Nintendo quietly approved Switch 2 price increase due to memory costs, says analyst

With the AI boom inflating memory costs, some fans continue to fear a Switch 2 price increase. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa recently minimized the chance of unwelcome news. Nevertheless, industry analyst Matthew Ball believes the company has already cleverly raised the console's price.

Did Nintendo sneakily raise costs?

Ball spoke to The Game Business about how the component shortages are impacting gamers. When addressing the handheld, he explained:

I think people aren’t recognizing that Switch 2 has done a pretty big price hike. Nintendo has just been able to hide it, but they might not be for much longer.

The base version of the system remains at $449.99 or €469.99 in much of the EU. However, a configuration that includes a game is no longer in stock at many storefronts. The manufacturer discontinued the Mario Kart World bundle late in 2025, with the Pokémon Legends: Z-A alternative also in short supply.

Calling the decision “primarily a DRAM thing”, Ball contends that memory costs shortened the life span of the Mario Kart World SKU. The $499.99 bundle saved some buyers $30, compared to the burden of purchasing the game separately. He claims that the end result was a “price increase for the 85% of customers that buy Mario Kart.”

Nintendo's bundle strategy was already set

The fact that Nintendo hasn’t announced a replacement package may lend credence to this theory of a Switch 2 price increase. Still, on the console’s June 2025 release date, followers knew the deal with the kart racer was temporary. Tariffs were a factor, but the manufacturer may not have forecasted astronomical memory prices at that point.

Despite its popularity, gamers also aren’t forced to purchase Mario Kart World. Regardless, Ball notes other ways that being a Nintendo supporter has become more expensive. He identifies a “bring your own storage” policy, necessitated by the handheld's limited capacity.

Switch 2 games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth consume over a third of the system’s internal drive. Given that AI data centers are also impacting NAND flash costs, MicroSD Express cards are unlikely to become more affordable.

Ball speculates that Nintendo could look for alternatives to a more obvious Switch 2 price increase. One possibility is a Nintendo Switch Online rate bump, following Sony’s lead with PlayStation Plus.