Topic: Switch 2 Sells 3.5 Million Units In First Four Days To Become Fastest Selling System In Nintendo History

[Shaymin]

So I guess we can put those Switch 2 Pro rumors on ice for an Olympiad.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/71384/switch-2-sells-35-million-units-in-first-four-days-to-become-fastest-selling-system-in-nintendo-history

Whether due to tariff fears or pent-up desire for the first new Mario Kart in more than a decade, the Switch 2 is off to a flying start.

A press statement from Nintendo this evening has confirmed that the first four days of Switch 2 saw "more than" 3.5m systems sold. This represents the fastest any Nintendo system has sold: for comparison, Switch 1's opening month of sale (March 3 - 31, 2017) was 2.74m units.

Regional breakdowns are expected when Nintendo issues their financial results for fiscal Q1 in late July or early August.

[Luigi Dude]

Just goes to show how once again the online gaming space is literally an insanely small bubble that represents less than 1% of the real world.  All the negativity that so many were saying would hurt the system, is once again something the average person doesn't give a **** about.

At the end of the day, if people want to play the newest Mario Kart, the sequel to a game that sold close to 70 million copies they'll need to by the Switch 2.  If they want to play the upcoming 3D Donkey Kong, the next game from the 3D Mario team whose last game sold close to 30 million units, they'll need to buy a Switch 2.  Hell if they want to play the newest installments in most Nintendo franchises, which all exploded in popularity over the last decade, they'll need to buy a Switch 2. 

The argument for the Switch 2 not succeeding always relied on some weird thinking that would literally have to involve someone like Thanos snapping the Infinite Gauntlet to make everyone in the world suddenly decide they hate Nintendo games.  You don't go from Nintendo's long running series having their biggest success ever, to suddenly selling worse then ever, especially when hardly anyone else is even trying to make alternatives to Nintendo's games that might draw people attention to other systems.

And before anyone goes, but the Wii U, the Wii U was hurt the most by the 3DS which had many of the same titles, as well as the fact the 3DS had bigger exclusives like Pokemon and an actually mainline Animal Crossing game.  The 3DS and Wii U showed Nintendo that people weren't willing to buy 2 Nintendo systems at the same time anymore to get similar experiences, hence why they merged everything into one.  A Wii U situation is never going to happen to a Nintendo that has only one unified platform they need to support.

[Ian Sane]

I expected the launch units to sell out.  The biggest issue with the Switch 2 is the pricing.  That's going to cut out the poorest of the existing Switch 1 userbase but there would certainly be 3.5 million people above them in the list that could easily afford the higher price and wouldn't care about paying it.  The real test is long term when the earlier adopters all have their Switch 2s.

But the system price is not unreasonable for the tech you get.  The bigger issue are the game prices.  So what will the attach rate be for games compared to the Switch 1?  If the games cost more, but a person's gaming budget doesn't change, they'll buy less games.  Nintendo might be ready to declare the $80 game experiment a success because of Mario Kart World but anyone who got the bundle paid only $50 for it.  Let's see how it works for an $80 game with no alternate price option at release.

I also would be curious to see how these figures break out by country.  Here in Canada the most expensive Switch 2 games are $115, which is insane.  Mario Kart World is $110 as the $115 price seems to be for Switch 2 versions of certain Switch 1 games.  So how are those games selling in that country or any country where the prices have shot up over a hundred bucks?  We don't think of our money as a conversion from USD.  $100 is $100.  So I think there's a possibility that Nintendo may be pushing right up to the limit for the American pricing but in other countries they may be pushing far past that.  There is a psychological element to something going from a two digit to three digit price.

Nintendo does deserve credit for having produced a good amount of these things.  The early adopters will all get one within the first few months, presumably without having to go through a scalper which is great.  Christmas will give us good numbers as those sales will have moved beyond the most devoted to the more general population.

[Adrock]

Just goes to show how once again the online gaming space is literally an insanely small bubble that represents less than 1% of the real world.  All the negativity that so many were saying would hurt the system, is once again something the average person doesn't give a **** about.

I don't think anyone can make this claim yet. All sales so far have been early adopters, largely the kind who wait in line for hours at a midnight launch if they couldn't preorder.

If you're strictly referring to people who claimed Switch 2 would bomb, sure. That wasn't a likely scenario given Nintendo hasn't made any dramatic, glaring mistakes. However, like Ian and a lot of people have been saying, the bigger issue is game pricing. Whether all that negativity ultimately hurts the system is yet to be decided. In the current global economic climate including and especially long-term wage stagnation, I'm inclined to lean toward yes, game prices will hurt the system.

