Nintendo Switch 2 Prices? The ESA Warns Trump’s Tariffs Will Reach Far Beyond That

There is a bit of blindness going on when it comes to the effect of Donald Trump’s recent mass tariffs in the video game industry. Much of the focus has been on how it may affect the Nintendo Switch 2, which was just priced at a rather high $450 this past week, with the idea the hardware may go higher than that as a result of tariffs hitting Japan and manufacturing partners like Vietnam and Cambodia.

Now, America’s Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is commenting on the tariffs, and warning everyone that this is more far-reaching than a single, upcoming console. In an interview with IGN’s Rebekah Valentine, the ESA’s spokesperson, Aubrey Quinn, had this to say about the situation:

“We really are, at this point, just watching and trying not to have knee-jerk reactions, because we don’t think that what President Trump announced this week is the end of the story, but what was announced this week and the tariffs as outlined, we do expect these tariffs will have a real and detrimental impact on the industry and the hundreds of millions of Americans who love to play games. And so our goal is to work with the administration, to work with other elected officials to try to find a solution that doesn’t damage U.S. industries, U.S. business, but also American gamers and families.”

How, specifically? It’s a chain reaction. Tariffs will lower consumer spending due to high prices on essentials, which likely will reduce purchases of “luxury” items in the gaming sphere, where prices will also be up in that sector, most likely. Then, profits go down, industry layoffs may happen (which are obviously already happening), and that means less development in the industry. Quinn says that could even affect next generation consoles outside of the Switch 2, even if they’re years away. If those are suddenly much more expensive to develop and build, that may change the core of some of these systems.

The ESA says it’s talking to the government with other consumer groups, but at this point, it’s a little hard to see what impact that may have given that almost every industry is being touched in some way by these tariffs, so they’re sort of just another voice yelling in the crowd. They recommend gamers reach out to their own representatives to complain about the situation.

It is too early to know exactly what will happen in the industry, specifically, outside of “bad things.” Prices have not been raised, companies have not announced significant strategic changes, but obviously it has not even been a week since these tariffs were announced, and the dust is far from settling. There was some pre-emptive action taken on the assumption tariffs would be implemented, but that created situations like Nintendo moving hardware production out of China to Vietnam and Cambodia where now both of those countries have been slapped with some of the highest tariffs of them all. It’s a mess, though of course it reaches far beyond the Nintendo Switch 2.

Read the full IGN interview here.

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