Video game fans itching to preorder the Nintendo Switch 2 will have to wait a bit longer.
The Japanese video game company on Friday scratched its April 9 preorder date after announcing it just two days before so it could assess how tariffs might impact the market.
“Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” the company told GameSpot. “Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.”
It’s unclear where Nintendo is manufacturing the console. According to Reuters, the Switch 1 was made in China and Vietnam, which Trump just hit with 54% and 46% tariffs, respectively.
The highly anticipated console was expected to retail for around $450 — a price that now seems subject to change.
Joost van Dreunen, a professor at NYU specializing in the gaming business, told The Associated Press Trump’s tariffs couldn’t have come at a worse time in the product development cycle for Nintendo.
Hardware manufacturers often sell at a very low margin or even at a loss at first, according to van Dreunen, as they push to get more inventory into the hands of consumers.
Nintendo already likely added $50 to the device’s price ahead of time to plan for the “Trump tax,” van Dreunen said. Now it appears that wiggle room was insufficient.
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“But with an increased tariff, that means that margin is probably even worse than it historically is,” he said. “But their hands are kind of tied. They can’t not progress. They can’t not launch a new hardware generation. So for the consumer base, people are just going to pay more.”
That sticker shock will hit more than buyers of Nintendos.
A Wall Street analyst predicts iPhones will cost more than $2,000 once all of the tariffs are factored in ― and they’d be $3,500 if Apple were to actually shift manufacturing back to the U.S. as Trump has suggested.