The rumors had been circulating for a while, but now it’s official: Nintendo is raising the prices of the Switch 2. The European market will also be affected.
It’s a matter-of-factly titled post that caused a stir when Nintendo released it on Friday. “Notice Regarding Price Changes for Nintendo Products and Services” reads the headline, followed by an announcement that is unwelcome from a gamer’s perspective: “In light of changing market conditions and after considering the global business outlook,” the company says it is compelled to raise the suggested retail price of the Switch 2.
The change will first take effect in its home country of Japan, where starting May 25, prospective Switch 2 buyers will face an additional cost of 10,000 yen (approx. 54 euros)—and older console versions are also affected. Additional costs ranging from the equivalent of about 43 to 60 euros will apply to the original Switch, its OLED variant, or the Switch Lite.
In the U.S., Canada, and Europe, however, only the Switch 2 will be affected—and there is still a little more time to purchase the console at the current price. Here, prices won’t skyrocket until September 1. In North America, an additional 50 Canadian or U.S. dollars will be charged, while a 30-euro surcharge has been announced in Germany. This brings the price of the Switch 2 in Germany to 500 euros.
Online services are also getting more expensive
But it’s not just the hardware; parts of Nintendo’s service offerings are also becoming more expensive. In Japan, the console manufacturer will charge more for the online subscription in the future. This measure takes effect on July 1 and is set to be expanded to South Korea at a later date.
According to Nintendo, however, this is not a reaction to market conditions, but rather a “reasonable alignment between regions.” The goal is for Nintendo Switch Online to become the “globally unified service” it is marketed as. This means German players do not need to worry about further price increases for the time being.
Sony as a (bad) role model?
Nevertheless, with this price adjustment—which has been anticipated for weeks—Nintendo is following an unfortunate trend that had already become painfully clear shortly before Easter, courtesy of Sony. The PlayStation developer, also based in Japan, took a significant step further in raising its console prices: the cost of various PlayStation 5 models increased by 100 euros each. A clear difference that is likely due to the equally large discrepancy in performance. After all, the components required for this are the main drivers of the cost explosion.
While Sony had already introduced a potential countermeasure in the form of a heavily criticized rental offer shortly before adjusting PlayStation prices, no such move is currently on the horizon for Nintendo. However, creative solutions will be needed there as well, now that the originally planned production volume of Switch 2 units has been cut by a third in the first quarter of 2026. After all, higher prices are unlikely to boost sales.