Trump’s Tariffs Cause Delay In Nintendo Switch 2 Pre-Orders For American Market
from the game-over-man dept
Last week, Mike put together a detailed post explaining the Trump tariff rollout, how the calculations for it were built, some of the more idiotic aspects of it, and basically how stupid the whole program is. If you haven’t read the whole thing, you really should. If you want the briefest of summaries: Trump based his tariff rates not on opposing tariffs, but on trade deficits, which generally made no sense and also led to him declaring a trade war on an island filled with (presumably communist) penguins.
While it is all very, very dumb, the tariff program will also have very real world effects on Americans. The primary effect will be that a ton of stuff we regularly buy will get more expensive, as makers will pass along the cost of the import tax to all of us, while domestic companies will probably just raise their own prices as well to generate better margins with less competition. But higher prices are only one negative outcome for American consumers. International businesses have also watched the chaos that has been Trump’s messaging on tariffs such that some, like Nintendo, have decided to play a wait and see game.
Switch 2 pre-orders were supposed to begin on April 9. No longer. In an unprecedented move, Nintendo announced on Friday that it’s halting pre-orders for its upcoming $450 hardware launch because of new tariffs in the U.S. set to go into effect beginning on April 5.
A statement from Nintendo, first obtained by GameSpot, reads: “Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.”
As a result of this, major American retailers that were about to start collecting revenue for the pre-orders, well, won’t. It’s a temporary situation, certainly. The Switch 2 will eventually be sold in America. But you don’t get this time back, either. On the heels of Nintendo announcing the new console publicly, this is exactly when you want to cash in on the hype by taking in pre-orders for the console. American retailers are going to miss out on that, it seems.
And the demographic cross-section that is represented by gaming customers is both expansive and not the sort of folks the GOP should be looking to piss off politically. Young people and families make up the customer base. These are the exact people that Trump and Republicans rode to victory. And the exact people that can do the most damage to the GOP in the midterms.
The rest of the gaming industry had damned well better be paying attention to this, given what it portends for their businesses down the road.
The Entertainment Software Association, a U.S. trade group that represents Nintendo and other gaming companies, said the tariffs “are going to have a real and detrimental impact on the video game industry.” ESA senior vice president Aubrey Quinn told Game File this week “Every company, every industry, the video game industry included, needs to think about what’s best for consumers, best for business, and best for employees. Supply chains are complicated and, certainly, supply chains don’t change overnight. Everything that is considered or decided can’t be a quick turnaround and can’t be a knee-jerk reaction to any particular announcement.”
It’s not a secret that I don’t think much of the ESA generally, but it’s also notable that this industry group’s sole reason for being is to lobby for whatever is best for the big gaming industry players. When that group is issuing warnings about Trump’s tariff program, you know we’re in for a bumpy ride.
Filed Under: donald trump, tariffs
Companies: nintendo
Comments on “Trump’s Tariffs Cause Delay In Nintendo Switch 2 Pre-Orders For American Market”
I am not sure if I know what that means.
It used to be normal that some areas would get the new systems first; the Famicom came more than 3 years before the Nintendo Entertainment System launched nation-wide, for example (although some lucky people in the “test markets” got it a year before the full launch). By the mid-1990s, Nintendo and competitors got that down to less than a year (to release in Japan, North America, and Europe). Even as recently as the PlayStation 4, releases were not simultaneous.
So, it seems a little odd to be overly concerned with this. I agree that the reasons are extraordinarily stupid, and that it affects a market that Trump might prefer not to alienate. Then again, Trump repeatedly promised these tariffs during the campaign, so it’s not clear the voters will be upset; maybe they’re actual masochists.
Re:
I get it: You read the article, but you’re unable to understand the impact on the US gaming industry it’s discussing.
Re: Re:
The switch 2 will be more expensive,
The xbox will also be more expensive, in fact every game system will be more expensive. PC’s will also be more expensive with the possible exception of digital storm and a couple of others depending on how many components they import as compared to source locally.But even then aluminium and steel will probably be imported so will have tariffs.
Not sure why the delay its not like the first few imports will be at old price and later they need to pay tariffs, all imports will have tariffs unless some arrived in last few days,
I am sure more local sources for everything you currently import will appear but it will take years.
Re: Re: Re:
Exactly, but the AC I responded to claimed the following:
As I stated, AC clearly did not understand the issues like you have, so it seems more than a little odd for your response to be tagged onto my comment rather than the first AC’s.
Re:
It means that the hype usually generated by people pre-ordering cannot be regained unless Nintendo moves the release window for the Switch 2, which is definitely not going to happen. The rest of your comment just shows how badly you have misunderstood the article, never mind the issue it highlights.
Re: Re:
Okay, that makes sense. I do wonder how much negative long-term effect the absence of a launch-time frenzy will have, but that’s a specific question that can be researched.
How so? It doesn’t help to say there was a misunderstanding without saying where.
That Trump’s a moron who’s fucking up the world economy? That’s clear enough. Or do you mean something more specific?
Re: Re: Re:
Specifically, the second paragraph of your comment, which rambles on about differences between release windows in the past, yet doesn’t acknowledge the fact that pre-ordering didn’t exist back then. If you still don’t get it, then even remedial programs can’t help you.
Actually, it’s about ethics in game tariffs.
In fairness, Nintendo has said the Switch 2 release will not be delayed at all in the U.S. The pre-order window is what’s affected.
Re:
Not the point at all, but you knew that.
Re:
Yes, but there will be some people who would have pre-ordered now who won’t buy a console immediately once it’s available (whether because they forget, because the hype has died down a bit, or because they can’t find one to purchase when it drops). In the long term the numbers probably won’t be affected, but in the short term there will be less consoles sold. Probably a lot less.
Re:
But pre-orders allow game shops to estimate how much consoles they’ll sell in the first weeks, and so, how much they can buy in advance.
Without pre-orders, gamers cannot be sure if they’ll have a console in the first weeks (without buying second hand, which could be more expensive).
Re: Re:
Also, pre-orders are generally great for Nintendo’s profits, so canceling them suggests Nintendo won’t be able to fulfill early demand (why else would they do it?). A Switch 2 at MSRP is gonna be harder to find than a reasonably-priced egg.
Gamers can be sure they won’t have one—not without heroic search efforts, great luck, or a payment to a scalper.
Tariffs are paid by the importer
I enjoyed the column, but you write “makers will pass along the cost of the import tax.” I believe makers don’t pay the import tax; the importers pay it. Still, the tariff will be reflected in the selling price since importers will want to recover their costs (cost of goods purchased from the maker plus the cost of the tariff the importer must pay).
Re:
Yep, the importer needs to do some math to set a new introduction price. A 34% tariff added to $450 makes a new price of $603.
Re:
So… Nintendo of America pays, rather than its parent company Nintendo Co., Ltd. or their contract manufacturer (probably Foxconn)?
It’s probably a distinction that matters in some contexts, but, as you say, doesn’t help Americans who want Nintendo products.
The “exclusive” $80 Mario Kart World is enough to drive me away from buying this system and its other “exclusive” games. It has been a while since I looked at how much games cost, but I can tell you I don’t ever remember spending $80 on one game in the past.
A canary perhaps?
Is this case a sign of things to come?
International businesses deciding to do the Internet thing and just routing around the damage to the international network of trade?
I know y’all think that the USA is the cornerstone of everything, but surely isolating the isolationists is at least one of the options the rest of the international trading world might consider.