No Second Switch 2 Price Hike Planned, Nintendo Says, as Sales Fall 37.4%

Nintendo says it is not planning another Switch 2 price hike, a rare piece of reassuring news in a console market that has been getting more expensive. The company’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, made the comments during Nintendo’s latest earnings call, according to Reuters reporting relayed by both Polygon and The Verge.

What Nintendo actually said about the Switch 2 price hike

Furukawa said Nintendo is “not considering additional changes” to the Switch 2’s price. On the memory shortage behind the industry’s price increases, he said there has been “no major change to the memory situation and Nintendo is in a position to secure sufficient quantities.” The statement is a commitment about current intentions, not a permanent price guarantee. It does suggest Nintendo believes it can get enough RAM to avoid passing new costs on to buyers.

The reassurance follows a $50 increase on Sept. 1, 2026. The two sources disagree on the resulting price. The Verge puts the Switch 2’s starting price at $499, while Polygon refers to a $449.99 price point. The sources don’t explain the gap, so shoppers should check current retail listings.

Sales and profit are under pressure

The earnings figures explain why investors are nervous. The Verge reports that Switch 2 sales are down 37.4 percent year over year. Reuters, via Polygon, says operating profit fell 16% to 73.9 billion yen (roughly $468 million) last quarter, below analyst estimates. Investors are reportedly worried about both the memory crunch and a thin lineup of big Switch 2 releases.

Nintendo did not change its full-year profit forecast or its target of selling 16.5 million Switch 2 units. The company is betting that its holiday lineup will carry it. That includes the newly launched Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, which Polygon says arrived to strong reviews. Analyst Serkan Toto expects Zelda to give Nintendo a solid quarter. He also noted that the company won’t release blockbuster titles until the next fiscal year.

Polygon also reports that Nintendo could try to make up revenue by raising Switch Online subscription prices. That is speculation, not an announcement.

A supply scare and a broader market squeeze

The memory picture is not entirely calm. The Verge notes that one of Nintendo’s Switch 2 cartridge suppliers said this week it will stop making ROM memory and focus on memory for data centers. Demand from AI data centers is the main driver of the ongoing RAM shortage and the wave of tech price increases. Furukawa’s comments suggest Nintendo isn’t worried about its own supply, but the supplier’s exit shows how far the shortage is reaching.

Rivals have been hit harder. Per The Verge, Microsoft has raised Xbox Series X and S prices several times, taking the Series S from $299 to $499. Polygon says the Series X now costs $799.99, which is $300 more than before. The PlayStation 5 starts at $649 according to The Verge, and Polygon puts it $150 above its 2020 launch price. Industry-wide console sales fell 29% in July from a year earlier, a decline Polygon partly attributes to higher prices.

What comes next for Switch 2 owners

Nintendo’s next major first-party release is Metroid Ravenous on Jan. 28, 2027. Other Switch 2 exclusives planned for 2027 include Xenoblade Genesis, The Duskbloods, Pokémon Waves and Winds, Onyx: The Dark Grip and Kirby and the World Beyond. DLC is also planned for Pokémon Pokopia and Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave.

For now, the message is that the Switch 2 price hike that took effect in September should be the last, at least while memory supply holds. The harder question is whether a more expensive console and a quiet release calendar can keep Nintendo on track for its 16.5 million unit target.

Explore more on this topic with Vexel Search.

File photo: Nintendo Switch 2-Konsole IL 20250606.png by PantheraLeo1359531, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.