90-day tariff pause could change Nintendo's price and pre-order plans

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a 90 day pause on last week’s proposed tariffs. Not only is this hugely impactful for the global economy, but it should also have an impact on Nintendo’s Switch 2 plans. Both U.S. and Canada pre-orders would have been available now, had Nintendo not announced delays for both countries within the last week. Many suspect that Nintendo had plans to potentially increase the base price of the Switch 2, given that tariffs will force their hand, but now, there is potential for reversing course.

90-day tariff pause could be Nintendo’s opportunity for damage control

The U.S. President announced these tariff changes on his social media platform, Truth Social, via the Associated Press. Tariffs on China have instead increased, while the rest of the world’s tariffs have gone on pause. The large percentages proposed last week will be paused, but the U.S. is still imposing a 10% tariff across the board. In Nintendo’s case, the delay on U.S. pre-orders is due to tariffs on countries where Nintendo manufactures its console and games. Vietnam is expected to play a major role in Nintendo’s manufacturing and was hit with over 40% tariffs last week prior to today’s pause. Nintendo Switch 2 is still planned to launch on June 5th, 2025, despite pre-order delays, so this launch date does fall within the 90-day window.

But don’t get your hopes up. This is a 90 day pause, not a full tariff rollback from the U.S. Nintendo could see this as an opportunity to push pre-orders and launch sales during this 90-day window, which could work to boost sales. However, even though tariffs are on pause, they are still expected to come into play down the line. Nintendo might still feel a need to adjust the pricing according to the planned future tariffs, not dropping plans unless the tariffs are done away completely.

Over the last week, Nintendo has faced an unprecedented backlash for its prices. Fans tend to agree that the $450 base price for the console is higher than expected, but not outrageous. But what appears to have really set the fanbase off is Mario Kart World setting a new standard for game costs at $80. Nintendo is also charging for Switch 1 game upgrades, accessories like controllers and cameras, and of course, online play subscriptions. It all adds up to making the new console out of reach for many players.

If anything, this could be an opportunity for Nintendo to mitigate the damage to its reputation with U.S. fans. At the time of writing, Nintendo has not commented on the tariff pause or announced any updates to pre-order delays in both the U.S. and Canada. For now, we will have to wait to see how the gaming giant responds.

Mario Kart World

June 5, 2025

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