Nintendo to raise Switch 2 price in South Korea by 15 percent

Nintendo said it would raise the Switch 2 price in South Korea by about 15 percent, from 648,000 won to 758,000 won, on September 1. The change lands less than a year after the console launched in South Korea on June 5, 2025, and after the Mario Kart World bundle arrived at 688,000 won, already higher than many local buyers expected.

For Nintendo’s planning teams, the South Korea move is not just a regional sticker change. The company’s May 8 notice showed the same pattern spreading across major markets, with the Japanese-language Switch 2 system in Japan rising to ¥59,980 from ¥49,980 on May 25, the U.S. price moving to $499.99 from $449.99, Canada to $679.99 from $629.99, and Europe to €499.99 from €469.99 on September 1. Nintendo also said price revisions for Switch and Switch 2 would reach other regions, and that Nintendo Switch Online pricing in South Korea was headed higher as well.

The pressure behind those moves is coming from costs, not just strategy. Reuters reported that Nintendo said higher component costs, especially memory, and tariffs would add roughly 100 billion yen, or $638 million, to costs in the current financial year. Nintendo also said profitability would be roughly unchanged from the prior fiscal year after the hikes, a sign that the company is trying to protect its margin structure rather than absorb every shock at the hardware level.

That matters across the org chart. Product planners have to think about how a higher entry price affects install-base growth. Supply chain teams have to watch component swings that can move a launch plan in weeks, not quarters. Localization and retail operations have to adjust messaging by market, because a price that looks manageable in one region can hit harder in another. Investor communications now has to explain why Nintendo is revising both hardware and service pricing at once, in a year when consumers are already facing inflation and currency pressure.

South Korea makes that balancing act especially visible. Nintendo’s own service pricing in the market was also set to change on July 1, with Nintendo Switch Online’s 1-month individual plan rising to 5,900 won from 4,900 won and the 12-month individual plan rising to 24,900 won from 19,900 won. Morningstar analyst Kazunori Ito said the price increase suggests memory-cost pressure had become too severe to absorb internally, while Kantan Games founder Serkan Toto said the Switch 2 audience is especially price sensitive. For Nintendo, that leaves less room to delay the tradeoff between holding prices and protecting the business behind them.