Nintendo of America has confirmed that physical copies of Switch 2 exclusives won't be increasing in price.
Yesterday, Nintendo confirmed that – starting with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book – prices of physical and digital copies of Nintendo Switch 2 exclusives will be different in the US, explaining that this is due to "the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format".
Now, this isn't entirely out of the blue, as Nintendo of Europe has been doing this since the Nintendo Switch 2 launched back in June 2025, but now Nintendo of America is following suit. However, the message wasn't completely clear as to how this price change would work – namely, if it meant physical games would go up in price.
In a comment to IGN, Nintendo clarifies, "The cost of physical games is not going up." It adds that the change "means that when Nintendo sells digital versions of Nintendo published games exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 to consumers in the U.S., those prices will have an MSRP that is lower than their physical counterparts."
Nintendo also notes that "retail partners set their own prices for physical and digital games, and pricing for each title may vary," so it may end up being a win-win for people, as I can't imagine retailers sticking to the higher price when a cheaper price point is available.
Granted, Nintendo has seemingly been doing all it can to avoid raising the price of the Switch 2 console, with the US tariffs causing a change to Switch 2 accessory prices in the US (and later saw Nintendo file a suit against the US government over allegedly "illegally collected" duty fees), as well as the ongoing RAM shortages due to the AI slop machine. So this change is likely the latest alteration Nintendo is making to try and offset those costs.
Nintendo reportedly cutting Switch 2 console production by a third after not hitting expected sales over the holidays.
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