Nintendo Switch 2 price rises by $50 amid chip shortage

Nintendo's Switch 2 will cost $50 more in the U.S., climbing to $499.99 starting September 1. The price hike reflects one of the gaming industry's most pressing supply chain crises: memory chip shortages driven by explosive AI data centre demand.

The company attributed the increases to "changes in market conditions" and its "global business outlook", a careful euphemism for the cost pressures ravaging its balance sheet. Memory chip costs have spiralled beyond what anyone predicted, forcing Nintendo to absorb losses it can no longer hide.

Nintendo's financial forecast reveals the true scale of the problem. The company estimates memory price spikes and tariff measures will cost it approximately 100 billion yen, roughly $638 million, in the fiscal year ending March 2027. That staggering figure doesn't include lost sales from deterred customers.

Notably, Nintendo has cut its projection for Switch 2 units for the fiscal year to 16.5 million, a fall of 17% from the previous 19.86 million units.

Projected net sales would be 2.05 trillion yen, marking a fall of 11.4% from the previous year’s revenue. However, the analysts had forecasted 2.46 trillion yen for the firm. The profit is likely to fall by 27% to 310 billion yen, while the expected figures from the analysts were 418.5 billion yen.

"The clock has been ticking for Nintendo for months now; the impact is really significant because generally, the sales increase in their second year and not decrease like Nintendo predicts,” says Kantan Games CEO Serkan Toto speaking to CNBC.

The entertainment franchises of Nintendo are still very potent. The movie Super Mario Galaxy has earned about $900 million at the box office. Pokémon Pokopia was a surprise hit on the Switch 2. The upcoming games in the Splatoon series, Star Fox, and Pokémon in the year 2026 will be Nintendo’s best chance to break through the price point.