Topic: Are the Switch 2 sales and general interest slowing?

Not in any way intended to be controversial, or stir any form of argument. Genuine question.

The Switch 2 exploded onto the scene, and rightfully so after all the waiting and rumours. It might just be me, but it feels like the interest has dramatically slowed. I, personally, do not yet own one, but I absolutely will at some point. The games just aren't really impressing me yet or giving me reason enough to jump. Many of my friends, who were poised to get one, have also stalled for the moment. It could just be my perception, but it feels like online content regarding the system, news etc, have all slowed dramatically.

I don't think the sales have started slowing yet, but if enough people aren't interested in a more powerful Switch and the people who complain about the thing online convince enough people to not get one, sales will slow down. I myself believe that the Switch 2 won't be a massive failure like the Wii U, but it won't be a massive success like the Switch 1 either, more like a 3DS level success (3DS sold about 75 million units, last I checked), especially if the Switch 2 eventually gets a price increase like the other consoles, including the Switch 1 which got a price increase in the US just yesterday. It's all a waiting game at this point, only time will tell. I myself don't really have a reason to get a Switch 2 yet, and I'm still undecided about it myself. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what's next from Nintendo over the coming months and years!

@YANDMAN obviously theres gonna be more news and stuff around the date of a console launch, but the fact that the japan charts show over 100,000 PHYSICAL units of mario kart world are sold every week, i think the switch 2 is doing just fine. nintendo probably just wants to ride the launch year with only a few exclusives that are mainly appealing to most audiences. then i bet itll be thhe big titles and such.! the fact that you say youll get one at some point proves that nintendo knows you’ll inevitably get it if they space out their games. honestly i disagree with @ShieldHero, i think if anything itll sell more with the console sales so far. but its not gonna be a wii u, nintendo has been making to many right moves for that
also im sorry couldnt this have been asked in the switch 2 thread to prevent spam 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Too early to tell, Switch 2 has been available for less than two months. The bulk of consoles sold every year are sold during the Holiday season, October through December. During the launch window (first six months) most Switch 2 buyers are the diehard Nintendo fans. June 2026 and onward will tell the tale of how Switch 2 appeals to casual fans. After 33 months Switch 1 sold through 52.5m consoles.

Where will the Switch 2 be comparatively in that span of time?

It definitely feels that way. Even the Mario Kart bundle is available on Amazon. The rest is also easily available on the internet. It was not like this with the Switch 1. And I can understand it, if it does not sell. Not really worth the asking price (disappointing Mario Kart for 90€ lol). And it is hard to get physical versions, because it is either digital or key-cart.

Let's be honest the Switch 2 was just to please the Nintendo hard-core fans who wanted a more powerful Switch. They wanted something that could somewhat compete with a PS5 or Series X power wise so Switch wasn't stuck with poor ports that had to be done like that due to the limitations with the Switch.

As a multiplatform gamer I have no reason or want to own a Switch 2 at this point. Dont get me wrong Mario Kart World looks amazing but I am not going to shell out $500 for a console for just one game. Yeah there's upgrades to Switch games and not they have better ports of multiplatform games but I have my OLED Switch to play Switch games on and the multiplatform games I will buy on Series X or PC. Maybe if a new Zelda (that went back to its roots not a Breath of the Wild type Zelda) or even a Mario game I might be interested but as of now I have zero interest.

I can wait a few years for the revision when they work out all the problems of the Switch 2 and they have a bigger exclusive library but for now there's nothing offering or interesting me to get a Switch 2 for that price.

It's still sold out most places here in the US. Amazon has some type of lottery system to try to get a Switch 2 but it's far from guaranteed. Gamestop, walmart, target still usually sold out but it's easier to get one than it was at the beginning.

It's been 2 months so the initial crazy surge (6 million +!) has finished and now it will likely slowly settle down to a more reasonable pace until the holiday surge.

The Nintendo financial information which just released predicts 15 million Switch 2 sales by end of Mar 2026. Their predictions are sometimes a little high or low, but it certainly seems likely they will get at least near that.

I'm guessing Switch 2 will at a minimum beat Wii U lifetimes sales in a single year even if it doesn't quite match Switch year 1 sales. And given Nintendo is holding back some big franchises for years 2 and 3, I can't imagine sales will drop of a cliff. After that it gets hazy because there presumably won't be something like covid to super charge sales in year 4 as with Switch.

Being available to buy isn't the same as slowing down. It had huge allocations at launch, historic allocations, it sold through those. Unlike other console launches this meant they were able to absorb the usual high launch demand. Which means it's not being scalped and can be easily purchased in stores by anyone who wants one

This is a good thing

It kinda reminds me of the Wii and PS3 at launch. The PS3 was sold out, expensive, impossible to buy. Sony made it "desirable" to justify the obscene price. The Wii I'm comparison, while it was selling like mad, a couple of months after launch you could fairly easily find them. Maybe not controllers but the console itself wasn't that hard to find. But all that meant was that more casual gamers could impulse buy them, resulting in even more sales

I don't think anyone was expecting them to keep selling at the rate of three million consoles a month indefinitely, so yes, they are slowing down. They do seem to be well on track to reaching their predicted 15 million sales for the first year though, so I don't think Nintendo have anything to worry about right now.

