A former Nintendo sales lead predicted that the hardware price of the Nintendo Switch 2 will inevitably be increased, but said that the company may find ways to mitigate the change. The former sales lead stated that, should the price of the Switch 2 go up, the damage may be offset by an upcoming change to game prices.
It’s no secret that the ongoing DRAM shortage crisis has had an impact on the gaming industry, as the emergence of AI-based data centers led to a demand for essential components. Since the fall of 2025, the prices of RAM kits, solid-state drives (SSDs) and other PC parts has exponentially skyrocketed over the ensuing months. Although the prices on some DDR5 RAM kits have begun to taper off at retailers like Amazon and Newegg, the current rates are still higher than they previously were. The RAM crisis has led Sony to announce a price hike on all PS5 consoles across the globe, starting April 2. Ergo, the price of the PS5 Pro will jump from $749 to $899.
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Former Nintendo Sales Lead Says The Switch 2 Will See A Price Hike
With the PS5 facing an imminent price increase, a former Nintendo executive believes that the Switch 2 may follow suit at some point. During episode 216 of the Kit and Krysta Podcast, a former Nintendo sales lead known as Sean discussed the Switch 2 with the show’s hosts, former Nintendo of America employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang. To start the discussion about the Switch 2’s future, Sean turned to Nintendo’s upcoming price changes to first-party Switch 2 games, which will see digital games priced cheaper than physical copies. Sean described Nintendo’s upcoming game price split as a “pro-consumer move.” This change will go into effect on May 21, starting with the launch of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book on the Switch 2. Pre-orders for the upcoming Yoshi title on the My Nintendo Store have already factored this change into consideration, with digital pre-orders starting at $59.99, and physical pre-orders going for $69.99.
Sean stated that the Switch 2 will inevitably undergo a price increase, and said that Nintendo likely waited to see how the tariffs from the US government would play out on the global markets. Although he did not state an exact price that the Switch 2 could jump to, Sean said, “I think that there’s things that they can and seem to be doing to try and mitigate that, but I also look at this move on software, if I’m reading it correctly, as a way to make a hardware price increase a little bit more palatable.” Though he claimed his predictions were “educated guesses,” Sean also stated that the price of some physical Switch 2 first-party games could still be as high as $70 or $80, with Mario Kart World being an example of the latter price. Given that upcoming Switch 2 titles like Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave and Pokemon Winds and Waves are coming down the pipeline, time will tell what the starting prices of those games will be.
Prospective Buyers Should Not Wait To Get a Switch 2
The price of the Switch 2 console has stayed at $449 since its June 2025 launch, alongside bundles that include the console and a pack-in game, such as Mario Kart World or Pokemon Legends: Z-A, starting at $499. However, Nintendo has shown that even that could change depending on the global market. In February 2026, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa stated that the company was keeping an eye on the economy and the RAM crisis. Though Nintendo remained unaffected by the RAM shortage at the time, Furukawa said that a Switch 2 price hike was not off the table.
Although the Switch 2 is set to launch four big games throughout April, it remains to be seen when the gaming giant will face the unenviable task of changing its console prices. Ergo, customers looking to get a new Nintendo console at the current prices should not wait much longer.
