Nintendo recently announced that the Switch 2 would be receiving a price increase later this year. In the US, that will bring its price from $449.99 to $499.99, while in Japan it will go from 49,980 yen to 59,980 yen. That new pricing is scheduled to go into effect shortly in Japan, on May 25th, 2026, and now at least one retailer there has taken action as a result.
Japanese retail store Bic Camera has taken steps to limit how easily customers can purchase Switch 2 and other Switch related products. As of right now, customers will need to have a specifically Bic Camera-branded credit card in order to buy a Switch 2 from their stores. This restriction also seems to apply to the original Switch, Switch OLED, and Switch Lite, even though no price increases have been announced for those systems.
Presumably, this action is intended to limit people from buying as many Switch 2 units as they can at the current price before turning around and reselling them at a higher price in a few weeks. It should also help to keep supply of the console available with continuing high demand. Apparently Japanese retailers have taken similar actions in the past, such as with the PS5 when it was experiencing shortages a few years back. We don’t have any specific stories of other retailers following suit right now, but it seems likely this will not be an uncommon practice.
North America still has a bit longer to wait until our price increase occurs in September of this year. We’ll see how the price increase affects Switch 2 sales both before and after that happens.
AloJapan.com