The value of the yen compared to other currencies has fallen through the floor since 2022, so this isn't unexpected - Nintendo had to do something to equalize prices somewhat. The dollar's global value has also weakened noticeably since (checks notes) April 2, 2025 and Canada has had currency struggles as well the last few years.
> Given that the impact of various changes in market conditions is expected to extend over the medium to long term, price revisions are also planned outside Japan as described below.
Current Price Revised Price
United States $449.99 $499.99
Canada $629.99 $679.99
Europe €469.99 €499.99
These price changes reflect more than just Yen value dropping.
You got the relationship between currency value and export prices upside down. Usually when your local currency devalues, it will make your exported goods cheaper in other countries.
This is why the US always accuses (justified or not) other countries artificially keeping their currencies undervalued, by the way.
This is a large price rise in domestic (Japanese) markets, with a small rise in other countries. This is impacting Japanese consumers the most.
Nintendo is a very Japanese-centric, proud company. For those not aware, Nintendo has been avoiding repricing domestically until now by selling a "Japanese-only Switch" locked to Japan in order to prevent foreign arbitrage. But the currency pressure is too strong.
Hardware is just one aspect of sales though. I assume they have much higher margin on software, especially rereleases of existing games on whatever the next platform is.
If you consider the jump in price of DRAM due to hyperscalers to not be a considerable factor in this increase, please state so. Your comment leaving this out makes it harder to trust.
You can still 100% get a great 2nd hand gaming pc for that amount. That will play all games, including all console games from every era, and will last for 10 years at least. Also you can use it to make music / art / software and also do most jobs.
A lot of sellers will even throw in the peripherals for free.
I might buy up a few now while they are left.
Also never buy 1st hand desktop hardware, total waste of money, the price drop from 1st hand to 2nd hand is insane, but desktop components dont degrade that much, theyre still mostly following IBM's sane design pattern, so you're getting a massive price drop with no downside.
You can't play Pokopia, DK Bonanza or Mario Kart World on PC. Even with a 5090. You also can't play Cyberpunk 2077 on the plane or train with a 2nd hand desktop unlike the Switch 2.
They showed some good will towards protecting the local market against blatant currency manipulation but it is an important market for them and at this point it doesn't look like the JCB is going to react. They just "intervened" the Gopher back to what it was a few weeks ago.
Yes, there is no OLED version like they later released for the original Switch.
OLED is probably better overall but it can be harder to use in bright sunshine and you have the risk of burn-in if you accidentally leave the screen turned on for hours or something.
Really? They released a second generation with screen being worse than installed in the first generation (even non-oled version)?
We have two switches in our family, both first gen, one usual and one oled. Standalone, usual screen is bearable, compared to oled it is quite bad, but if the new screen is even worse?? I can’t find any explanation for this except of greediness from Nintendo
I have the switch 2 and an OLED steam deck and it's not even close - the switch 2 screen is just not very good. To a point where if you have grey on grey movement you can see visible smearing like it's some old LCD from 20 years ago. When an OLED version comes out I'll definitely upgrade(so I guess the joke is on me, because I'll end up buying the same console twice just to have the screen that it should have had from the beginning)
The leaks have been coming out for months now and say it is supposedly coming out this fall. The upcoming Legend of Zelda film sets seem to be based on Ocarina of Time, recent merchandise (LEGO sets, etc.) are based on Ocarina of Time to enhance marketing, etc.
Nintendo just dropped the official Starfox 64 remake news yesterday, so this rumor is likely pretty legitimate.
I don't play games much anymore, but that's something I will absolutely revisit due to nostalgia.
I can see why you thought it was, but "Open Price" in Japan means that the manufacturer has forgo setting the price themselves, unlike the previous policy that the price is dictated by Nintendo (in this case). The wholeseller's price... is simply not disclosed here, there's an NDA on that one (even with other companies such as Sony).
Generally speaking, that's incorrect. That's like saying "I don't like cars, and don't see the value in cars, therefore the market for cars is fraudulent".
That's not the case with AI. Buyers are getting what they want. The demand is real. YOU might not value what they're getting, but that doesn't make it fraudulent.
This is why people misunderstand why AI isn't a bubble. A bubble is asset prices rising due to speculative demand far beyond what the actual demand is.
AI - specifically chip and memory markets feeding AI - is a demand shock on par with World War 2 in its impact. NVIDIA is legitimately forecasting demand of $1 trillion in their chips+memory by the end of 2027.
This is actual, real, shipping physical product: not vapor, not something that will disappear, not something that will "crash" suddenly. The world has changed.
> Do not buy anything new, especially graphics cards. Buy on Ebay but avoid bidding wars.
And what then? If you did manage to convince everyone to stop buying consumer graphics cards, wouldn't Nvidia just reasonably dedicate 100% of its resources to AI?
Why would they have to offset the cost? They are just saying, being in Japan is a cheaper experience right now than ever before (not sure if it is true). The cost to get there is their only impediment. They still want to go and eat food and see experiences they cannot get at home.
Also, if the trip is of sufficient length, you can totally offset the cost.
