Will Switch 2 Survive This New Price Increase?

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Well, at least now you know when you should get your Switch 2 by. Nintendo has released their annual fiscal report detailing the ongoings of the business over the past fiscal year and how they've done. There's a lot of juicy details here like game sales, how the Switch 2 is performing, a lot better than a lot of people have expected, but it's not all good news. The biggest thing taking up conversation on the Friday of these numbers releasing is that like the Xbox and PlayStation 5 before it, pretty much every consumer electronic impacted by memory shortage, the global economic situation Switch 2 is going up in price. For the past couple of months, public sentiment around the Nintendo Switch 2 has shifted to be pretty positive thanks to a great lineup of games and unfortunately other consoles also increasing in price making the Switch 2 entry price of $449.99 something a lot more palatable for families and people who just want to get into gaming. But now we know it's official in the not too distant future, a lot of players who haven't gotten a Switch 2 yet are going to have to ask themselves if they feel what's on offer is worth it for this new price. Starting September 1st, the United States price of the Nintendo Switch 2, the base entry model, is going up from $449.99 to $499.99.

[00:01:12]And if you're saying, "Hey, I paid 500 bucks for my Switch 2." you might have because that was the price that the bundle that included a game like Mario Kart World or Pokémon Legends ZA was set at in the launch year of 2025. In Canada, it's going up from $629.99 to $679.99.

[00:01:30]And at least in Japan, the original Switch and Nintendo Switch online will be seeing price increases as well. As we approach the 1-year anniversary of the Nintendo Switch 2 releasing, I'm reminded of the overwhelming narrative that existed around this console when it launched, "Lower the price." You could not go into any Nintendo presentation last year without the chat being a text wall just saying those words, "Lower the price." And at least in this past year, according to their financial report, it hasn't really impacted sales or success of the Switch 2 so far in any capacity.

[00:02:02]Because as of today, the Nintendo Switch 2 has sold 19.86 million units so far. And for some context, in just about the span of a year, the Nintendo Switch 2 has almost outsold the lifetime sales of the GameCube, which sits at roughly 22 million. And for those interested, the original Switch in its first year sold just under 15 million units. So, before we even reach the 1-year milestone for Nintendo Switch 2, it is outpacing the original console pretty significantly.

[00:02:30]So, prior to today, it would seem momentum has been favoring the Nintendo Switch 2. Despite some controversies at launch, the game key card situation, the price of Mario Kart World, it's managed to outperform the original Nintendo Switch, and it's also selling a good number of games. Mario Kart World currently sits at 14.70 million copies sold. Donkey Kong Bonanza is at 4.5 million. And maybe the biggest surprise for a lot of people, not me, I was a believer, Pokémon Poképia sits at 4 million copies sold after its launch in early March. And speaking of Pokémon, Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green, ever since Pokémon Day of 2026 have been mainstays on the bestsellers tab for the eShop. So, it's no surprise they have also hit 4 million copies sold. The most surprising stat out of all of these game sales though, undoubtedly comes from April's Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. This game has not even been out for a full month at this point, and it is already at 3.8 million copies sold.

[00:03:29]It's trailing Poképia by 0.2. And when you take into account that Poképia is a Switch 2 exclusive, and Tomodachi Life is available for everybody in the Switch ecosystem, on the Switch Lite, the Switch OLED, the Switch, the Switch 2, yeah, there's more people that can buy that thing. And thanks to the sales of these games, Poképia, Tomodachi Life, it seemed like momentum in the public consensus was finally pivoting to reflect the actual sales data. Around the release of Pokémon Picopia, a narrative began to form that the Switch 2 actually had a system seller, and that drove many people to pick up a console and this game of the year contender. It still sits as one of 2026's best-reviewed titles. And of course, that snowballed into Tomodachi Life Living the Dream. Despite that being a game available on the Nintendo Switch, a lot of people are still playing it on Switch 2. Both these titles saw viral success online and reminded people why they go to Nintendo, why they love Nintendo, for the irreverent charm, the cutsey games, things that are just plain and simple fun. And if that's the recent narrative for this console, it would make sense that people are looking forward to what's coming next. We know Splatoon Raiders is coming in this summer as a major title, the first-ever Splatoon spin-off, priced at $50 digitally and $60 physically, a new strategy from Nintendo that's garnered some love from the digital-favoring fans. Just this week, we saw the grand reveal of a new take on Star Fox coming in at 50 bucks digitally, 60 physically.

[00:04:57]And despite some split opinion on the character design, people were largely excited to see another beloved Nintendo franchise get brought back. The vibes were great, of course, until the price increase hit the news. And while the numbers show public consensus only matters so much because the Switch 2 sold great despite the controversies of its launch lineup and launch year, it is undoubtedly important, and Nintendo seems to know this because they have decreased their expectation on the number of consoles they will be shipping in the following fiscal year. So, we're going to see how this impacts Nintendo on the way to this September 1st deadline. For now, let us know how you feel about the Nintendo Switch 2 as we approach the 1-year anniversary. If you've not picked up a Switch 2 yet and even interested in one, is this price increase at the beginning of September going to get you to finally upgrade? But for all the latest on what is going on with Nintendo, when we get this eventual Nintendo Direct, and everything else you need to worry about in the world of gaming. Be sure to stay tuned right here, or head on over to gamerant.com.

[00:05:55]Thank you so much for watching. I will see you next time.