Earlier this month, the current US administration implemented an additional 10% of tariffs to all goods imported to a country from China. Although the full effect of this increase is yet to be seen, it is a potential increase in prices for consoles and supplements developed in China, which, of course, is the cause of concern for both consumers and developers.
Acknowledging this, President Nintendo Shuntaro Furukawa said the company studied a potential impact that tariffs could have at the upcoming financial year and launching Switch 2. Reuters (and translated Nintendo everything), Furukawa explained at a press conference that the company “predicts different geopolitical risks and establishes ways to respond.”
“Nintendo Switch is not only produced in China,” Furukawa remarked, “but also in places like Vietnam and Cambodia.”
With many switch consoles already imported to the US by the time the tariffs came into force, Furukawa suggests that there should be a little financial damage this Fiscal year: “Although we anticipate a certain impact, it is expected that the impact on this year's financial results will be minimal.”
Nintendo president did not comment on the particular FY2025/26 and starting the Switch 2, although there is any chance that the impact can be greater.
In 2019, Nintendo expanded its production operations outside China, when the proposed tariffs once again threatened to increase prices. In the rare representation of unity, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft joined the pencil forces letter The US Government alerts the negative effects of the tariff on the game industry should be exempted from increased taxes.
The letter led to a successful outcome for companies in 2019, however, six years later, it seems that such exemptions do not currently exist. We will have to wait and see how the “minimal” impact on price increases is on consumer consumer consumer when there is a hot new console on the market.
