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The Switch 2's price won't be impacted by Japan's new tariffs, but its games might

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Josh Coulson

Published 7 minutes ago

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Nintendo Switch 2

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U.S. President Donald Trump provided an update on potential tariffs he plans to impose on imports from various countries to the US this week. The good news is that the pause he announced has been extended until August 1, 2025. The bad news, at least for gamers, is the 25 percent tariff he plans to impose on products being shipped from J🍨apan to the US.

If Trump follows through with the plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from Japan, then we may well be headed for a very near future where physical Nintendo games, both on the Switch and the Switch 2, could end up costing even more than they already do. A significant shock to the system for those of us with a Switch 2 who are still trying to shake off 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the $80 Mario Kart World bombshell.

Increasing the c🍬ost of $60 OG Switch games that haven't dropped in price for eight years also feels like a very Nintendo thing to doꦑ.

The silver lining is despite Ninten💮do being a Japanese company, its consoles are not made in Japan. That means no risk of the Switch 2's price being altered due to the incoming 25 percent tariff. I can't promise that means no price increase for the console ever, of course, especially with a tariff on Vietnam🥂ese imports already agreed. The bulk of Switch 2 consoles are manufactured in Vietnam.

Nintendo Switch game cards are made in Japan

Hence why US tariffs might be about to make Switch 2 games a lot more expensive

That's not the case for the Switch and Switch 2's game cards, though. Most of t🌄hose are made in Japan, as outlined by Serentiy Forge CEO Zhenghua Yang on Reddit a few months ago. Someone raised the is🎀sue of Nintendo games getting more expensive when tariff talk first kicked off a few months ago, and the CEO stepped in to confirm that yes, Nintendo's game cartridges are manufactured in Japan and then shipped around the world.

"The cards are manufactured in Japan. However, depending on your region, basically everything else besides the cards are manufactured elsewhere," Yang explained. The "everything else" includes the case, the packaging, and any items you might get from a collector's edition or through pre-order bonuses, so no risk of the price of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Donkey Kong Bananza being driven up 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:by that weird bongo plush with a banana sl🧜ot.

Yang signs off by noting that, even five months ago when all these tariff issues first became prevalent, Serentiy Forge needed to restructure its manufa🅰cturing pipeline for physical Switch games. Now that a potential 25 percent on Japanese imports is looming large, studios that make physical Switch and Switch 2 games, including Nintendo itself, might need to make some difficult decisions. Whether to eat the increased costs themselves, or to pass on the tariff cost to the consumers by making their games more expensive.