When I lived in NYC, I used to travel to the UK a few times a year, and the flights between NYC and London were around $500 round trip. The cost of eating in the UK was typically 1/2 that of NYC, plus cool castles and history.
Switch 1 still has more games than I have time to play, plenty of them around to get.
I bought a switch 2 for one main reason: speed.
Switch 2 is backwards compatible with switch 1.
Switch 2 has better FPS for Switch 1 games. Like BotW stops having terrible FPS drops in certain scenarios.
Switch 2 loads games faster. There are test videos out there, but it's up to twice as fast.
I like the joycon 2 controllers ergonomics more.
Probably related to RAM and storage prices going up just like with the PS5.
The value of the yen compared to other currencies has fallen through the floor since 2022, so this isn't unexpected - Nintendo had to do something to equalize prices somewhat. The dollar's global value has also weakened noticeably since (checks notes) April 2, 2025 and Canada has had currency struggles as well the last few years.
> Given that the impact of various changes in market conditions is expected to extend over the medium to long term, price revisions are also planned outside Japan as described below.
These price changes reflect more than just Yen value dropping.You got the relationship between currency value and export prices upside down. Usually when your local currency devalues, it will make your exported goods cheaper in other countries.
This is why the US always accuses (justified or not) other countries artificially keeping their currencies undervalued, by the way.
> The value of the yen compared to other currencies has fallen through the floor since 2022...
That would normally allow them to keep prices of export goods low...
This is a large price rise in domestic (Japanese) markets, with a small rise in other countries. This is impacting Japanese consumers the most.
Nintendo is a very Japanese-centric, proud company. For those not aware, Nintendo has been avoiding repricing domestically until now by selling a "Japanese-only Switch" locked to Japan in order to prevent foreign arbitrage. But the currency pressure is too strong.
The thing is dependent on imported RAM. The flip side of this.. have you seen SK Hynix stock price lately?
You’ll notice they raised prices in Japan by A Lot, but the US price is only up $50.
Uuuuuuh, ¥10,000 is currently about $64, so it's not that much different to be calling it "a lot".
It totally depends on if you need to import things to transform them or if you source mostly locally in your supply chain.
>since April 2, 2025
This current inflation spike peaked in 2022. If anything, its been easing in 2025.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FPCPITOTLZGUSA
https://cpiinflationcalculator.com/2025-cpi-and-inflation-da...
Check out the US dollar index on a 5-year view: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/quote/DX-Y.NYB/
Inflation is just one factor and is not limited to one country. This shows the US dollar vs other currencies.
The truth is that you can increase prices by 50% and if you loose 50% of sales you are still in a good place as your costs also drop.
They have little uncertainty to work with, they don't need their consumers as much.
They're continuing their anti consumer policies
Hardware is just one aspect of sales though. I assume they have much higher margin on software, especially rereleases of existing games on whatever the next platform is.
That's very simplistic. They also earn money on sales, both first-party and third-party games, so they need a large audience.
Hang on, halving your sales means doubling your price to stay even (ignoring your own cost), right?
I have a bridge to sell you …
If you consider the jump in price of DRAM due to hyperscalers to not be a considerable factor in this increase, please state so. Your comment leaving this out makes it harder to trust.
£385 in argos and smyths at the mo for any UK folk!
Can't you take a trip to France and shop tax free? That would shave off around 25% of the price.
Picked mine up last week, they had a deal with a game too which dropped £20 off Mario Wonder.
I remember when Nintendo bundled the best Mario game with their consoles, not the worst.
You can still 100% get a great 2nd hand gaming pc for that amount. That will play all games, including all console games from every era, and will last for 10 years at least. Also you can use it to make music / art / software and also do most jobs.
A lot of sellers will even throw in the peripherals for free.
I might buy up a few now while they are left.
Also never buy 1st hand desktop hardware, total waste of money, the price drop from 1st hand to 2nd hand is insane, but desktop components dont degrade that much, theyre still mostly following IBM's sane design pattern, so you're getting a massive price drop with no downside.
You can't play Pokopia, DK Bonanza or Mario Kart World on PC. Even with a 5090. You also can't play Cyberpunk 2077 on the plane or train with a 2nd hand desktop unlike the Switch 2.
....and how are you going to carry that gaming PC onto a plane?
Like, it's a portable console, it's not a competition for a desktop PC in any way.
Has this ever happened before?
I was wondering the same thing - I grew up thinking of console prices as something that invariably fell over time
Ram prices went up, normally they go down.
PlayStation 5 has a price increase in August, 2022. I think this was the very first time this happened.
Xbox Series X had one in June, 2023.
Nintendo Switch (original) had a price increase last year.
I don't remember this ever happening before the 2020s unless it was due to retailer shortages or markups.
The price increases aren't massive though, I think I'll still wait for a mainline Mario game.
It's relatively mild for EU and US, but for JP it's a 20% increase. Finally going to get one after the announcement.
They showed some good will towards protecting the local market against blatant currency manipulation but it is an important market for them and at this point it doesn't look like the JCB is going to react. They just "intervened" the Gopher back to what it was a few weeks ago.
