Topic: *Switch 2: Nintendo’s Biggest launch ever?!*

We'll get official numbers from Nintendo on Monday or Tuesday after a full week, I'm thinking.

We will definitely get official number from Nintendo this week. Would be interesting to see if the bundle is outpacing the standard console version by far. This really speaks to the purchasing power of the Mario Kart series. A Nintendo Direct next week would be a smart way to maintain their launch momentum!

I think we need to be careful with predictions as both wii u and Dreamcast had great launches. There is always a core of gamers for any system that will buy it at launch but then there is slightly less motivated people that will take more time considering a purchase. The Switch 1 was a console for casual gamers mainly so we need to see how its perceived later on. There has been reports in the US of lots of spare stock of the console and no difficulty in getting one in at least some areas.

The US is Nintendo's most important market. The tariff situation may have had an effect in just confusing consumers. Xbox is a brand that often fails in some regions and countries but sells well in others. More expensive consoles tend to get a good launch but then sales are slower to pick up afterwards and make more strides in sales as the prices of the hardware are reduced. You can get a digital PS5 now for around 300 pounds and that is a 10 Teraflop beast with some amazing games and more competitively priced software.

There has been big increases in poverty in the UK too with huge inflationary pressure and a chronic undersupply of housing driving up rental costs and the price of mortgages. We now have 40 year mortgages to people can buy homes but this means they pay a lot more interest and have far less real disposable income. The same situation has also happened in the US, much of Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand etc. The Switch 2 is not just more expensive when compared to the Switch 1 with regards inflation but more expensive due to people's lower disposable income. This could mean in reality it is 2x or even 3x as expensive with regard the ratio of average disposable income.

@BonzoBanana Yeah but WiiU had a great launch because it was on the heals of the Wii. BUt not only did it fail to attract people with it's new gimmick ... apparently a large number of people thought it was an accessory. DreamCast had a lot of mistakes but it was also just badly timmed with competition during an age people were jumping between consoles often.

The thing is thanks to online libraries people are more embedded with their consoles so moving is less likely without strong reason.

THe Switch 2 is also jsut a solid upgrade over Switch 1. So far the only real complaint I've heard from people who aren't actively praying Nintendo burns to the ground because they just decided that was their personality ... is battery.

But as someone that's played with the Switch 2. As long as you keep the brightness down it handles just about as well as the Switch 1 did in regards to Switch 1 games. So any potential battery issues would be the raw power of the games and not the console. WHich is still a possible issue that might need addressing later. But honestly most mobile consoles have been struggling to keep decent battery life given the pressure to put more power in so ... honestly you're not escaping that issue no matter which platform you go to.

I"ve also watched a few streamers playing with it and none of them had anything less than praise for it and these aren't streamers I take to be blind loyalists.

Overall there isn't any fatal flaw with the Switch 2 that I can see and since it's a definitive upgrade over Switch 1 ... there isn't much reason for every Switch 1 owner to not eventually get a Switch 2 when they can afford it.

And given Steam Deck and consoles are hardly cheaper it's not like people have a worth while cheaper option to pick instead.

So yes overall sales might be affected by tarrifs and poverty issues. But that realistically should only slow sales rather than stop them.

BTW in my area stock of Switch 2's sold out pretty much by noon on release day. Even in Targets that required you to go to the physical locations to buy. So I don't know about other areas and their circumstances, but sales seem fine overall.

@BonzoBanana
There is "plenty" of Switch 2 stock because Nintendo shipped tons of Switch 2 units to retailers to avoid scalpers (and escape future potential tariffs), not because demand is low.

If the 3 million in 1 day is accurate (from preorders and pickups) and even if it's not, Switch 2 will surely outsell Wii U by June 5 next year.

3.5M Switch 2’s sold in 4 days! It’s an impressive launch number , it’s definitely going to obliterate the 4.5M in 2 weeks held by Sony. This will easily be Nintendo’s highest revenue generated during a launch. Curious to know Switch 1 sales numbers as well. All in all the Switch2 is off to a resounding success even though many would prefer to paint a bleaker picture for Nintendo’s new console.

@Rainz now we don't know revenue. Given tarrifs and such issues the profit margins might be quite small. They might have even eaten a loss.

But what matters most for Nintendo is getting people on their new hardware so they can sell newer games on a console that can actually run them.

@Metazoxan
I think it’s a safe bet to assume that Nintendo Switch 2 now being the fastest selling (and most expen$ive) Nintendo console of all time will result in the highest launch revenue generated at launch for Nintendo. The tariffs will play a part but keep in mind Nintendo had already produced a massive amount of initial stock before the tariffs were even announced, which can help mitigate some of the added costs. They’re selling record numbers of units, have higher software pricing, and host of accessories…Nintendo is raking in $$$ this launch

It looks like we’re starting to get a better picture of the sales units per region now. Apparently Japan has just seen its biggest launch in history with Switch 2 selling just over 947K units. Mario Kart World has already sold close to 750K in Japan. Nintendomination in Japan looks to continue through another generation of gaming.

Today I visited the biggest electronics store in my city in Germany and a worker told me that the Switch 2 is sold out. He also told me that they sell 50 units in half an hour or something like that. It is still available at their online store. If this success keeps up Nintendo will easily surpass their first fiscal year sales goal. Impressive.

