Nintendo is the last holdout among the big three when it comes to raising the price of its current-generation flagship gaming console. How much longer can the Switch 2 keep the $450 launch MSRP? Former Nintendo sales executive thinks about next one price rise is inevitableand Trump’s war on Iran may only speed things up.
“Unfortunately, I think eventually the price of hardware is going to have to go up,” the former employee, who only goes by “Sean” to protect his anonymity, told fellow Nintendo alumni Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang on a recent episode of their podcast. “I think there are things they can do and seem to be doing to try to mitigate that, but I also see this software move as, if I’m reading it correctly, a way to make the hardware price increase a little more palatable,” he said, referring to the recent announcement that soon digital versions of Switch 2 games will be cheaper than their physical counterparts.
He pointed to this as Nintendo’s way of trying to sweeten the deal for what would otherwise be a more expensive console generation for everyone involved. The biggest push for higher prices remains tariffs, for which Nintendo is suing the Trump administration, as well as shortages of RAM and other AI-powered PC components.
“We’ve seen inflation as a problem for some time now,” Sean continued. “Tariffs are a newer nuisance, but they’re not going away anytime soon. AI-driven demand for chips is driving memory prices higher.” But he added that the war with Iran doesn’t help either. The problem lies not only in rising oil prices, which affect the cost of transporting goods, but also in the disruption of resources needed to manufacture the parts.
“Helium is a byproduct of oil production. Helium is a key and irreplaceable ingredient in semiconductor manufacturing, which means prices for the material are increasing,” he said. “It’s an irreplaceable byproduct of silicon wafer manufacturing, which means if you’re Nintendo and you produce cartridges, that also increases.”
Nintendo can try to absorb some of the pressure through its other revenue streams, from toys and licensing deals to movies and theme parks, but Sean says there are simply too many economic factors working against it.
“I think it’s inevitable that they’ll go up for the first time,” Sean said. “And, you know, we’ve been through different phases with Nintendo, through various economic and other turning points, but I really feel like this time in particular, there are so many outside forces that [are] sort of forcing their hand in a way that they probably weren’t really used to in the past.