I remember reading that the screen is worse than v1, is that still true ?
I have the originals of both, the screen is much better on the switch 2. Don't have any other similar devices or the OLED version.
In the Switch 2 Welcome Tour app they even have demos to highlight the improvement in the screen quality compared to the switch
Yes, there is no OLED version like they later released for the original Switch.
OLED is probably better overall but it can be harder to use in bright sunshine and you have the risk of burn-in if you accidentally leave the screen turned on for hours or something.
Really? They released a second generation with screen being worse than installed in the first generation (even non-oled version)?
We have two switches in our family, both first gen, one usual and one oled. Standalone, usual screen is bearable, compared to oled it is quite bad, but if the new screen is even worse?? I can’t find any explanation for this except of greediness from Nintendo
The Switch 2 screen is way better than Switch 1 non-OLED.
So, they are not soo greedy, but greedy enough to not make it an OLED and later add a separate pricier OLED version.
I have the switch 2 and an OLED steam deck and it's not even close - the switch 2 screen is just not very good. To a point where if you have grey on grey movement you can see visible smearing like it's some old LCD from 20 years ago. When an OLED version comes out I'll definitely upgrade(so I guess the joke is on me, because I'll end up buying the same console twice just to have the screen that it should have had from the beginning)
I'll wait for the Ocarina of Time remake.
The leaks have been coming out for months now and say it is supposedly coming out this fall. The upcoming Legend of Zelda film sets seem to be based on Ocarina of Time, recent merchandise (LEGO sets, etc.) are based on Ocarina of Time to enhance marketing, etc.
Nintendo just dropped the official Starfox 64 remake news yesterday, so this rumor is likely pretty legitimate.
I don't play games much anymore, but that's something I will absolutely revisit due to nostalgia.
For adults, sure. For kids saving for the console it may be problematic.
And new prices for playing cards not even set yet... TIL nintendo still makes cards in japan.
I can see why you thought it was, but "Open Price" in Japan means that the manufacturer has forgo setting the price themselves, unlike the previous policy that the price is dictated by Nintendo (in this case). The wholeseller's price... is simply not disclosed here, there's an NDA on that one (even with other companies such as Sony).
I'll buy it once Winds and Waves comes out. The increase isn't THAT much.
Never buy a switch later. Nintendo prices don't fall and if, it takes ages.
Is Mario Kart on the switch 1 still $70?
I paid like $10 for a used copy of the Wii U version
It's €80 digital and €90 physical here in Spain. :(
Does this exclude Australia?
No - https://www.vooks.net/nintendo-raising-switch-2-switch-and-s...
Lol, keep buying it. Investor profits must be protected at any cost.
That is another victim of all hardware being hoovered up by AI fraudsters.
People need to go to the classic class warfare methods:
- Do not buy anything new, especially graphics cards. Buy on Ebay but avoid bidding wars.
- Use adblockers and do not pay for any company's services if the company promotes AI.
- If it is true that Nintendo is lobbying against AI in Japan, still buy Nintendo of course.
The AI people think they don't need us, let their stocks crash.
I assume by "AI fraudsters" you mean companies whose product are in extremely high demand by everyone.
Just because something is heavily in demand doesn't mean it's not fraudulent.
Generally speaking, that's incorrect. That's like saying "I don't like cars, and don't see the value in cars, therefore the market for cars is fraudulent".
That's not the case with AI. Buyers are getting what they want. The demand is real. YOU might not value what they're getting, but that doesn't make it fraudulent.
This is why people misunderstand why AI isn't a bubble. A bubble is asset prices rising due to speculative demand far beyond what the actual demand is.
AI - specifically chip and memory markets feeding AI - is a demand shock on par with World War 2 in its impact. NVIDIA is legitimately forecasting demand of $1 trillion in their chips+memory by the end of 2027.
This is actual, real, shipping physical product: not vapor, not something that will disappear, not something that will "crash" suddenly. The world has changed.
Classic class warfare. ”Buy on eBay”. Sure worked for the bolsheviks!
> Do not buy anything new, especially graphics cards. Buy on Ebay but avoid bidding wars.
And what then? If you did manage to convince everyone to stop buying consumer graphics cards, wouldn't Nvidia just reasonably dedicate 100% of its resources to AI?
Pokémon Land/Factories
I wish I have the means to travel to Japan right now because prices never been cheaper, especially food. Feels like missing out on a great opportunity
What a wild statement, how much you have to eat in Japan to offset the airline ticket prices?
Why would they have to offset the cost? They are just saying, being in Japan is a cheaper experience right now than ever before (not sure if it is true). The cost to get there is their only impediment. They still want to go and eat food and see experiences they cannot get at home.
Also, if the trip is of sufficient length, you can totally offset the cost.
When I lived in NYC, I used to travel to the UK a few times a year, and the flights between NYC and London were around $500 round trip. The cost of eating in the UK was typically 1/2 that of NYC, plus cool castles and history.
I’m assuming GP would like to visit Japan anyway.