This isn't a Nintendo specific problem. Sony and Microsoft have raised prices on hardware that has been on the market for nearly half a decade. Across the board, everyone is going to feel the squeeze. The shortsighted view is that this is merely a $10 or $20 price hike depending on the game. The reality is that even $60 for a video game was getting hard to justify because everything else was getting more expensive. It's just the hierarchy of needs, can't spend recreationally when you have to pay rent and buy groceries. Even fast food isn't cheap anymore. 🤷�♀�

[UncleBob]

>The 3DS and Wii U showed Nintendo that people weren't willing to buy 2 Nintendo systems at the same time anymore to get similar experiences,

I think this is a important thing that gets overlooked a lot.  Sure, we didn't get Mario Galaxy type 3D Mario game or a new giant 3D Zelda on the 3DS, but there were a lot of "core" Nintendo-style games on the 3DS - and at a lower price point.  The 3DS had a huge library of amazing games (boosted by the DS library).

In the olden days, you'd get something like Super Mario Bros. 3 on the home console for full price and Super Mario Land 2 on the black and white handheld for a lower price - even in the same genre of game with the same mascot, two fairly different styles of gameplay.  On the Wii U and 3DS, we got New Super Mario Bros. Wii U and New Super Mario Bros. 2.  Different games, to be sure, but we're they really different enough?

Coupled with the baggage Nintendo carried over from the Wii, the lack of third party support, the devistatingly poor online infrastructure, and Nintendo struggling with HD Dev cycles... the Wii U was doomed to fail.  And I own two. 🤣

Ultimately, if a system sells is going to come down to the games.  Does the system offer enough games with a unique enough experience that justifies throwing down the money to buy another new system.  It doesn't matter how powerful your system is, how good of a deal it is, what features it has... if the games aren't there, it's not going to succeed.

I think the Switch 2 will continue to receive ample third party support.  I do worry that Nintendo hasn't quite figured out how to deal with HD Dev cycles - the Switch's first party line up was definitely bolstered by 3DS and Wii U ports and upgrades.  I guess time will tell.

[pokepal148]

I do think the whole Game prices thing will affect game sales for the system due to various economic issues but at the same time, indie games are becoming an increasingly viable solution for more budget conscious customers and the Switch 2 is in a really good position to be able to handle those kinds of games, both because of its portability and increased power over the Switch, and because of the wide array of control options the system has over the competition.

I think the mouse deserves special mention because of how it opens the door for several neat indie games that have never really been feasible to bring to a console before because they are built around being played with a mouse. There's stuff like Pony Island and The Hex which are suddenly much more viable to bring to a console because there is now a console that has some sort of mouse input packed in.

If Nintendo can continue to play to their strength with indie games while ensuring that the eshop doesn't become a cesspool of ai hentai shopping simulator games again, then I believe that they will be able to provide options for more budget conscious customers.

[broodwars]

I think any claim about the Switch 2's success, positive or negative, will be premature until a year or 2 from now. With rare exceptions, consoles sell out at launch, either through legitimate purchases or scalpers. Nintendo had abundant supply this time, so they had more to sell out. Even the Wii U & 3DS sold out at launch IIRC, and how'd that work out for both of them a year later?

As everyone else is saying, I think the dramatic increase in game prices is going to do serious damage long-term to all the console manufacturers. Nintendo pushing for everyone to adopt Game Key Cards also doesn't help matters. I'm not buying a Switch 2 until there is actually 1st party content worth buying. Never been much of a Mario Kart fan, so I'm waiting for the real games a year or 2 from now.

[Luigi Dude]

I do think the whole Game prices thing will affect game sales for the system due to various economic issues but at the same time, indie games are becoming an increasingly viable solution for more budget conscious customers and the Switch 2 is in a really good position to be able to handle those kinds of games, both because of its portability and increased power over the Switch, and because of the wide array of control options the system has over the competition.

I think the mouse deserves special mention because of how it opens the door for several neat indie games that have never really been feasible to bring to a console before because they are built around being played with a mouse. There's stuff like Pony Island and The Hex which are suddenly much more viable to bring to a console because there is now a console that has some sort of mouse input packed in.

If Nintendo can continue to play to their strength with indie games while ensuring that the eshop doesn't become a cesspool of ai hentai shopping simulator games again, then I believe that they will be able to provide options for more budget conscious customers.

