The Nintendo Switch 2 is getting more expensive.

If you’ve been holding off on buying one, or you already own one and you’re wondering what on earth is going on with the gaming industry right now, this is everything you need to know.

This isn’t just a Nintendo story. This is a story about every console on the market, about the global economy, about AI — weirdly enough — and about whether the era of affordable gaming hardware is quietly coming to an end.

So here are the facts. Nintendo has officially confirmed that from the 1st of September 2026, the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will rise from $449.99 to $499.99 — a $50 increase. In Europe, the price goes up by 30 euros to €499.99. In Canada, it’s jumping from $50 to $679.99. And in Japan — where Nintendo is based — the price already went up in late May, climbing ¥10,000 to ¥59,980.

Nintendo didn’t slip this out quietly. They issued what you could genuinely describe as a public apology alongside the announcement, saying they sincerely regret the impact on customers and deeply appreciate our understanding. Which is a very Nintendo way of saying, “We know this stings, and we’re sorry.”

When Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa was pressed on this during the company’s financial results presentation, he admitted something pretty striking. The new, higher price still won’t actually cover all the costs of making the Switch 2. In his own words: “While we wanted to prioritise a wide adoption, it was challenging to bear the rising costs over a long period. The new pricing does not fully account for all cost increases.” So Nintendo is raising prices, taking the PR hit, and still selling the console at close to a loss. That tells you everything about the pressure on the company right now.

Why Is This Happening?

To understand the price rise, you need to understand what’s driving it — and it comes down to three things hitting Nintendo simultaneously.

First: memory chips. The global demand for DRAM and other semiconductor components has exploded, largely because AI companies are hoovering up supply at a pace the industry has never seen before. Reports suggest that a deal between Samsung and SK will see the two tech giants supply OpenAI with nearly half of the entire world’s DRAM output. That leaves everyone else — including console manufacturers — fighting over what’s left, at significantly higher prices. Nintendo estimates the combined impact of memory costs and tariffs will cost them around ¥100 billion this financial year. That’s roughly $640 million.

Second: US trade tariffs. The ongoing tariff environment on imported electronics has added substantial costs to hardware that’s manufactured and shipped from Asia. Nintendo has even filed a legal motion with the US Court of International Trade to recover the tariffs it paid, describing the situation as causing “imminent and irreparable harm” to the business. That’s not the language of a company that’s comfortable with the situation.

Third: exchange rates. With the yen remaining weak against the dollar and the euro, Nintendo’s costs in real terms have risen even as production costs remain flat. It’s a perfect storm — and Nintendo’s president has described these pressures as “medium to long term,” meaning this isn’t a blip. This is the new normal.

The Financial Fallout

The price rise announcement didn’t exactly calm the markets. Nintendo’s share price fell 7% when markets opened in Japan following the news, after five consecutive months of declines and growing investor anxiety.

The wider financial picture from Nintendo’s latest results is pretty sobering. The company is projecting revenue of 2.05 trillion yen for the current financial year — over 11% below last year’s and well short of analysts’ expectations. Net profit is forecast to fall by 27%. And Switch 2 hardware sales are predicted to drop from nearly 20 million units in the last financial year to around 16.5 million this year.

That last one is particularly unusual. It’s almost unheard of for a successful console to sell fewer units in its second year than in its first. As one industry analyst put it, Nintendo is predicting Switch 2 sales to decline at a time when they’d normally be rising.

A big part of investor nervousness isn’t just the price rise itself — it’s the software pipeline. Right now, there is no confirmed 3D Mario game, no Animal Crossing, no Legend of Zelda title on the 2026 release roadmap. Nintendo has hinted it has games “under wraps” for later in the year, but without a must-have title to justify the hardware investment, the price hike becomes a much harder sell to consumers and investors alike.

The Bundle Deal

So what is Nintendo actually doing about it? Their answer, for now, is the “Choose Your Game Bundle.”

Starting next month, Nintendo will offer the Switch 2 bundled with a digital game for $500 — available at select retailers for a limited time while supplies last. Buyers can choose one of three titles: Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, or Pokémon Pokopia.

Mario Kart World retails for $80 on its own. So at $500, the bundle effectively gives you a game worth $80 for free, while the standalone console costs $449.99. That’s a genuine saving of around $30 now — and once September hits and the console alone rises to $499.99, buying the console and a game separately would set you back around $580. The bundle represents roughly $80 in value versus that post-September scenario.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Nintendo has tried this approach. They previously bundled the Switch 2 with Mario Kart World at launch, before that offer quietly expired ahead of last Christmas. So there’s a clear pattern here: Nintendo uses bundles to enhance value perception during periods of commercial pressure.