In the long run, who knows? The Switch 1 benefited from some factors that you might have predicted, such as it being unopposed in the handheld market and having a strong first party lineup, and others that you might not have. For instance, would anyone expect it to have a library of 15,000+ games by now, even if a lot of that is shovelware? It also managed to ride the lockdown boom while competing consoles were constrained by supply for a couple of years, extending its life well beyond what many initially guessed at.

The Switch 2 just doesn't have all that going for it. It's more expensive, it's pretty close in price to competing hardware of broadly similar power, and the competition is fully capable of keeping units in stock, into the bargain. However, I wouldn't rule out Nintendo having some unanticipated wins with it too, so going back to 3DS numbers would be more of a lower bound than a middle-of-the-road prediction.

@skywake The Wii console wasn't easily available a few months after launch. There were stock problems for at least the following two years, and that's a matter of record. The articles from the time are still available on the internet, just in case you're not old enough to remember it.

@WhiteUmbrella
I was at UNI when the Wii launched, my parents got it for me for Christmas that year. They didn't pre-order it, they just walked into the shops and bought it. It launched on December 7th in Australia so do the maths on that one. I do remember after Christmas trying to hunt down a second controller which was sold out in some places but the second store I went to had a copy of Wii Play so, that was that. It was certainly selling but you could find them, even in the peak of the holiday seasons straight after launch

Switch 2 launched two months ago. I can tell you now, I had more trouble hunting down a Switch 2 Pro Controller than I did a WiiMote. And while you could walk into a shop right now and grab a Switch 2? We're two months on. The first shipment sold out on pre-orders, the second lot sold out within a day. I don't remember the Wii being quite as tight as this in terms of stock levels near launch, and before Switch 2 I would say the Wii was probably the tightest in that regard I can remember. At least from Nintendo

The Switch certainly wasn't anywhere near this

You're right, there's two reasons with Mario Kart Wold and Donkey Kong Bonanza.

Are the sales slowing? Yes, as is expected. 6 million in first two months would be 36 million in first year if sustained. Unprecedented numbers.

As for interest - that's something that will ebb and flow with the hype tide. Interest is obviously huge pre-release, after 8 years of the previous hardware. Then there's inevitably a come-down as anticipation becomes cold, hard reality.

But there will be more games. I'm not really following Switch 2 news, but even I have three S2 games on my 'essential' purchase list for whenever I do enter the market. So my interest remains high, and more Nintendo exclusives and quality third-party releases are bound to keep that interest afloat. But I do regularly question how wise it was to only launch with one (expensive and over-sized) SKU. I'm interested to see whether the next special edition hardware is a Switch 1 or a Switch 2.

Everyone else partying with Donkey Kong and Mario Kart disagree.

If you don't want to spend money on video games you can always download Snake on your phone for free.

Oh, this thread is entirely unreadable now lol. But to comment on the actual discussion, it's still doing fine. The only region we have concrete numbers for past June 30th is Japan, but those are holding pretty darn strong. But yeah, obviously it'll slow from the start, cause that's how console sales work.

July & August are usually a slower time for games I feel. Everyone's usually waiting for the August indie direct/September direct. For mario's 35th anniversary, Nintendo had a direct like on September 3. But I think September directs are usually in the second half of September.

For context, if it did this it would have overtaken the Wii U, GC, N64, Mega Drive, XBox and XBox Series. In one year. And I believe the best sales Nintendo has had for any console in any single year would be the Switch in 2020 where IIRC they were around 30mill

So yeah, it's not going to keep launch pace and anyone expecting that needs to take a step back and think for a second

@OctolingKing13 I'm a lifelong Nintendo fan, I own every system they've made. I will definitely get one at some point, currently I have no reason to. The games just aren't there for me yet, and the game card fiasco is a real problem to me. They just announced some thirty games at the last direct, all but two are game cards. If this doesn't change, I think this is genuinely going to hurt them in the long run, or the short one as it might become. It might sound crazy, but I was actually considering a Switch 2 this week, just to allow me to play Ninja Gaiden properly. I hope I'm wrong about everything, it just feels to me like the excitement and traction and massively slowed down.

@WoomyNNYes July and August this year are two of the biggest. Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Gradius origins, UFO 50, Turbo Kid, T22D although that's September. Earthion. Cobra.

@Jhena It's possible that Nintendo are just better prepared this time. switch 1 launched amid chip shortages. But I agree, it was difficult to get one even up to a year after launch in some places.