It’s been a week since Nintendo finally unveiled the Switch 2 in a long-awaited Nintendo Direct. However, there are still a number of questions that have been left unanswered.
Nintendo has addressed a couple of our burning questions since the live stream, including whether the Switch 2 will continue to be plagued by Joy-Con drift. According to NintendoLife’s interview with Nate Bihldorff from Nintendo of America, the Switch 2 has not been upgraded to Hall Effect joysticks. This means that the technology that caused Joy-Con drift may still be there, though Bihldorff did reassure fans that the Joy-Con 2 controllers have been designed from the ground up.
Other details that have been cleared up include many of the internal specs, the battery life and whether you can use a third-party USB-C camera instead of the Nintendo Switch 2 camera (you can).
However, there are still plenty of questions we want to ask. Keep reading to discover the Nintendo Switch 2 questions we still have following the April Nintendo Direct.
When will the Switch 2 be available for pre-order after the tariff delay?
US President Donald Trump recently announced a number of tariffs set to be placed on US trade partners and Nintendo hasn’t come out unscathed.
The incoming tariffs forced the Japanese company to pause Switch 2 pre-orders in the US in order to fully assess how these costs will impact them.
“Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged”, said Eddie Garcia on behalf of Nintendo in a statement sent to The Verge on April 5.
The question is – when will the pre-orders continue for US customers.
Nintendo Switch 2 game prices – why are they so high?
Speaking of prices, many of us were shocked to hear that Nintendo’s first confirmed Switch 2 game, Mario Kart World, will cost $79.99/£74.99. That’s $20 more than the last major Mario Kart title, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, cost when it launched alongside the original Nintendo Switch in 2017.
Nintendo of America’s VP of Product and Player Experience Bill Trinen justified the high price of the game in an interview with IGN. He said: “I would say it’s less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it’s more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what’s the content, and what’s the value?”
Mario Kart World isn’t the only game priced at $80, either.
“What I would say is that we just look at each individual game and we look at the content and the value of that game, and then we say, ‘what is the right price for the value of this entertainment?’”, said Trinen.
So, are the new Nintendo games actually worth more? That’s something we’ll probably need to wait until after June 5 to determine as the first Switch 2 consoles and games are shipped out.
Why do you have to pay for the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour tutorial?
On a similar note, we couldn’t believe our ears when Nintendo announced that its new Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour would be priced at $9.99 as opposed to shipping free with the console.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is packed with tech demos, mini-games and interactions that invite gamers to explore the Switch 2 system. To us, it makes sense that Nintendo would want users to know more about its second-generation hardware, how to use the updated controls and how to navigate the new features enough to include the game as standard like Sony did with Astro’s Playroom on the PS5. However, this isn’t the case.
According to Trinen, the game is designed for people interested in the tech and specs of the system as opposed to those looking for a quick intro.
“And for that reason and just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, ‘Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you’re getting out of the product’”, said Trinen (via IGN).
While $9.99 is certainly much cheaper than the $79.99 cost of other Switch 2 games, this comment does make us question what tech specs could be explained in the Welcome Tour that shouldn’t be stated on the Nintendo website for consumers before they buy the console.
This, again, feels like something we’ll have to wait for the Switch 2 launch to learn more about.
