Nintendo USA is not accepting pre-orders for Switch 2
The new console was supposed to be available to order in the USA next week – This has now been canceled, as Nintendo has confirmed. Trump's tariffs are to blame
In the USA, the Switch 2 is already starting to falter before the launch – like Luigi here in the new "Mario Kart World".
(Image: Nintendo)
Nintendo wanted to start pre-orders for the Switch 2, which was unveiled last Wednesday, in the USA soon. This will now come to nothing, as the company has confirmed to the BBC: "Pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not begin on April 9 to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions."
According to the BBC, the company shared this wording last Friday. Nevertheless, the report continues, the new console will also be launched in the USA on June 5, 2025, as previously planned. The company has not yet provided any further details, so it is also questionable whether Nintendo will be able to maintain the planned price of 450 US dollars plus local taxes in the USA. It is conceivable that this will now be higher, or that Nintendo will redistribute the contingents of the console, which will be released at the same time worldwide.
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The decision to halt pre-orders also indicates that the company did not expect such high tariffs on imports to the USA so quickly or at all. These amount to 24 percent for Japan, for example, and 34 percent for China. However, it is not yet known where Nintendo will ultimately manufacture the Switch 2 and from where it will be imported into the USA.
In Japan, the tariffs are now seen as a "national crisis", as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in parliament on Friday. According to a report in the Japan Times, Ishiba called on the country to make a joint effort: "The government will do its utmost to respond to this crisis, involving the whole country."
(nie)
