As RAM prices and other components continue to skyrocket, most consumer electronics, including Sony’s PlayStation 5, have been hit with major price hikes. While not yet announced by Nintendo, it seems that the Nintendo Switch 2 will also be affected.
As other handheld manufacturers struggle to continue in the current climate, a former Nintendo sales lead has claimed that a price hike for the Nintendo Switch 2 is “inevitable” right now.
Speaking on the Kit & Krysta podcast, a podcast hosted by former Nintendo marketing leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, the former sales lead that went by the name Sean, claimed that Nintendo will have to follow Sony’s PlayStation 5 price increases at some point.
The former sales lead explained that Nintendo will most likely attempt to refrain from increasing the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 for as long as possible, but that an eventual price hike will be inevitable at some point.
“Unfortunately, I think, eventually the hardware price is going to have to go up,” he said. “I think that there’s things that they can and seem to be doing to try and mitigate that, but I also look at this move on on software as, if I’m reading it correctly, a way to make a hardware price increase a little bit more palatable.”
The sales lead explained that inflation has been “a problem for a while now” as well as noting constant issues targeting games consoles including US tariffs, AI demand for hardware causing prices to shoot up, increased cost of shipping and distribution, and more.
Right now, America and Israel’s invasion of Iran is causing a sharp increase in the price of helium, a gas that’s essential to chip fabrication around the world, which will further increase the price of manufacturing, not just in consoles, but also in physical game cartridges.
“Helium is a by-product of of producing oil. Helium is a key and unreplaceable ingredient in making semiconductors, which means hardware prices go up,” they said. “It’s an unreplaceable by-product of making silicon wafers, which means if you’re Nintendo and you’re producing cartridges, that’s going up as well.”
The sales lead explained that “even if they are able to make concessions in some areas, hardware prices are going to go up, I think, eventually.”
This wouldn’t be the first time that Nintendo has increased the price of a console after release. In early 2025, Nintendo increased the price of the original Nintendo Switch, Lite, OLED and accessories due to “market conditions”.
As many other hardware manufacturers have confirmed numerous price hikes over the past few years, Nintendo has done well not to immediately pivot with price increases of the Nintendo Switch 2. However, as the price of all components continue to rise, it’s hard to imagine the console not seeing a price increase at some point.
