• Nintendo set a date for Switch 2 pre-orders in the US and apologized for a previous delay.
• The gaming giant isn't hiking the price of the game console for now but is increasing accessory prices.
• Nintendo said the higher prices were due to "changes in market conditions."

Nintendo gave an update to its American customers on Friday — and it's a good news/bad news situation.

The good news: The company isn't raising the price of the Switch 2 game console (for now).

The bad news: The extra accessories that many shoppers buy alongside the game console, such as controllers, are getting more expensive.

"Retail pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 will begin on April 24, 2025. At launch, the price for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will remain as announced on April 2 at $449.99, and the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle will remain as announced at $499.99," the company said on Friday.

"However, Nintendo Switch 2 accessories will experience price adjustments from those announced on April 2 due to changes in market conditions," Nintendo added. The company published a full pricing list, which you can view here.

Nintendo is also keeping the door open to future price hikes, including for the Switch 2.

"Other adjustments to the price of any Nintendo product are also possible in the future depending on market conditions," it said.

The much-anticipated update arrives after Nintendo found itself in a tough spot. The same day that it announced preorder pricing for the Switch 2, President Donald Trump unveiled his "Liberation Day" tariffs, which impacted the countries that manufacture Nintendo's game consoles.

Nintendo decided to pause US preorders, originally scheduled to begin on April 9, to "assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions."

Nintendo apologized for the delay in its Friday update and said it hopes its release of the pricing details "reduces some of the uncertainty our customers may be experiencing."

The path to working on Wall Street is a long and rigorous obstacle course.

Young people who aspire to become dealmakers, traders, or investors must now begin as soon as they arrive at college. From there, it's an immediate dash to join campus finance clubs, hobnob with industry professionals, and fill a résumé with pre-internship accolades — all while maintaining a perfect GPA.

The steps are an unofficial yet unspokenly understood requirement among students at top target schools (plus those elsewhere with the fortune of being in the know). Some financial institutions — namely investment banks, where most Wall Streeters start out — now scout young talent during their sophomore year of college. That means those who wait, or don't learn the recruiting game quickly enough, risk being left behind altogether.

"It forces students to focus very early at a time when, in my opinion, they should be not focusing, but actually broadening their perspectives," Gustavo Schwed, an NYU professor who worked in investment banking and private equity before switching to academia, said.

A Wharton student who recently signed a 2026 internship offer at an investment bank put it this way: "I am a sophomore in college, and it's kind of outrageous that we have to decide at this age — I just turned 20 — what my first job is out of college."

The new finance career path

Business Insider talked to college students, recruiters, finance executives, professors, and many others about what it takes to build a career in finance in 2025. We compiled what we learned into a series of stories and videos that started rolling out on April 16 and which will continue through May. The series seeks to help students better understand what it takes to break into Wall Street and what to expect once they get there.

Check back here to see the latest. We will delve into what it's really like to work for a hedge fund, how the face of Wall Street has changed, and the challenges of getting into the college clubs needed to snag that all-important internship, among other topics.

Want to share your career path with us? Fill out this quick form.

_{Article credits
Reporters: Emmalyse Brownstein, Bradley Saacks, Alex Morrell, Alex Nicoll, Bianca Chan
Editors: Kaja Whitehouse, Michelle Abrego, Jeffrey Cane, Jamie Heller
Copy Editors: Kevin Kaplan
Graphics and art: Alyssa Powell, Annie Fu, Randy Yeip, Andy Kiersz,}

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau terminated 90% of its staff.
• A copy of a termination notice reviewed by BI said employees will lose access to work systems on Friday night.
• It's Trump's latest move to gut a federal agency created to prevent another financial crisis.

President Donald Trump is moving forward with his promise to slash a top federal consumer watchdog.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began sending termination notices to nearly 90% of its employees on Thursday night, slashing the agency spearheaded by Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2011 with the aim of preventing another financial crisis like the one that sparked the Great Recession.

Over the past decade, the CFPB has filed lawsuits against major companies, including student lenders and banks like Capital One, over accusations of predatory behavior. It has also returned billions of dollars to consumers and introduced new rules to crack down on medical debt and overdraft fees.

"I regret to inform you that you are affected by a reduction in force (RIF) action," a copy of the notice viewed by Business Insider from Russell Vought, acting director of the CPFB and director of the Office of Management and Budget, said. "This RIF action is necessary to restructure the Bureau's operations to better reflect the agency's priorities and mission.

The notice added that employees will "retain access to work systems" until 6 pm ET on Friday, and that after that deadline, "system access will be discontinued, and you will be placed in an administrative leave status through your official separation date as outlined above."

The National Treasury Employees Union wrote in a legal filing on Thursday that Vought sent reduction-in-force notices to "the vast majority of CFPB employees." The notices, as first reported by Fox Business, went out to about 1,500 employees, slashing the agency's workforce by nearly 90%. The CFPB sent those numbers to BI.

"As one would expect with a RIF of that size, the plaintiffs have been told that entire offices, including statutorily mandated ones, have or soon will be either eliminated or reduced to a single person," the NTEU wrote in the legal filing.

These termination notices come just one week after a federal judge ruled on April 11 that the CFPB could move forward with firing some employees deemed unnecessary to carry out the CFPB's "statutory duties." It followed an earlier ruling from a federal judge that froze the CFPB's earlier attempts at terminations, calling them a "hurried effort to dismantle and disable the agency entirely."

Business Insider reported on Wednesday that the CFPB laid out new priorities for the agency in an internal memo sent to employees. The memo, viewed by BI, said the CFPB would "shift resources from enforcement and supervision that can be done by the States."

