Switch 2 UK price rise due 1 September — buy now at £395.99

Nintendo confirms 1 September price rise — UK figure still unclear

Nintendo Switch 2 owners in the UK have three weeks to act. The console currently retails at £395.99 — but a global price increase takes effect on 1 September 2026, and while Nintendo UK has yet to confirm the exact new figure, the direction of travel is unambiguous.

The price revision was embedded in Nintendo's fiscal year earnings report on 8 May 2026, and confirmed publicly by Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa on 11 May. Nintendo of America has since confirmed the US price rises from $449.99 to $499.99 from 1 September. In Europe, the console moves from €469.99 to €499.99 on the My Nintendo Store. In Japan, the increase has already taken effect — prices moved from ¥49,980 to ¥59,980 on 25 May 2026.

The UK remains the one major market without a confirmed revised price. As of today, Monday 10 August, Nintendo UK has made no official announcement. According to the BBC, a revised UK price will be confirmed by Nintendo at a later date. Based on the scale of increases elsewhere, analysts and retailers expect the Switch 2 to rise by roughly £25–£35, broadly landing around £430. Buyers should treat any specific figure as an estimate until Nintendo UK speaks officially — but few in the industry expect the current £395.99 to survive into September.

What Nintendo said

In its official US newsroom statement, Nintendo said:

"Beginning on September 1, 2026, Nintendo of America will revise the MSRP of the Nintendo Switch 2 system in the U.S. from $449.99 to $499.99. This is in response to various changes in market conditions, which are expected to extend over the medium to long term."

The company added:

"We understand that pricing changes can be challenging for customers and deeply appreciate the continued enthusiasm of our fans for Nintendo products and experiences."

Nintendo President Furukawa attributed the increase to permanent rises in memory component costs, exchange rates, and oil prices — factors he described as structural rather than temporary.

Why memory chips are to blame — and why AI is at the root of it

The Switch 2 runs on 12 GB of LPDDR5X memory — precisely the type of chip now in fiercest global demand. AI data centres operated by the world's largest technology companies have systematically consumed fabrication capacity at Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, the three firms that between them control more than 95% of global DRAM production. Those manufacturers have redirected output toward high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators, starving the consumer electronics market of supply.

Bloomberg reported that Nintendo was paying approximately 41% more for its Switch 2 LPDDR5X modules as a result. Market research firm TrendForce revised its Q1 2026 conventional DRAM contract price forecast to a 90–95% quarter-over-quarter increase — the steepest quarterly rise in the firm's recorded history. AI data centres are projected to consume roughly 70% of the world's memory output in 2026, up from 20–30% in 2022. The shortage is not expected to ease before late 2027 or 2028.

Every major console maker has now raised prices in 2026

Nintendo's move caps an extraordinary year for hardware pricing. According to industry tracking, 2026 marks the first time every major console platform has raised prices within the same 12-month window.

• In March 2026, Sony raised PlayStation 5 prices across its lineup. The PS5 disc version now carries a US MSRP of $649.99, effective 2 April; the PS5 Pro stands at $899.99.
• Microsoft confirmed the Xbox Series X at $799.99 (1TB model) from 1 August 2026. In the UK, the Xbox Series S rose from £299.99 to £429.99.
• On 27 May, Valve raised Steam Deck OLED prices by up to 46%: the 512GB model moved from $549 to $789; the 1TB from $649 to $949.

Nintendo's Switch 2 increase is smaller, in percentage terms, than any of those rival hikes — but for a company that held the original Switch at $299.99 for nearly a decade, it represents a genuine break with tradition.

How Switch 2 has performed in the UK

The price rise comes at an awkward moment for Nintendo in Britain. According to VideoGamesChronicle, Switch 2 reached one million UK sales in 52 weeks — comfortably faster than the original Switch, which took 82 weeks to hit the same milestone. Switch 2 is now the joint sixth fastest-selling console in UK history.

At its current price of £395.99, Switch 2 is also, for now, cheaper than the Xbox Series S, which sits at £429.99 following Microsoft's recent increase. That gap is expected to close — or reverse — once Nintendo UK confirms its new price from 1 September.

The Mario Kart World bundle, which launched at £429.99 and includes a digital copy of the game, remains available. In the US, a comparable "Choose Your Game" bundle — offering a download code for one of three first-party titles alongside the console at $499.99 — is due to end on 31 August; after 1 September, that price buys the console alone. Whether the UK will see a similar bundle change has not been confirmed by Nintendo UK.

What UK buyers should do before 1 September

For anyone already planning to buy a Switch 2, the window to act at the current price is narrowing. Locking in £395.99 before 1 September would save an estimated £25–£35 against the expected revised price — a meaningful amount on a piece of new hardware. With the shortage of LPDDR5X memory not expected to ease until at least late 2027, there is little reason to expect prices to fall back once they rise. The £395.99 price tag, which looked steep at launch compared to the original Switch's £279.99, may soon look like the bargain it wasn't meant to be.