Katelyn Wilburn, Campus Carrier staff writer

President Trump’s plans for tariffs will affect a number of products, including the new Nintendo Switch that was supposed to begin pre-ordering on April 9. Now, the Switch’s release date has been postponed, and the product’s price has the potential to rise significantly. This has raised the question of how tariffs affect products before the tariff takes place.

According to MeriStation News, the impact of the tariffs is already being felt, as Nintendo has decided to delay Switch 2 pre-ordering in the US and Canada to assess the potential impact of tariffs and current market conditions. Pre-ordering was originally scheduled to begin on April 9, and there is currently no new date for pre-ordering, and it is unclear if the console’s pricing will change.

Currently, Nintendo is working on assessing the impacts of tariffs on its newest product, in an attempt to sell the Nintendo Switch 2 at a price that will not hurt its revenue and sales.

According to the New York Times, some people are questioning whether the initial Switch cost didn’t account for Trump’s incoming tariffs, though analysts largely dispute that claim, as the Switch 2 was sold in Japan for $340. 

There are several reasons why America’s pricing is different than the pricing in other countries, a phenomenon called price differentiation. 

“The US is the richest country in the world overall,” Bryan Khoo, visiting assistant professor of economics, said. “If you scale it down to a neighborhood level, if you are going to sell coffee in a low income neighborhood, you can’t price it the same way that you charge it in a wealthier neighborhood and expect it to just even itself out. They could just be figuring out the best way to sell the most Switches to people for the market or income they are making. You can’t just lose an entire market.”

Another area of increase to not just the console itself, but the pricing of individual games. New Switch games may cost between $70 and $100, more than the $60 games used to cost. Although this seems sudden, the “real value” of Nintendo games for the past few decades has hovered around that area.

According to Ars Technica, the value of most top-end disc-based games plateaued around $70 through the 2000s and early 2010s, though inflation has slowly eroded that value to the point where a $10 increase gets games to the previous price point. 

Although some inherent factors caused a need for this fun technology to increase in price, tariffs continue to impact Nintendo. Although there has been a 90-day pause on Trump’s tariff plan, a 145% tariff on China remains, which is a setback for the production of Nintendo. 

“If I expect the price of gas to go up tomorrow, then I might go purchase gas today, to avoid that price increase tomorrow, but if everybody does that, then the price of gas is gonna go up today too,” Brian Meehan, associate professor of economics, said.

Producers and firms will cut back supply when expecting inflation to see how their costs will increase in the hope of maximizing future revenue. 

Switch players on campus have voiced concerns regarding this price increase and how it could impact a favorite pastime.

“I think, with the price rate going up, Nintendo’s probably gonna get hurt more because people are going to try to find more alternative gaming systems,” freshman Alyssa Cruz said. 

For many, Nintendo and other gaming consoles have become parts of the household or community, serving as a bonding activity or entertainment amongst family and friends.

“It’s been like the sort of bonding thing for my main friend group pretty much since we’ve all been friends,” freshman Cole Baggot said. “ [It’s] something where we can all just kind of get together, it gives us an excuse to talk and hang out.”

Now that Nintendo and other gaming consoles are closing the affordability gap with PCs, there is potential for an increase in individual gameplay over Discord or websites instead of in-person community gatherings, such as Berry’s very own gaming club and community.