Nintendo Switch 2 Report Claims “Millions of Consoles” Being Stocked After U.S. Tariff Pause

Tariffs have been a big cause for concern for the video game industry, and for Nintendo in particular. Nintendo Switch 2 is set to be released in June, and the company has had to work around steep tariffs in both China and Vietnam. While Nintendo had a plan in place to avoid the tariffs on China, U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed 46% tariff on Vietnam could have led to major problems. Yesterday, President Trump announced that the tariff on Vietnam has been lowered to just 10%, at least for the next 90 days. According to a report from Bloomberg, Nintendo plans to take great advantage of that pause.

Bloomberg estimates that 1/3 of all Nintendo Switch 2 consoles are made in Vietnam. In February alone, Switch 2 assembler Hosiden Corp. shipped more consoles to the U.S. from Vietnam than it had in the prior 6 months altogether. With the tariff now significantly reduced, it’s possible that all of the systems made in that region between now and June will be shipped directly to the U.S. Bloomberg believes this will lead to “a stockpile of millions of consoles.” Nintendo recently announced plans to indefinitely postpone the launch of Switch 2 in China. Presumably, that could result in more systems produced in that country being shipped to Japan and Europe, as a 125% tariff on goods from China was announced by the U.S. yesterday.

At this time, it’s unclear if Nintendo plans on raising the price of Switch 2, or if the announced price of $449.99 will remain intact. Bernstein analyst Robin Zhu told Bloomberg that “if the tariffs stay at 10%, Nintendo probably keeps pricing at $450 and just takes the hit on margin.” However, Zhu believes that if the tariffs go back up, that number could jump to somewhere between $500 and $50. That’s in keeping with the estimate from DFC Intelligence earlier this week, which would be an increase to $530.

The tariff situation in the United States has caused a lot of uncertainty for both companies and consumers. Preorders for Nintendo Switch 2 were supposed to take place on April 9th, but were delayed in both the U.S. and Canada, as a direct result of the tariffs. Now that things have somewhat settled, fans are waiting on an announcement about when preorders will open, and if the price will remain the same. With less than 2 months left until launch, Nintendo will likely try to get this information out quickly.

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There has been a lot of anticipation surrounding Nintendo Switch 2. After years of rumors, Nintendo finally announced the system back in January, before offering a full reveal earlier in April. With exclusive games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza set to be released this year, a lot of people are going to want the system sooner, rather than later. Hopefully this tariff pause will give Nintendo the opportunity it needs to build a large amount of stock to meet the high demand.

Do you plan on buying a Nintendo Switch 2 this year? How big of an impact do you think the tariff situation will have on sales? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!