Nintendo says it is not planning another Switch 2 price rise. In its latest earnings presentation, released on November 5, the company said it has enough consoles in stock that it does not need to raise the price any time soon, even as memory shortages push hardware costs up across the industry.
That matters because the Switch 2 has already gone up once. Nintendo raised the US price from $450 to $500 in May, citing memory costs and US tariffs, and made similar increases in other regions. For anyone waiting on a holiday purchase, the message from Kyoto is that today’s price should hold.
What Nintendo said about Switch 2 pricing
Nintendo addressed the question head-on in its earnings materials, as first reported by VGC. The company acknowledged the industry-wide shortage of memory chips, which has driven up the cost of building consoles, phones and PCs this year. However, it said its current stock of Switch 2 units means it is not considering another increase.
Nintendo did not say how long that stock will last, or what it would do if the shortage drags on. That is the part to watch. A memory maker has already warned that supply will stay tight into 2027, so this is a promise about the near term, not a price freeze.
Why the Switch 2 already costs more than at launch
Back in May, Nintendo told investors it expected about 100 billion yen in extra costs over the financial year, driven by “rising component prices, particularly for memory, and tariff measures.” The US price rise followed soon after.
| Region | Change | Reason given |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $450 to $500 | Memory costs and US tariffs |
| Other regions | Similar increases | Memory costs |
| Next increase | Not being considered | Nintendo cites current stock levels |
Nintendo is far from alone. Sony and Microsoft have both raised hardware prices this generation, and every current console now costs more than it did at launch. That includes the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, which came out six years ago. For a long time, consoles got cheaper as they got older. This generation has flipped that pattern.
Nintendo’s profits fell, but the Switch 2 is still ahead of its predecessor
The same report was not all good news. Nintendo posted a 16% fall in profit, and VGC attributes much of that to a 37% drop in Switch 2 sales compared with the same period a year earlier, when the console had just launched. Some fall-off after a launch year is normal, and Nintendo says the Switch 2 is still selling faster than the original Switch did at the same point in its life.
Nintendo set a forecast of 16.5 million Switch 2 units for this financial year back in May, describing it as “a solid level of adoption” for the console’s second year. Holding the price steady through the holidays will help it get there.
Is Ocarina of Time Nintendo’s holiday ace?
The timing of the announcement is hard to ignore. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake launched on the same day as the earnings report. It is a Switch 2 exclusive and, according to Metacritic, the highest-rated game of 2026 so far.
A system seller like that is exactly what Nintendo needs in the run-up to Christmas. Raising the price in the same month would have undercut it. Instead, Nintendo has a big exclusive, a stable price and a clear pitch for anyone who has been holding off.
What happens next
Nintendo has bought itself time, not certainty. If memory prices stay high into 2027 and its stock runs down, the question will come up again, probably at its next earnings report in early 2027. For now, if you were planning to buy a Switch 2 this holiday season, Nintendo is telling you the price will not move before you do. For more on Nintendo’s plans, read what Nintendo’s president said about a GTA 6 port for Switch 2, and keep an eye on Nintendo’s investor relations page for the full results.