Yeah this is something many forget when talking about the Switch as well.  We know from actual sales data, the Switch was a beast when it came to indie sales.  Many indie devs would talk about how the Switch version of the games was either the best selling, or second best selling behind only Steam sales.  And these aren't just small games, quite a few of these indie titles were major hits.

Seriously look at the numbers for Stardew Valley

https://www.stardewvalley.net/press/

As of December 2024, Stardew Valley has sold over 41 million copies across all platforms, with over 26 million copies sold on PC, and 7.9 million copies on the Nintendo Switch.

So yeah, indie games had massive success on the Switch and made up a pretty large amount of its overall library sales.  So many of the Switch userbase will still have access to a large library of lower priced games.

Plus when talking about Nintendo's own games that will be $10-20 more.  We know from data that most people only buy 2-3 games a year anyway.  So even if those 2-3 games are the newest Nintendo titles at full price, that's still only an increase of $30-60 more on gaming a year then they spent during the Switch 1 era.  To most people, that's not a huge increase.

Even the Wii U & 3DS sold out at launch IIRC, and how'd that work out for both of them a year later?

Both consoles then had a massive drought after launch, with third party support ranging from bad on the 3DS, to non-existence on the Wii U.  The Switch 2 on the other hand has the complete opposite of that with it getting literally a major games in Donkey Kong a month later, as well as great third party support to fill in the gaps.  It's literally a night and day situation with the Switch 2 versus those systems.

Plus the 3DS with all its problems still managed to sell over 70 million units in the end so I'm not sure why you picked that as an example.  I'm sorry but using the 3DS as an example pretty much shows the worst case situation for the Switch 2 is around 100 million units which would still make it a very successful console.

[lolmonade]

I'll give Nintendo a little bit of rope about the 1st party games since they've gotten better at not announcing stuff until it's closer to launch (Metroid Prime 4 notwithstanding).  A 4 day window of sales doesn't say anything about the long-term success other than showing they're off to a good start and were able to fulfill most of the demand. 


Anecdotally, about half the people I know who are into gaming have gotten the Switch 2.  They're waiting for something worth playing on the system and have no interest in Donkey Kong.  My kids haven't touched the thing except for a few matches of family MarioKart World. 

Pessimist me still thinks because of pricing, lack of true Switch 2 exclusives, and its iterative nature will have sales be more of a slow burn.  I have a hard time recommending it to anyone outside of our slice of gaming, especially when a lot of my friends are rocking Steam Decks.  But maybe I'm discounting a deep hunger for more MarioKart.

[broodwars]

"Plus the 3DS with all its problems still managed to sell over 70 million units in the end so I'm not sure why you picked that as an example.  I'm sorry but using the 3DS as an example pretty much shows the worst case situation for the Switch 2 is around 100 million units which would still make it a very successful console."

Yes, after Nintendo abandoned the Wii U altogether, put their entire development focus on the platform, and cut the price severely. Let's not pretend the 3DS was a roaring success in its first few years. Have people seriously forgotten the disaster that the 3DS was early on? The "Ambassador" program?

[lolmonade]

Yes, after Nintendo abandoned the Wii U altogether, put their entire development focus on the platform, and cut the price severely. Let's not pretend the 3DS was a roaring success in its first few years. Have people seriously forgotten the disaster that the 3DS was early on? The "Ambassador" program?

Hell yeah 3DS ambassador gang right here.

[Luigi Dude]

Yes, after Nintendo abandoned the Wii U altogether, put their entire development focus on the platform, and cut the price severely. Let's not pretend the 3DS was a roaring success in its first few years. Have people seriously forgotten the disaster that the 3DS was early on? The "Ambassador" program?

You're literally proving my point once again.  The 3DS was a disaster because it launched with Nintendogs+Cats and Steel Diver and then had nothing until Ocarina of Time 3D, which came out 3 months later.  Then its next biggest game wasn't until Star Fox 64 3D, which came out 3 months later after that.  Then the next big game wasn't unit Mario 3D Land which was another 2 months away.  Seriously what exactly were people suppose to be buying the 3DS for its first year?  There was literally a 8 months gap between its launch and the holiday season where the only games from Nintendo were two remasters of N64 games.

The Switch on the other hand just launched with Mario Kart World, the sequel to a game that sold about 70 million units.  Has a brand new 3D platformer in Donkey Kong a month later that's from the Mario Odyssey team whose last game sold about 30 million units.  Plus once again you actually have major third party game on the Switch 2, something the 3DS didn't have.  We already have reports from North American NPD that Cyberpunk was the second best selling game for the Switch 2 launch in North America.  Which shows that a lot of the people buying the Switch 2 aren't all hardcore Nintendo fans who only care about the most recent Nintendo games.

