Indie Dev Cautions That Trump Tariffs Might Not Increase The Price Of Nintendo Switch 2: "Nintendo Has Options"
Indie game developer Mark Liberto, who developed Depixtion for DevHour Games, cautioned that President Donald Trump’s tariffs might not increase the price of Nintendo Switch 2.
Liberto’s comments come in the wake of Nintendo announcing it was delaying its pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 in the United States due to President Trump’s tariffs. A spokesman told Polygon, “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. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.”
Many observers and commenters believed that Nintendo would likely increase the price given the pre-order delay. However, Liberto says “Not so fast” and that “it’s more complicated than ‘tariff % = price increase %.’”
He explained, “We don’t know Nintendo’s cost structure. Nintendo may have pre-negotiated deals, diversified suppliers, or shifted some assembly (spoiler: they did). We can't assume a straight cost pass-through without transparency.”
He continued, “Inventory already in the U.S. softens the blow. Nintendo already pre-shipped Switch 2 units ahead of the launch. That means they could manage some short-term costs while keeping the rollout smooth. Tariffs don’t affect stock that’s already stateside.”
“Consoles have elastic demand. This isn’t insulin — it’s a luxury good. Raise the price too much, and people wait. Or skip it entirely. That’s dangerous in a post-inflation economy, especially after spending big on R&D,” he added. “Price is strategy, not just math. Launch pricing is about momentum. Nintendo may eat some cost to drive adoption. Why? Because attach rates (games sold per console) are very profitable. Think Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, etc.”
For his fifth and final point, he wrote, “The dollar is strong. The weak yen means Nintendo already earns more per U.S. sale. That gives them flexibility to absorb some tariff impact without raising prices (at least right away).”
Liberto concluded, “Yes, tariffs matter — but Nintendo has options. Expect them to weigh every scenario carefully.”
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On top of Liberto’s astute observations, another obvious point is simply unpredictability. President Donald Trump within a week as levied tariffs and reduced them.
On April 2nd he announced a global 10% tariff on all countries and that he would impose an individualized reciprocal higher tariff on the countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficits.”
It was reported that a 24% tariff was levied on Japan while a 34% tariff was levied on China and Vietnam, where Nintendo manufacturers its Nintendo Switches was hit with a 46% tariff.
However, just yesterday afternoon, April 9th, President Trump announced he was eliminating the individualized reciprocal higher tariff and would just be imposing “a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%.” Albeit he increased the tariff on China to 125%.
What do you make of Liberto’s observations? What do you think Nintendo will do?
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Liberto's observations are solid. Most pundits' understanding of business is at the level of consumer, purchasing retail. What happens between here and there is always more involved.