They'll just lower the price after they got a tariff refund, right?
Well, yes AND no. Anything that was noted as affected by the tariffs would potentially be decreased as the market settled (and it could be determined that prices could be lowered without risking losses)
IF tariffs were the only issue, but it was never said that the Switch 2 prices were affected by tariffs. (It could be argued they prepared the materials and manufacturing for Switch 2 well before the tariffs were applied, while everything else - amiibos, Switch, accessories, etc - were not on surplus and instead on "order based on market demand".) But even if Switch 2 prices
were affected by tariffs, the fact of the matter is that when it comes to economics, end-user pricing never goes down as quickly as it can spike up in response to a sudden inflation.
And that's especially true if
OTHER factors (ex: RAM/storage shortages, an oil shortage disrupting supply chains, etc) come into play that create further instability in the economy. Until
all issues contributing to current inflation are resolved and the market has had a chance to stabilize, expect only price increases going forward. On
everything.
THAT BEING SAID:
I think it's not as bad with Nintendo. They've only raised prices in response to tarrifs and shortages, wheras Xbox and Playstation were having price raises regardless. Plus Nintendo is still able to have online play at far less than what PSN or Xbox Live ever cost.
I have to agree with this, especially on the Xbox front. On the Sony front, last time PS+ prices were increased before this one was in 2023,
after COVID stopped being a widespread market-disrupting issue and things started normalizing again.
Worse on the Xbox front with with GamePass - even
before tariffs and RAM/storage shortages (and, arguably,
even before COVID), Microsoft was
ALREADY increasing prices as often as they could get away with it. Remember, this is the same company that originally planned to release Games for Windows Live as a
PAID SUBSCRIPTION-BASED SERVICE on PC before customers caught wind of it and forced them to scrap that plan. Anyone who truly thought GP was going to stay at USD $10-$15/m for longer than it did was deluding themselves into believing that Microsoft, at the first chance it had,
wouldn't screw them faster than a trickster god on equal portions adrenaline and meth.
Source
