Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

@Ralizah

If we're talking about Atlus games, Persona 5 Royal would also really benefit from an S2 edition that upgrades the resolution to 4K or at least 1080p. Given that Persona 5 is originally a Playstation 3 game and doesn't feel that demanding because of its stylised graphics, it was a bit disappointing that the Switch version didn't run at native resolution, which made the graphics look blurry especially in handheld mode. It's particularly weird given that both of its sequels (Strikers and Tactica) do reach 1080p docked/720p handheld resolution on the Switch and look pretty great. You'd think a sequel would be more demanding of the system than the original game? It just seems like Atlus didn't put too much effort into optimising the Royal port.

Anyway, given how Atlus has handled such rereleases in the past, I'm not sure if we're ever gonna get a free S2 upgrade or even a paid upgrade path for these games... If they ever make S2 versions of them, they're probably gonna be called "Switch 2 Remade Editions" or something like that, and we're gonna have to pay the full price again. 😅

Momentum is sapping fast,
Nintendo need to get on it.

Fortunately there is likely a partner direct this week, a fairly major game next week (Mario Tennis) , and likely a huge Pokemon Presents announcing gen 10 later in the month.

We'll also get the Nintendo financial meeting tomorrow to see how sales have been.

@FishyS

Mario Tennis hasn't been good since the N64,
but Pokemon could be promising.

I get why people want NS2 Editions of Xenoblade games so badly.

Just marvel at how great Xenoblade 2 looks rendering 720p in handheld. Now imagine 1080p on a Switch 2...

@Uncle_Franklin
Mario Tennis Aces was really good.

@Polvasti
You know what's so messed up about Persona 5 Royal on Switch? I can run it in 60fps without even overclocking. You read that right. It doesn't even require a GPU overclock to hit 60. Granted, I do have to overclock to get 720p in handheld but that's beside the point.

I am of the firm belief Persona 5 on Switch was designed how it is specifically for battery preservation reasons. There's no way you can run the game and get 60 frames without even increasing the GPU clock speed, and have it not be a battery life decision.

Ah well. At least we got Persona 3 Reloaded now, and it's a solid resolution and 60 frames docked, and a stable 30 handheld (once again I'm suspecting battery life was a factor in that decision to keep handheld 30, regardless of what they say just because I know Persona 5 Royal can do it without overclocks on NS1).

I think they're done porting Persona 5 though. We'll have P3R and the new Persona 4 remake and eventually Persona 6. And Metaphor Refantazio.

@Uncle_Franklin Major is not necessarily the same as good 😆 Mario Tennis is typically a pretty big seller (around 5 million on Switch) and this new game looks like a beefy one. But yeah, between Pokopia and likely gen 10 Pokemon, Pokemon is going to be an especially big hitter for Switch 2 this year.

@FishyS

5 million?
That does surprise me.

Some interesting tidbits in the financial report today

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2026/260203_2e.pdf

• 17 million Switch 2s sold.
• Predicted 19 million by end of March. Which is getting close to lifetime GameCube and is of course far past Wii U.
• prime 4 and welcome tour apparently didn't hit a million sales by Dec 31 but Air Riders got almost 2 million. Note: It's possible Prime 4 hit a million if you add the two versions but Nintendo doesn't list the combined.
• Donkey Kong still at 4 million so apparently didn't sell much during the holidays.
• Pokemon Z-A sold nearly as much as Mario Kart but spread over the two consoles.

Looking at this, it really shows how much people do buy Mario Kart haha. As the bundle is being phased out I wonder if it will affect its sales or not though

I was more impressed that Pokemon Z-A came close to catching up at 12.3 million, although I suppose that is because Switch 1 owners didn't have much else new to buy.

@FishyS Yeah, and there's quite a number of people who are Pokemon fans and not really Nintendo fans (only buying new consoles for pokemon and stuff), so it makes sense.

Looking forward to seeing how the nay-sayers twist these stats.

I had predicted 15m baseline min, with 16m as the likely outcome. But 17.36 million is beyond even what I expected. That's in just over 6 months... think about that! Not even 7 full months, and it's closing in on 20 million units already. Absolutely insane

Metroid only had a few weeks of sales data and it was split across SKUS. The NS2 version was clearly in more demand but the NS1 version qualified for the vouchers which could then be upgraded which probably evened out the split. My guess is 1.5m combined.

Good news is this one seems to have legs. It's still hanging out near the top 10 on eShop even 2 months later. I think this one, unlike Dread, will see a slow and steady creep over several years, ultimately overtaking it but it'll need a few years to get there.

Switch 1 now best selling console of all time as far as I'm concerned. Nevertheless, it'll cross 156m by March 31st, and will surpass 160m sometime in 2027. Whenever the day comes they start clearing stock and slash the price with $149 Lites, I could see it hitting 162-165 lifetime. But that's a big "if". Price cuts seem anathema to Nintendo at this point.

@Buizel
Never underestimate the grifter's ability to spin a yarn.

They'll find a way.

[checks YouTube]

Aaaand dude's already got a video out downplaying it lol. Can't help but smile ☺️ knowing these people go to bed at night with knots in their stomach over Switch 2 success.

You think it'll sell another 4 million units in the next couple of years? That's an interesting prediction.

What would be particularly funny is if Nintendo kept it around as their budget console, because I could see component prices making the modern platforms comparably unaffordable. Although I think we'll see Ninty jack up prices on literally everything else first before touching the Switch 2 MSRP.

