We all knew this day was coming. Some have been waiting for this day for months, while others have only recently cottoned on to the effects of rising RAM and storage prices. It wasn’t all that long ago that PlayStation fired the first price hike in the gaming world, and now Nintendo is following suit.
Nintendo does the thinkable…
Today, Nintendo announced a global price hike for the Switch 2, which launched in June last year at R12,500 (about $450). Ninty cites “changes in market conditions” for the hike, which go into effect on 25 May in Japan — hitting all the Switch consoles — while the US, Canada, and Europe will feel the sting on 1 September.
“We sincerely apologize for the impact these price revisions may have on our customers and other stakeholders, and we deeply appreciate your understanding.”
Starting then, the Nintendo Switch 2 will rise from $450 to $500 in the US, while European pricing will see a €30 bump, bringing the total up to €500. These regions will only see a hike on the Switch 2, however. Japanese customers can expect to see the original Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED go up in price.
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Whether Africa, or specifically South Africa, will be lumped in with the rest is still unknown. SA isn’t mentioned by name, but we somehow don’t see Nintendo letting us off that easily — particularly after the Switch 2 saw an unheard-of R1,000 permanent price cut in January. Nintendo notes that cuts will be implemented in other regions, too, and that “further details will be provided by the respective overseas subsidiaries.”
That means we’ll hear the news from Nintendo’s local distributor, Core, if a price hike is headed our way. We’ve reached out to a local company representative to confirm the local price hikes, but we haven’t heard back at the time of publication. We’ll update this article once we hear back.
