2026 hasn’t gotten off to the best start when it comes to the global economy. The ongoing RAM shortage is already driving up the price of electronics and computers, and things seem to get worse on a daily basis, with the US president imposing tariffs on a whim. While we haven’t seen any major price changes with video games so far this year, research firm Niko Partners believes that the Nintendo Switch 2 will see a global price hike in the coming months.
On its website today, Niko Partners posted a list of “10 Major Trends To Watch in 2026,” with a good portion of them focused on Asian markets. That makes sense as the company is located in China and conducts research based on Chinese market trends. Still, that can sometimes have crossover with the rest of the world and when it comes to the Switch 2, Niko Partners believes we’re in for a shock this year.
“We believe the Switch 2 is set to follow in Sony and Microsoft’s footsteps with its own price hike driven by the impact from tariffs, increased memory costs, and broader macroeconomic conditions,” the firm writes. It explains how Nintendo chose to ride out its original $449 price point in 2025 despite tariffs, but that was before demand for RAM and storage started to increase sharply due to demands from AI Data Centers. It concludes with, “While we do anticipate Nintendo to increase the price of the Switch 2, they may opt to discontinue the $449 SKU and only sell a $499 or higher bundle SKU instead.”
Discontinuing the $449 SKU isn’t even an option I had considered before. I’m not sure Nintendo would want to go down the route of offering $499 bundles as that then cuts into the profit margins for game sales. If anything, I would expect the Switch 2 to be $500 moving forward with bundles coming in at $550 or thereabouts. Towards the end of the 3DS’ lifecycle, we started to see bundles go up in price from the original $200 to $230, after all.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
