Nintendo mulling Switch 2 price hike in 2026, inside sources say

Nintendo may punctuate the anniversary of its newly-released Switch 2 console with a price hike--a rare occurrence that characterizes the volatility of the tech market.

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More evidence has surfaced that reinforces a Switch 2 price hike in 2026. Sources close to Nintendo's business plans tell Bloomberg that the games-maker is mulling over a Switch 2 price adjustment. It's unclear whether or not the price hike would be global or targeted, and if prices would be affected in the Americas, a region that represents over 40% of Nintendo's quarterly earnings.

Specifics on what the new prices might look like were not provided, however analyst firm Niko Partners also predicts that Nintendo could bump up the Switch 2's price tag throughout 2026. The firm expects the Switch 2 could now retail for $499 in countries like the United States.

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Last year's $450 Switch 2 Mario Kart World Tour bundle was seen to be a large effort from Nintendo to push unit sales, and the company made it clear that these bundles were scarce from the get-go.

It's also been reported that Nintendo is paying more to secure critical chips and components needed to make Switch 2 consoles. Sources told Bloomberg in December that Nintendo was now paying 41% more for the 12GB of RAM in each Switch 2 system, an increase that could affect the console's profitability.

Thanks to the value bundle, Nintendo sold 7.01 million Switch 2 consoles throughout the Holiday 2025 period, pushing total unit sales to 17.37 million as of December 2025.

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In public comments, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa tells investors that the market is essentially moving outside of their predicted range. However, Furukawa also notes that year 2 is very important for the Switch 2, so the company could maintain low prices as much as possible throughout 2026--perhaps even not boosting them until after the Holiday 2026 period.

Here's what Furukawa said in the recent Q&A with Nintendo investors:

"The current rise in memory prices is happening at a pace that exceeds our expectations. In general, the profitability of hardware tends to improve with economies of scale, and we want to continue to reduce costs as much as possible through mass production of Nintendo Switch 2 hardware.

"With regard to not selling hardware at a loss, what we are focusing on is profitability on a global basis. There are various external factors, such as fluctuations in exchange rates, but looking at the global picture, we have traditionally tried to avoid situations where individual units are sold at a loss as much as possible.

"It is difficult to predict the changes in the external environment that are currently taking place, but I think it is not an appropriate approach to be excessively influenced by short-term trends. The second and third years for Nintendo Switch 2 are very important, and if we can expand the hardware installed base, we can use that as a basis to greatly expand software sales.

"We will take this into account when making business decisions and flexibly consider various options."