cost more than games made for the original Nintendo Switch, and tariff costs may only further raise the cost of Nintendo Switch 2 games.
As this is a developing situation, we will continue to keep our readers in the loop regarding Nintendo Switch 2 availability in the United States.