Summary
As the release of the Switch 2 draws closer,Nintendohas expressed concern over how the Trump administration’s tariffs could impact the company. Tariffs have been a big topic of conversation in the industry lately, as massive proposed duties and frequent changes have made it difficult to determine if and by how much games and gaming hardware will be affected. While going over recent financial results,NintendoPresident Shuntaro Furukawa expressed that even if tariffs don’t hit the company directly, they could still hurt its future performance.
Nintendo gave fans their closest look at the upcoming Switch 2 on the same day that President Trump announced his plans for a sweeping reciprocal tariff regime. Many of those proposed import duties have since paused, andNintendo has confirmed that it won’t raise Switch 2 pricesin the US for now, but uncertainty over the future still looms over the industry.
During a press conferencecovered by The Yomiuri Shimbun, Furukawa said Nintendo could see an “impact of tens of billions of yen,” or tens of millions of US dollars, because of Trump’s tariff policy. Notably, the Nintendo President didn’t attribute that impact to higher console prices directly. Rather, he explained that if tariffs make necessities like food more expensive for American consumers, then they’d be less likely to spend money on new consoles and games. Some analysts had already predicted thatthe Switch 2 won’t sell as well as the original, so any further drop in demand is understandably worrying for Nintendo.
Nintendo Says Impact of Tariffs on US Consumers Could Hurt Video Game Sales
As the press conference highlighted, 44.2% of Nintendo’s sales in the past fiscal year came from the Americas. The American market is the company’s biggest source of income, so any changes in demand in the US could have a massive impact on Nintendo as a whole. That issue isn’t exclusive to the Mario-maker, asSony’s stock fell by 12.98%month-over-month after Trump’s initial tariff announcement. However, Nintendo had a relatively slow year in 2024 and is betting much of its 2025 performance on the Switch 2 and its games, so it may face extra pressure.
For now, demand seems relatively unaffected. TheSwitch 2 had a disastrous pre-order rolloutas retailers were overwhelmed with fans rushing to put in an order for the new console, suggesting US buyers aren’t holding back on Nintendo purchases at the moment. Furukawa did say the company expects growth in both sales and profits this year, too, but beyond 2025, the Japanese gaming giant seems less optimistic.
Nintendo
Nintendo is a Japanese video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. While producing highly popular hardware consoles like the Switch, the company is known for its many first party video game franchises like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, and many more.
