Global Helium Shortage and High Oil Prices Will Eventually Push The Nintendo Switch 2 Price Up, According to Former Sales Lead

The Nintendo Switch 2 price has remained stable since its launch last year, but it will eventually go up according to a former Nintendo sales lead, as hardware production costs are skyrocketing due to high oil prices amidst a situation already made challenging by high RAM prices due to the AI boom and tariffs.

"Unfortunately, I think eventually the hardware price is going to have to go up," said former sales lead Sean during the latest episode of the Kit & Krysta Podcast. "We've seen inflation, you know, being a problem for a while now. Tariffs are a more recent nuisance but they're not going away anytime soon. The demand for AI is causing memory prices to go up. And you know, within the past couple of weeks, we have issues with oil prices going through the roof. And when oil goes through the roof, that's not just shipping costs that go up."

While these shipping costs do have an impact on both the hardware and game prices, the high price of oil has more consequences on the manufacturing side. "Helium is a byproduct of producing oil. Helium is a key and unreplaceable ingredient in making semiconductors, which means hardware prices go up. It's an unreplaceable byproduct of making silicon wafers, which means if you're a Nintendo and you're producing cartridges, that's going up as well," the former Nintendo sales lead said. "All of these world events have been for a while putting pressure on pricing and margins and they don't seem to be going away."

All these factors make it difficult for manufacturers to make concessions on the hardware side, so the Nintendo Switch 2 price is expected to go up, eventually. However, according to Sean, Nintendo is a company that always tries to make things right with consumers, so it is making concessions on the software side by making its published digital games cheaper than retail. This, according to Sean, is a way to pass down some savings to consumers to offset these inevitable hardware price increases.

Nevertheless, Nintendo, much like Sony and Microsoft, is navigating a difficult and unprecedented situation, and it's difficult to predict how they will handle these challenges. "We've been through various economic turns, but it does really feel like this time in particular, there's just so many outside forces that are forcing their hand in a way that they probably aren't really used to. And so this is kind of new for them too to manage through it. So I do wonder how they will manage through it and how they're going to," said Sean.

As such, if you have the means now and are interested in the Nintendo Switch 2 and its current and future line-up (which includes anew 3D Super Mario game, a new Star Fox and a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake), it would be best to get the console now ahead of this inevitable price increase, which has now been officially confirmed it will go in effect from September 2026

These massive hardware price hikes aren't just affecting current-generation systems such as the Nintendo Switch 2, but will likely significantly impact next-generation systems like the PlayStation 6 and the Xbox Project Helix. Although a $699 PlayStation 6 is still possible with reasonable subsidy, and the cheaper PS6 Handheld (said to be more powerful than the Xbox Series S) could serve as a gateway to next-gen gaming, a $1,000 price or above for a future console could push the industry toward a more affordable game streaming future, according to Michael Pachter.

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