That's interesting is that normal for a Nintendo launch to have such a high percentage of world sales in just their own country? Also of course the Switch 2 is less than 300 pounds in Japan in converted currency or about 330 dollars and the full price of Mario Kart World is about 50 pounds converted. So there was a huge price advantage there. In the UK we are paying a 33% premium on the console and 50% premium for the software I guess. If I knew the console launch in my country was significantly cheaper than other countries I would be much more likely to buy it at launch thinking I was getting a much better deal.

Youtube: "Nintendo sells 3.5 Million Switch 2s, why that spells DISASTER for Nintendo"

@Megas75 lol. They really just can't shut up. Even when they can't think of a way to twist this into a failure they just call it one anyway

I've not seen that video but in the past there were issues with console manufacturers who made a lot of consoles and sold them into retail in high numbers but there was still a lot of stock left after launch and return figures were quite high (wii u). I don't know what the 3.5 million number is I'm assuming its in the hands of consumers but in the past they have manipulated launch numbers by giving out how many the console manufacturer had sold into retail channels rather than end users. This gives a more positive spin but I doubt the Switch 2 has had to do that. The important thing are retailers ordering new stock in high numbers. Typically though not every country is the same there are examples of both in most launches with some countries having lower demand than others. Some countries you have independent distributors from Nintendo so if Nintendo are charging them a lot of money for a console and they are putting their cut on it you end up with a very expensive console with much reduced demand. I could imagine the Switch 2 failing in those countries as the pricing could be ridiculous this time around. There as a recent story about France being one of the cheapest places in Europe to get a Switch 2 so many people in countries of Europe are buying their Switch 2s from there so you end up with it looking a huge success in France but a failure elsewhere in Europe.

Everything should be clear in a month or so when we get an idea about how much long term demand there is for the Switch 2 but we all know its going to be Christmas when demand really peaks again. A huge portion of Nintendo console sales are in the Christmas season possibly the majority as is the case to a lesser extent with other console manufacturers.

@Megas75
😂

@BonzoBanana
Nintendo has stated that the 3.5 million number was sold through to consumers, not just sold/shipped to retailers.

@Megas75
Nintendo has never been more successful and yet the Nintendoooooom is at an all time high. The YouTubers are comical, click baiting clout chasers….they’re wrong about 200% of the time. I guess during the Iwata era Nintendo was considered more of a goodwill corporation…sure they rarely discount their 1st party titles but they typically operated within the most affordable gaming ecosystems compared to Sony/MS. Nintendo used to offer online for Free for example. The company is now run by a corporate accountant and they’ve continued to thrive financially during a time of high strife and volatility among gaming studios. It’s definitely a contrast from the Iwata era but if we want to keep seeing our favorite gaming properties translate to the big screen, with new games and consoles etc…then you need that company to be able to generate the revenues necessary to make it all happen. Ppl thought the price of a PS5 Pro (and no disc drive) were outrageous…just wait until we get the next PS6 and Xbox consoles. $450 USD will look like a Happy Meal for the returns by then. Not condoning Nintendo charging $80USD, (it’s a $110 in Canada!) for software but it’s a sign this industry is changing as are its pricing modules, it’s happening everywhere!

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fv6...

NINTENDOOOOOOOOM!!!

Replying to this post even though it's obviously old and lacked the more recent context. But still, damn, the comments in here didn't age well at all did they.....

I would argue that kind of take was bad from the start. Just immediately. Comparing where the Switch 2 sits in terms of the buildup and level of interest to the Wii U is just straight up hyperbolic nonsense. The Wii U did not have a great launch, even in terms of early adopter enthusiasm in that first month it was more 3DS than Wii. It wasn't a disaster day 1 but even early on it was fairly obvious it wasn't a smash hit on day 1

There was this chart going around comparing the first month sales of every console historically. On this chart you might say that Wii U didn't look too bad. But note, these bars are a measure of total sell through, not demand. It's a measure of what ever is the lowest of demand and logistics

I would argue that on this chart Wii U and 3DS are the only consoles that are very obviously demand constrained on this list. The PS5 and PS3 were rather infamously supply constrained. PS5 specifically is the poster-boy for scalping launch consoles. I think it's pretty fair to say that the Wii was also fairly heavily supply constrained given, that Christmas was basically a real life version of the movie Jingle All the Way

But yeah, I don't think Nintendo was expecting Wii U or 3DS to move less than their predecessors early on. That's not how these things tend to work. So the fact that they moved less early on than their predecessors while the PS4/XBOne only a year later move over double the amount? Says to me there were demand issues from the start

But yeah, all this and then Switch 2 comes out and bests every console launch ever? Does 4x Wii U and about 2x Switch. I don't think these comparisons hold up. At all. And they were obviously wrong from the get go to anyone who was even remotely paying attention to how the community was behaving outside of the doom-o-sphere. Even just a personal anecdote, I remember when the Wii U launched only one other person I know getting one at launch as I did. And only maybe one or two more who got it through the life of the console. With Switch I know of quite a few people who got one early on and at this point I'm struggling to think of a gamer who didn't get one

Switch 2? I can think of half a dozen people I know who have one already. And about as many more who are probably getting one this year