It sounds like Switch 2 might get more expensive soon

The RAM crisis is pushing video game hardware makers to reassess release dates and price points

Last week, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa told shareholders that the house of Mario had no current plans to raise the price of its $449.99 Switch 2. This week, it sounds like Nintendo isn't just considering a price increase for the console — it is reportedly weighing when it will enact a price hike.

In a Q&A investor call, Furukawa tried to quell investor concern over the RAM crisis, which is threatening to impact nearly every industry that uses computer chips. As many are well aware, the AI industry is eating up resources like water, energy, and tech availability. OpenAI alone has already secured 40% of the world's future semiconductor supply — which has ramifications for companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.

In early February, Furukawa assured investors that these supply issues did not meaningfully affect the company's profitability last year. He also did not expect much to change in the latest financial quarter. According to a translation by VGC, Furukawa claimed that the lack of a price hike reflected the company's unwillingness to be influenced by short-term trends — but future price volatility might prompt Nintendo to revisit its pricing strategy.

One week later, a report by Bloomberg claims that Nintendo is "contemplating raising the price of that device in 2026." The console, which currently retails for $449.99, is powered by chips that are technically less capable than its contemporaries. This would potentially mean that Nintendo will be charging consumers even more money for an already outdated machine.

But, given the landscape, Nintendo might be able to swing it. Microsoft raised prices for the Xbox twice in 2025. Sony updated prices for the PS5 last year as well. Both competitors technically offer consoles or cloud services that can play their respective games at lower and higher price points than that of the Switch 2. Nintendo also periodically refreshes its hardware offerings with slimmer hardware or new features. A Nintendo price increase in 2027 could be wrapped around a similar strategy. However, any new iteration of the Switch 2 would still have to contend with the same chip crisis. It's plausible that a price hike may not come with new perks at all, as the primary function would be to mitigate existing profit losses.

Things aren't looking much better for Sony and Microsoft, either. Sony started working on its next video game hardware back in 2022, with the hope of releasing a PlayStation 6 around 2027. That date was reportedly pushed back to 2028 late last year. And now, a couple of months later, even that guesstimate is increasingly sounding overly optimistic. Bloomberg notes that a 2029 PS6 release date is not out of the question.

Should Sony push things back, this would be the first time consumers would need to wait nearly a decade between console generations. The wait time between the PS4 and PS5 was only 7 years; the PS3 and PS4 saw roughly the same gap between releases. But I wouldn't be surprised if, a few months from now, we start to see whispers of an even later PS6 release date.

Given the trajectory and mass adoption of AI, things are only going to get worse. Many of us raised our eyebrows at the people who shelled out $1,000 for a PlayStation 5 back in 2020. A few years from now, that might be around the price everyone has to pay. Already, a new Xbox Series X can set you back around that much when you factor in taxes, accessories, games, and subscriptions.

But, to be honest, I'm not fretting. How much better can game graphics get from here, really? New console generations have an uncanny knack for landing just around when previous hardware really starts to find its stride. If the PS6 and next Switch take a while to get here, that's fine by me.