As for Xenoblade... yes, the moment we get Switch 2 upgrades for 2/3 is the moment my Switch 2 becomes a Xenoblade machine for the foreseeable future. I've been dying to replay XC3, but want to re-experience it with the full power of the Switch 2.

@Ralizah
Switch will have sold over 4m from April 1st, 2025 through March 31st, 2026. The entire time Switch 2 was either out or on the precipice of launching.

So it seems to me that system still has another 2 years left in it squeezing out 3-4m each year. Normally that wouldnt be the case but with Switch Lite being half the price of Switch 2, and the fact people are still buying OLED models for whatever reason, I think they could do another 3-4m this FY.

They're still selling, even at $400 lol... Nintendo was like, "People, for the love of God stop buying this system already! Fine, we're jacking up prices so high it's only $50 less than Switch 2. That'll get em to stop and consider Switch 2 instead"... People still buying it 😀.

I think 156m by Mar 2026. Another 3m to hit 159m by Mar 2027. And I think it crosses 160m by holiday 2027.

@JaxonH We got some off hand footage of Pragmata! Capcom are doing amazing things with this system. Game looks EXCELLENT! Also calling it now: the Sketchbook demo will get shadow dropped on Switch 2 (and other consoles) during the Partner Showcase on Thursday.

@JaxonH It remains to be seen. It's worth considering that much of Nintendo's year one support was cross-gen, and they really haven't had anything aside from Mario Kart to push sales hard on their new console. If we get Pokemon/Zelda/Mario/etc. this year, I think you'll probably see legacy sales die off pretty hard.

But I wouldn't mind if you were right. It'd be the funniest thing in the world for Switch to topple the console record AGAIN, this time overcoming that extra five million units Sony manifested out of thin air.

Also, I'll say this: Switch OLED benefitted harder from word of mouth promotion than anything else I've ever seen. Everyone was initially mocking the thing for being a minor revision when people wanted a Pro, but the image quality and battery life gains were so significant that public opinion totally flipped on its head with the system. For the moment, outside of games specifically patched to run better on Switch 2, it's inarguably the best way to experience the majority of the gigantic Switch 1 library if you play undocked.

@JaxonH Switch 1 prices haven't risen in all of the world, and it's a lot easier to get them discounted too. For instance, the price difference between an OLED and a Switch 2 in Australia is more like $200 (AU). You, of all people, will know that there are few things that you can do with a Switch 1 that you can't yet with a Switch 2, as well, and that's surely a factor.

Also, if you want a pure handheld, the Lite still isn't a bad option. All but two of the Switch 2 games that I've got still run on it in some fashion, and the likes of Hades 2 and Metroid Prime 4 run very well, even.

I think there will eventually be a cost-reduced model of the Switch 2 that finishes it off, assuming component scarcity doesn't get there first, but I definitely can see it having a decent tail over the next year or so.

Also, the software sales are incredibly strong for a nearly nine year-old platform, even accounting for many of them being bought for play on a Switch 2. It doesn't look like a console that people are ready to cast aside, just yet.

If you're going by sell through, you were basically on the dot. I realize you probably weren't since Nintendo doesn't usually tell us that info, but it's kinda neat.

@Ralizah
Thing is, I believe Switch is beyond the point of new software driving its hardware sales. Like, think about it this way: someone waits 9 full years to buy, skips 5 Zelda games, 4 2D/3D Marios, 2 Splatoons, 5 huge Pokemon releases, 4 Xenoblades, 2 Fire Emblems, 3 Bayonettas, 3 Mario Party games, Switch Sports and Ring Fit, Mario Kart and Smash Bros, 2 Luigi's Mansions, all the Mario sports titles, 4 RPG Mario titles, Tomogachi Life and Animal Crossing...

Then finally, a decade later, picks one up because a new [insert game here] releases?

I think at this point, Switch is selling on its back catalog. No doubt new games will also sell, but I didn't see any holiday bump for NS1 due to Pokemon Legends Z-A. I think the people who are buying Switch now, arent doing so because exclusive #123 finally persuaded them. I think it's the weight of the library in totality.

And with that many systems out there, sometimes people lose them or they break and want to replace it, irrespective of whether they own a NS2. And, now that modchips can be easily soldered in by numerous professionals offering their services on Etsy and online mod/repair centers, and OLED being the model to chip due to battery life efficiency needed for overclocking, that's probably helping to boost some late game sales as well. Probably not that much, when Nintendo's pushing at the tape every little extra bit matters.

This is all assuming we never see a price cut. If they decide to start slapping that orange clearance sticker on Switch like they did with 3DS, at least dropping down to original MSRP but possibly even further (think Lites for $150, v2 for $275, OLEDs for $325, and then whenever demand finally starts drying up hit em with that $100 Lite, $200 v2 and $250 OLED), there's no way Switch can't squeeze that last 4m needed.

I bet Switch continues to sell in 2026, does 3m, then in 2027 it finally starts grinding to a halt with some Holiday fire sales to clear stock, and when Nintendo has their annual FY meeting in March 2028, they announce Switch has surpassed 160m and that production will officially be ending. But, there's a chance Switch sells a few mil in 2026, then does the same in 2027, and they decide screw it, let it ride as long as it keeps pulling in 2+ million each year. In which case it could do 162-165 before it finally runs out of gas.

I so want to see it pass 160m, too. I think it will. It sold 4m this year with virtually no new games (Pokemon was end of year and it didn't even see a spike from it). All it needs is 2.5m in 2026 and 1.5m in 2027. I think that's doable!