Then they came for the gamers, but there was no one left to speak up.
Some of the gamers had been loudly asking for it so the historical parallel breaks down a bit
Americans are going to be significantly re-evaluating what’s worth it for them now and progressively become more like consumers in other countries. As in they’ll be spending less and using things longer than before
Who knew Trump would come out great for the environment /s
I doubt that. As an American, the ones I know will continue to complain and not do anything differently unless they’re absolutely forced to. This isn’t going to force them to. It’s not life or death for a great many of them, and the ones it would be life or death for, well. They voted for the guy who decided to smack every country he could find with tariffs.
Yeah, it is more likely to have the opposite effect. Prices going up as a result of Trump’s tariffs is just going to reinforce the victim mentality his supporters have.
Let’s see if this actually happens or if people just put themselves in more debt. If there’s one thing the systems in America are good at, it’s preying on the poorer people by making all kinds of ways to still buy things and dig holes for yourself by loaning or credit cards.
Most of the family I know on my girlfriend’s side that’s been complaining about the prices going up haven’t done much more than that, complaining and slowly creeping up their credit card debt.
Some people I know will blame Obama, Hilary, and Biden.
So, yeah.
I can only hope.
In the Australian market the base model is:
- selling for au$700
- if we remove GST we get au$635…45
- and convert to USD for us$383.91
If we compare the listed US price:
- 450 ÷ 383.91 = 1.172
So the US price was already about 17% higher than our local price, a position that may have been taken in anticipation of the US tariffs.
How do the other international pre sales tax prices compare to the US? Is this pattern across the board or is Australia an anomaly?
£329.99 in the UK without VAT, which is ~$425. So a little less, but not a massive difference.
The retail price in Hong Kong is somewhat close to the US. Base costs HKD3450, which is about USD442
Same here. $630CAD, $442US. I’m sorry, but there’s no way I’m paying close to that, Nintendo.
Interesting, maybe we are just getting a good deal.
A mini competitive analysis
Steam Deck 256 GB: $400 Xbox Series X digital: $435 PS5 digital: $450 Steam Deck 512 GB: $450 Xbox Series X w/ drive: $500 PS5 w/ drive: $500 PS5 Pro digital: $700 PS5 Pro w/ drive: $780
OK, so currently Switch 2 sits in the middle of the pack and competes head-to-head with a 512 GB Steam Deck. If they somehow didn’t factor in potential tariffs, an adjusted price would be $550, near the top of the list.
I think it’s more likely they factored in a lower tariff rate and they’re now pausing to do a competitive analysis around a bump to $500. That would put it on par with the PS5 and Xbox drive versions, but it would make the Steam Deck more attractive.
It seems pretty clear Nintendo is thinking about the Steam Deck. The official Steam Deck dock also does 4K at 60 Hz. The price is the same as the 512 GB model, which has faster memory, probably like the Switch 2. That said, that Steam Deck model has double the internal storage and access to about a zillion more games. So right now they’re putting perhaps a $50 premium on it compared to the 256 GB model based on access to Nintendo exclusives.
Can the US market support a $100 Nintendo premium? Most likely… but they’re surely sensitive to another Wii U debacle, and that price will mean Switch 2 is unlikely to ever be as successful as the original. So these are likely some of the factors they’re weighing right now.
Nintendo is fairly conservative about risk. I suspect they’ll hedge their bets and pick something just shy of $500, probably $479 or $489.
Edit: A friend just informed me that during the previous Trump administration, Nintendo moved a lot of their manufacturing to Vietnam, which is subject to a 46% tariff. That changes my calculus and it may be that the price goes much higher that I originally speculated as a result.
Great info in this post
Those Biden dollar prices, though. Will other console makers stay at their current prices or will they raise prices as US stock starts to run out.
Games are not worth it anymore. I just quit gaming all together. Gaming is for the rich and children.
Patient gamers FTW
