The Nintendo boss said that they are assessing what the impact may be
Providing a Wide-Field Player Experience in a Brave New Trade World: The Case of Nintendo Switch and the Joy-Con 2 Controller
I would say the hope is that we are the home to the broadest number of players as possible, and we want to make sure we’re providing content that is appealing to all types of players, whether it’s families, whether it’s individual players, whether it’s more adult players or more mature players. We want to make sure that we’re the best place to find that content. And by having a piece of hardware like Nintendo Switch 2 with the reimagined Joy-Con 2 controller and the mouse capabilities, we think that will allow us to expand the catalog and bring in more developers that perhaps are making games that are more mouse-controlled.
What about chip shortages as we enter into a brave new trade world? When many of the parts you use are from all over the world, how can you make sure you keep up supply?
I can’t speak to the specifics of our manufacturing process and over our materials acquisition. We spent a good amount of time with our suppliers making sure we have a long term plan in place so we’re able to fulfill the high side of the demand.
We’re always assessing where we should be having manufacturing based on where volumes are and also based on just other economies and considerations. So, right now, our manufacturing is primarily located in Southeast Asia, but we are always looking at other options to ensure that we have a fulfilled supply chain overall.
Trade-offs complicate the Nintendo Switch 2 launch, says Nintendo of America president: Are tariffs bothering the Nintendo product? A new look at a popular console line-up
The potential impact of tariffs on Nintendo’s products will cause pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 to be delayed in the U.S. At a later date, Nintendo will update timing. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.”
It’s like the year is a year, there are no specific time frames when to launch a video game, and we like that. June was a good time for us to launch the games we were ready to launch with the hardware. It’s the start of summer season, and obviously, with a Nintendo Switch 2, you have a device that you can both play at home and play at home docked like a gaming console, or you can take it out of the dock and take it on the go. So it’s a perfect game for summer travel.
We want to make sure that we meet the demand. We think we have a device in Nintendo Switch 2, and a host of games both from Nintendo and from our publishing partners that consumers are really going to want to purchase and be a part of. We’ve been able to build up inventories over the past months and be in a good position as we head into the launch period. When it comes to issues like scalping or bots, we’re working actively with our retail partners. They have programs in place to prevent a lot of this action, and we depend on those as they sell their products ourselves. We’re engaging with active users of Nintendo.com to provide products first and foremost, and people with established Nintendo accounts too, which is unique to Nintendo.com.
Switch Two Welcome Tour: A Game-Theoretic Approach to Nintendo Switch Model-Building and Trade-Off Analysis with Additional Tariffs on Japanese Exports
As I mentioned, we’re just going to have to actively assess what that impact may be. Things may change in the days ahead. So we’re just watching and trying to understand what that impact might be and what actions we might have to take.
What impact do you expect the 24% additional tariffs on Japanese exports to have on your business moving forward, not only for the Switch but for everything that Nintendo America sells?
What I can share is the $449 for the individual SKU and then the $499 for the hardware SKU plus Mario Kart World. There was no impact on pricing because it was based on previous tariffs. We have nothing further to say about pricing at this point, we’re in the process of assessing what impact may be, but like every other company, we have more to say about pricing.
That’s how Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour — a game that teaches players details about the Switch 2 and offers tech demos highlighting its key features — ended up as a paid game instead of a free pack-in title like Wii Sports or Astro’s Playroom. There is a depth of minigame experiences in the game that was being developed. “They’re very deep, they’re very repeatable. We felt that $9.99 was a good price to ask for something like that, because of the depth of play experience.
