US Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders start April 24th, no price increase
Nintendo has finally announced plans for the delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 in the US. The console price remains the same, but accessories will cost more.
Today, Nintendo finally broke its silence on the state of U.S. pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2. There is some good news and some bad news. The good news is that prices for the console, the bundle, and the games did not increase. The bad news is that most of the accessory items went up in price. Pre-orders were originally supposed to start about a week and a half ago, but were delayed just days after the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct as Nintendo re-evaluated the effect of U.S. tariffs. This new announcement also comes just eight days after the U.S. president announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs going into effect.
Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders announced for April 24th, console price does not go up
The messaging behind Nintendo’s new console has been mixed. While a more powerful Switch console should be a slam dunk, especially with how great the game lineup looks. Don’t forget that this console will be hosting the next exclusive FromSoftware game. But one major detail was left out of the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct: prices. Nintendo quietly released the prices shortly after the Direct, and while many fans agreed the $450 price for the console was somewhat reasonable, Mario Kart World setting the highest price for a base video game so far at $80 had fans outraged. To the point that even in yesterday’s Mario Kart World Direct, over two weeks since this news came out, the live chat was still spamming a key phrase: “drop the price.”
When news of the pre-order delay broke, it seemed all but inevitable that the price for the console would increase. A once reasonable $450 might turn into $500 or maybe even $600 or $700. Thankfully, according to Nintendo’s site, this is not the case. The Nintendo Switch 2 price will remain at $499.99 in the U.S. for now, and the Mario Kart World bundle will also stay consistent at $499.99. Both Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong: Bananza will keep consistent as well, staying at $79.99 and $69.99 respectively. Pre-orders will begin for U.S. buyers on April 24th.
But U.S. Nintendo fans are not completely unaffected by price increases. From Nintendo’s update: “Nintendo Switch 2 accessories will experience price adjustments from those announced on April 2 due to changes in market conditions. Other adjustments to the price of any Nintendo product are also possible in the future depending on market conditions.” So, while Nintendo is not raising the prices of its games or consoles, it does reserve the right to do so in the future. This could be Nintendo covering for the future when the tariffs do go into effect. For that, we will have to wait to see. For now, at least, interested fans will still be able to pre-order the console at the promised price.
When it comes to accessories, a new pair of Joy-Con 2s has gone up from $89.99 to $94.99. The Pro Controller has also gone up from $79.99 to $84.99. The Nintendo Switch 2 Camera increases from $49.99 to $54.99. Prices for accessories like this have gone up across the board. Most somewhere around or below $10. This may not seem like much of an increase, but a big part of the pricing issue before was how all these accessories add up, plus the Nintendo Switch Online subscription which gives access to certain features and online functionality.
Overall, this news is a mixed bag. It’s good that the console price did not increase. It’s not great that the already expensive accessories did. At the end of the day, at least Nintendo has finally shared an update. U.S. fans now know how to prepare for the April 24th pre-order date. The console may still sell out quickly, but at least some U.S. fans will be able to have it on launch day, which is still June 5th.
