GAME ON!

NINTENDO'S HIGHLY ANTICIPATED SWITCH 2 WAS SUPPOSED TO BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO THE VIDEO GAME GIANT—BUT TRUMP'S TRADE WAR IS THREATENING TO UPEND IT ALL.

- ↑ BY NICHOLAS GORDON

TO GAMERS AROUND the world, April 2—“Liberation Day”—meant something else.

In a slick prerecorded video presentation, Nintendo unveiled the Switch 2, the long-awaited successor of its wildly popular Nintendo Switch handheld console. It was exactly what gamers were hungry for: details on the console’s more powerful specs; expanded access to Nintendo's decades-old back catalog; and new entries in the popular Mario Kart and Donkey Kong series. Even a surprise price hike—$450 versus the Switch’s $300—didn't dent enthusiasm.

A U.S. president could, though. A few hours later, Donald Trump announced his Liberation Day tariffs, including steep taxes on imports from China, Vietnam, Japan, and Cambodia—Nintendo’s manufacturing hubs. It upended plans years in the making. The Switch 2’s June 5 launch was poised to be a shot in the arm for Nintendo and the video game industry. Nintendo needs “something new and exciting out in the marketplace that kicks that can down the road on the tech stuff for another decade, so they can continue to make the games they want to make,” explains Jeff Gerstmann, a journalist who has covered the industry for decades.

Now Nintendo (like nearly every other company) is trying to keep up, even as Trump has since suspended most of the tariffs amid negotiations. Two days after Liberation Day, Nintendo paused U.S. preorders to assess the “potential impact of tariffs.” It reopened them a few weeks later, maintaining the $450 price point and June 5 launch—but hiked prices on everything else, like controllers, “amiibo” figurines, and other accessories.

Like many other manufacturers, Nintendo (which didn’t respond to