Americans might not be able to pre-order the Nintendo Switch 2 for a while.
Nintendo recently unveiled the Nintendo Switch 2, a handheld gaming console set to launch this summer. After the big reveal, however, the company announced (via Gamespot) that its initial pre-order date of 9 April, 2025 in the United States had been postponed indefinitely. The company cited new tariffs from the Trump Administration as a reason for the delay, amid speculation that the tariffs could also see increased prices for the new console and its games.
This would worsen ongoing criticism against the Nintendo Switch 2, centred around its shockingly high game prices.
Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders delayed in the U.S.
Americans will have to wait a little longer to pre-order the Nintendo Switch 2. While Nintendo originally announced that the console would be available for pre-orders on 9 April, 2025, recent events have caused the company to cancel pre-orders in America for the time being. Nintendo is still planning to release the console on its originally-announced launch date of 5 June, 2025, pre-orders or no.
By recent events, we are referring to the recent tariffs imposed on major regions globally by the United States. Last week, the Trump administration announced these tariffs – which are taxes to be charged on the goods imported from other countries – with Japan specifically being hit by a major 24% tariff. Japan was clearly not expecting such a high rate for these tariffs, with its Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba referring to them as a “national crisis” last Friday (4 April, 2025).
These tariffs put Nintendo in a sticky position. Will the company absorb the extra cost imposed by these tariffs at no expense to the consumer, or will it pass at least a percentage of the cost down to them? Some have speculated that the high price of the Nintendo Switch 2 and its games were set with the tariffs taken into account. However, it should be noted that the console and its price were revealed before the tariffs, and Nintendo could not have known that Japan would be hit with a 24% rate in advance.
Hence, Nintendo has delayed pre-order dates for the console in the U.S. It’s unknown if the company is looking to increase the price of its new hardware, or is taking other factors into account with the announcement of the tariffs. The bottom line is that American buyers will have to wait until a new pre-order date is announced.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is still planned for a 5 June, 2025 launch date. Read about all the reveal announcements from last week’s Nintendo Switch 2 Direct here.
