U.S. families with young gamers can breathe a sigh of relief this week as Goldman analysts told clients that the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 won’t see price hikes due to the ongoing trade war.

Nintendo’s hotly anticipated Switch 2 is now available for pre-orders at major U.S. retailers as of early Thursday morning. 

According to the tech blog Tom’s Guide, demand for the new console is so intense that major retailers’ websites are crashing, with “sold out” notifications appearing across some platforms operated by Walmart, Target, and Best Buy.

Nintendo Switch 2 will retail for $449, with the Mario Kart World bundle costing $499.

The good news for U.S. families who are avoiding tariff landmines as President Trump tries to negotiate an ‘America First’ trade deal with the Communist Chinese is that Goldman gaming analysts Minami Munakata and Haruki Kubota said console prices will remain at pre-trade war levels.

Here’s more color on this from Munakata:

On April 18 (U.S. time), Nintendo announced that pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 will begin in the U.S. on April 24. The company had originally planned to begin pre-orders on April 9 but announced on April 5 (U.S. time) that it was postponing the start of pre-orders following the Trump administration’s announcement of new tariff policies.

The console price will be US$449.99, as originally announced. However, prices for peripherals, such as controllers and cameras, have been raised by around 5%-10% from the initially announced prices, and the company said that further price revisions are possible depending on changes in the market environment.

Munakata explained to clients Nintendo’s move to keep console prices at pre-trade war prices “makes sense in view of potential medium- to long-term impact on software sales.” 

She continued:

We believe the decision to keep the console price unchanged reduces the need for concern about the impact on unit sales forecasts. Growth in the installed base for game hardware is essential for sales of game software, which accounts for the majority of Nintendo’s profits. While US-bound hardware, which we assume will be shipped from Vietnam, will likely face a cost increase due to the 10% universal tariff (reciprocal tariff is paused), we view Nintendo’s decision to prioritize a smooth launch for the Nintendo Switch 2 by keeping the console price unchanged in the U.S. (one of its most important markets) as a reasonable one, given the focus on long-term growth of the Nintendo Switch 2 platform.

Separately, an overnight report from Bloomberg stated that the demand for Switch 2 in Japan has been “overwhelming.”

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa wrote on X:

“We have received 2.2 million applications for the lottery sale at our official online store for customers in Japan alone, which is far larger than what we had anticipated. As such, we apologize that a significant number of the applicants won’t be selected.”

Uh oh…Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has publicly apologized for underestimating Switch 2 demand in Japan after the lottery system there received 2.2 million applications. They are expecting that a “significant number” of people will not be selected to purchase a console. https://t.co/tZ3XPQW9i9 pic.twitter.com/6ih9UCQHwt

— Nintendeal (@Nintendeal) April 23, 2025

Pelham Smithers of Japan-focused equity research house Pelham Smithers Associates said Japan accounts for about a third of the global Switch installation base, which implies 6.6 million pre-orders globally. 

Back to Goldman’s Munakata, she provided more details about Nintendo’s tariff impact:

A Bloomberg report on April 10 suggested that over 1 mn game consoles were exported from Vietnam to the U.S. in Jan-Feb 2025 (we believe that Nintendo accounts for the majority of game consoles produced in Vietnam, and that most US-bound Nintendo hardware is produced there). Based on the report, Nintendo may be able to build up inventory to meet most of its U.S. demand for FY3/26 before the end of the tariff pause (90 days from April 9). We believe this means the potential negative earnings impact from lower hardware profitability is likely to be limited in the near term (our FY3/26 Nintendo Switch 2 shipment assumption is 6 mn units for the Americas and 14.5 mn units overall).

Near-term earnings impact likely limited, but watching news flow for any medium- to long-term impact.

On the other hand, if the announced 46% tariff gets imposed on exports from Vietnam after the tariff pause, we believe extended imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the Trump administration could still put downward pressure on Nintendo’s earnings over the medium to long term. If the impact of the tariffs were to be passed on through higher selling prices, this could lead to a lower unit sales outlook for hardware. If Nintendo were to absorb the costs while keeping the selling price unchanged, this could lower hardware profitability. In either case, the tariffs could put downward pressure on Nintendo’s earnings, so we will continue to monitor news flow related to tariffs.

Despite the tariff impacts, Munakata remained “Buy” rated on Nintendo…

Our 12-month target price of ¥13,600 is unchanged, and we maintain our Buy rating.

Last month, Munakata wrote a note stating that Switch 2 will “unlock dormant hardware and dormant users” and send “the number of active consoles to continue to renew record highs.”

Separately, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto VI’s release later this year is expected to provide additional tailwinds for the gaming industry, which had been stuck in a rut for years but appears to have entered a renewed growth trajectory in 2024.

The good news is that Switch 2 remains at pre-trade war prices.