The catch, as ever, is availability. Nintendo has stressed that the bundle is limited while supplies last — and with the September deadline looming, it’s reasonable to expect demand to spike sharply in the summer months.

Nintendo’s Not Alone: PlayStation and Xbox Are in the Same Boat

Here’s the part of this story that tends to get lost when people focus on Nintendo specifically. The Switch 2 price rise isn’t an anomaly. Every major console platform has raised prices over the past year, driven by the same underlying pressures.

PlayStation is perhaps the starkest example of where things are headed. Sony raised PS5 prices globally in April 2026, with the standard PS5 now sitting at $649.99 in the US — up from its $499.99 launch price in 2020. The Digital Edition is $599.99, and the PS5 Pro has climbed to $899.99. Sony cited “continued pressures in the global economic landscape” for the changes, language that will sound very familiar given what Nintendo has been saying. And those price rises are having a real impact — PS5 sales fell over 46% year-on-year in the most recent quarter.

Microsoft and Xbox have arguably had the most turbulent pricing story of all. The company raised Xbox console prices twice in 2025 alone. The first increase came in May, when the Xbox Series X jumped $100 to $599.99. Then in October, prices went up again — the Series X settling at $649.99, the Series S 1TB at $449.99. Across both hikes, the base Xbox Series X went from $499.99 at the start of 2025 to $649.99 by the autumn. The top-end 2TB Galaxy Black model went from $599 to $799 in under a year. A 30% increase on the most expensive Xbox model in less than twelve months.

To put all of that into perspective, here’s where things stand on launch price versus today:

The Nintendo Switch 2 launched at $449.99 and will rise to $499.99 in September — a $50 increase. The PS5 launched at $499.99 and now costs $649.99 — up $150. The PS5 Pro launched at $699.99 and is now $899.99 — up $200. The Xbox Series X launched at $499.99 and now costs $649.99 — also up $150. And the Xbox Series S launched at $299.99 and has climbed to $449.99 — a $150 rise.

Seen in that context, Nintendo’s $50 increase is actually the most modest of the three platform holders by a considerable margin. That doesn’t make it painless, but it does reframe the conversation. This isn’t Nintendo making a controversial decision in isolation — this is the entire gaming hardware industry moving in the same direction at the same time, for the same reasons.

What This Means for the Future of Console Gaming

What we’re seeing right now represents a genuine structural shift in how gaming hardware is priced. For decades, the pattern was predictable: consoles launched at a premium, and got cheaper as manufacturing costs fell and competition intensified. The original Switch launched at $299.99 in 2017 and was eventually selling for $199.99 in its final years. That’s how it was supposed to work.

That model now looks increasingly outdated. The PS5 is more expensive today than it was at launch six years ago. The Xbox Series X is $150 more expensive than when it launched. And the Switch 2 is heading in the same direction, with Nintendo’s president explicitly describing the cost pressures as long-term rather than temporary.

The driving forces here — AI’s insatiable demand for memory chips, trade tensions, currency pressures — aren’t going away. And with the next generation of consoles still years away, there’s a very real possibility that hardware prices continue to climb before they ever come down. Some analysts have already floated the idea that next-generation consoles could approach $1,000 at launch.

For consumers, that raises serious questions about the value proposition of console gaming altogether. When a PS5 Pro costs $900, and a top-end Xbox pushes $800, the traditional argument that consoles offer an affordable, straightforward gaming experience starts to feel increasingly strained. PC gaming, cloud gaming, and handheld alternatives may all benefit from the squeeze.

So, Should You Buy a Switch 2 Now?

If you’re on the fence about a Switch 2, the maths are pretty clear heading into summer. The Choose Your Game Bundle gives you the console and a flagship title — worth $80 on its own — for $500 today. From September 1st, the console alone will cost that much. The bundle runs until supplies last, and with a summer buying surge likely, those supplies may not last as long as Nintendo suggests.

Nintendo has also quietly confirmed that unannounced games are coming later in 2026. If the company is sitting on a major reveal — a new Mario, a new Zelda, anything in that tier — the software picture could change dramatically in the second half of the year.

The short version: if you want one and the bundle is available, this is probably the best value you’ll see for some time. If you’re waiting for a price drop, the evidence across the entire industry suggests that might be a long wait. The era of consoles getting cheaper over time may well be behind us. And the Switch 2 price rise is just the latest, and most visible, sign of that change.