That included plans to "deprioritize" student-loan oversight, medical debt, consumer data, and digital payments.

These changes are part of Trump and the DOGE office's efforts to slash the government workforce to reduce spending. Elon Musk, DOGE's unofficial leader, has previously said he wanted to "delete" the CFPB entirely, writing "CFPB RIP" in a February post on X.

Warren wrote in a statement on Thursday night that "Trump just gutted almost all CFPB staff, so the agency can't do its job of helping Americans who get scammed by big banks and giant corporations."

"Dismantling the CFPB in the face of a court order blocking an illegal shutdown is yet another assault on consumers and our democracy by this lawless Administration, and we will fight back with everything we've got," she said.

The OMB and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Have a tip or story to share? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at asheffey.97. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• I spent 12 hours in a regular seat on an overnight train from Berlin to Vienna.
• For less than $50, I got a reclining seat in a seating carriage cabin with five other people.
• I've traveled on Amtrak sleeper cars in private rooms, but I didn't adjust well to the shared space.

In October 2022, I spent 12 hours in a sleeping carriage on an overnight train traveling from Berlin to Vienna.

I had taken overnight trains in the US before, where I'd booked private cabins on Amtrak trains.

But this was my first time on a sleeper train in Europe — and my first time in an accommodation shared with other guests.

Since I wanted to maximize my time exploring during the day, I thought an overnight train would be the best way to travel through Europe. And at $40, it was the cheapest overnight train ride I've ever booked. But ultimately, the ride was too uncomfortable to sleep, and I arrived in Vienna feeling too exhausted to explore.

To get from Berlin to Vienna in 12 hours, I took the Austrian Federal Railway's OBB Nightjet train.

The rail line operates overnight routes between Austria, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, and it goes as fast as 143 miles per hour, according to the company's website.

Nightjet trains have sleeper cars with seating carriages and bunks of three, four, or six.

I booked the former, which are cabins with six regular assigned seats that deeply recline. Some routes have private cabins, but mine didn't.

"We recommend the sleeper or couchette car for night travel. There is enough space to stretch out. Seated carriages are recommended for shorter journeys," OBB Nightjet wrote in a statement to Business Insider.

"The quality of travel depends not only on the carriages, but also on the route," the statement also said.

To travel by train, I bought a Eurail pass for $477, which gives access to most European trains for a set number of days.

Some trains only require a Eurail pass to ride, while others, including overnight trains, incur an additional discounted price.

Without the pass, the ticket would have been about $40.

With my seven-day Eurail pass, the train trip cost $14. It was the cheapest overnight accommodation.

My journey began at Germany's Berlin Ostbahnhof train station.

I arrived about an hour and a half before my 6:53 p.m. train, so I had ample time to find the platform.

Since my ticket didn't include a meal, I grabbed food from the McDonald's inside the station.

McDonald's in Germany has different menu items from locations in the US, like the hash brown burger.

Then, I went to platform three after viewing on a screen that it was where my train would be arriving.

The train arrived on time and I found and boarded my assigned car, number 254.

Once inside the seating carriage sleeper cars, I saw narrow, dimly lit corridors that opened to small enclosed cabins with six seats in each.

I made my way to my assigned seat in one of these cabins.

During my leg of the journey, three travelers were already in my room when I boarded.

Two others arrived within the first few hours.

I thought the seat was slightly wider than a typical train coach seat.

It had two cushions and reclined far enough to almost lie flat, but not fully.

Each seat came with a small table that slid out from the armrest.

It was just large enough to hold my ticket and phone.

Right away, I thought the room was cramped and lacked enough legroom for each traveler.

However, I was surprised to find ample luggage space on two rows of storage racks above the seats.

I wanted to charge my phone, but I only saw two outlets next to the window in my carriage. I had to communicate with other passengers to take turns using them.

An OBB Nightjet rep told BI that new cars that began running in 2023 have more outlets.

Even though my ticket didn't include a meal, I checked the menu to see what was available for purchase.

I thought it had a wide selection with snacks, pasta, and wraps.

Since I had already eaten, I skipped the food and used one of the two shared bathrooms in the car to brush my teeth. The bathroom looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while.

"Toilets are always cleaned when the trip starts," OBB Nightjet said in a statement to BI. "In addition, our staff is doing regular checks during the night."

Back in my room, someone had turned the lights off. I tried to fall asleep but found it impossible with the constant bumps on the ride and so many people around me.

I hardly had any personal space.

I reclined my seat all the way, but I thought the gap between the back and the bottom of the seat made it tough to get comfortable.

I didn't see any pillows or sheets provided for guests, either.

The rep for OBB Nightjet told BI that pillows and sheets are only provided for guests in the bunk-style sleeping cars because the seating carriage is not recommended for long-haul trips.

Although seats were assigned, I noticed other passengers moving around the car to find less crowded rooms. I followed suit.

I ended up switching to a different cabin with only two other people.

But I knew that someone boarding at one of the many overnight stops could kick me out at any time if I switched to a seat assigned to them.

Even in a less-crowded cabin, I couldn't get comfortable on such a bumpy journey or with the knowledge that someone might wake me up to move.

I ended up staying awake until the morning.

My train arrived in Vienna at 7 a.m., and I was so exhausted that I ran around town looking for any hotel that would take me in so early in the morning.

Splurging on a hotel room upon arrival for a few hours of sleep made me feel like the cheapest ticket on an overnight train ultimately wasn't worth it.

Next time, I'll book a flight or take a train with private cabins.