Not sure why you keep comparing the 3DS to the Switch 2, when the situation for both systems is the complete opposite.

Pessimist me still thinks because of pricing, lack of true Switch 2 exclusives, and its iterative nature will have sales be more of a slow burn.  I have a hard time recommending it to anyone outside of our slice of gaming, especially when a lot of my friends are rocking Steam Decks.  But maybe I'm discounting a deep hunger for more MarioKart.

You're once again proving my point about people online living in a bubble.  The Steam Deck has sold less than 4 million units since it came out 3 years ago.  There's a good chance the Switch 2 either outsold it by the end of last week, or has done so by the end of this week.  Plus how many times do I need to say it, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold close to 70 million units.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/index.html

Mario Kart is literally one of the biggest franchise in gaming.  Anyone that wants to play the newest Mario Kart will need to buy a Switch 2.  You can't recommend them any other system when no other system will have the newest Mario Kart.

Even when expecting a drop off in sales, when you compare what happened with the DS/Wii era to the 3DS/Wii U era, the best selling Mario Kart of the DS/Wii era was Mario Kart Wii which did 37 million units while the best selling Mario Kart of the 3DS/Wii U era was Mario Kart 7 which did about 19 million units.  So even if you had a similar drop between Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart World, Mario Kart World would still end up selling around 35 million copies.  Which would literally put it about what Mario Kart Wii sold, which was on a system that did over 100 million units.

Of course keep in mind the main reason for Mario Kart's drop was because of the lose of the Nintendog/Brain Age/Wii Sports/Wii Fit audience that made up a large part of the DS and Wii.  The Switch on the other hands biggest sellers behind Mario Kart are Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, 3D Zelda, 3D Mario, Pokemon which all have a history of very constant sales and very dedicated fanbases.  Hell in the case of Animal Crossing it did better on the 3DS then it did on the DS, despite the 3DS having only half the audience.  Pokemon X/Y only did a million less than Diamond/Pearl, while Sun/Moon did a million better than Black/White.

Nintendo's main franchise from many of it's 20-30 year series, that have had constant if not steady growth over that time span have done better then ever on the Switch.  To suddenly expect them to sell even worse then their 3DS counterparts is just silly and would literally require something magical altering reality, or something like a nuclear war creating an apocalypse where nobody can play games anymore.  Or course after certain event going on in the world right now, the later is kind of looking somewhat likely.

[Caterkiller]

What's interesting to me is the discussion of game pricing. At some point too much is too much but I really don't think we are there now. I remember many discussions revolving around Pokemon specifically. Every generation the games went up and the idea of going from $39.99 3DS Pokemon games to $59.99 Switch Pokemon games had some people up in arms. Obviously there wasn't much uproar outside of Pokemon communities and not to mention console games were already $60 for ages by that point. Still some people were convinced there was no way Pokemon games would be able to reach the sales heights of R/B/G/Y or even G/S/C. Lo and behold a full gen later we would see that even the questionable quality of Sword and Shield surpassed Gold and Silver! Then lo and further behold Scarlet and Violet with it's own major controversies surpassed Gold & Silver along with Sword and Shield within the same generation.

It's certainly a reasonable assumption that higher priced games will sell less but man I really don't know. There could be some perceived premium value associated with the higher prices and some people(in the case of the Switch generation MORE people) are just willing to pay.

The extra budgeted Prime Remastered certainly didn't light up the charts but Retro's other title, Donkey Kong Country Returns, upped in price and did pretty well lol. Granted I understand there are huge differences between the IP's, marketing etc. However I think there is something to be said about the online discourse of both. The $40 Prime Remastered was just sure to get the Switch effect with that budget price point and take the series to new heights. The $60 Donkey Kong Country Returns was overly priced, sure to bomb and further disgrace the "forgotten" series.

My entertainment budget is like 80% video games. Occasionally taking my family to the movies and whatever silly streaming services we have. If push came to shove I'd prioritize my Nintendo any day of the week. Smash, Mario/Kart, Zelda, Donkey Kong, F-Zero and Tetris are just too difficult for me to put down. I'll sacrifice my movie and streaming dollar for my gaming dollar. For my personal needs the gaming dollar gets carried a heck of a lot further than my theater dollar. 

I suppose I'm saying that like with anything else people will adjust to the rising costs around them and be more selective with their expendable dollar. Does that mean less games or gaming services? Or maybe less streaming, 1 less super deluxe coffee in a given week, or one less trip to the movies?