Nintendo's Switch 2 sets early sales records. Its future is less certain

CBC

a day ago

At first glance, Nintendo's new Switch 2 looks a lot like the last one — a handheld device that easily connects to your TV. It's a little bigger, a little heavier and comes in a sleek all-black finish.
"In so many ways, this is exactly what I wanted," said Toronto-based tech writer Steve Vegvari. "It's so familiar that it almost just feels like I'm playing the same piece of hardware that I was two weeks ago."
That conservative approach seems to have paid off. The Japanese company says it sold 3.5 million units in the first four days since the Switch 2 went on sale June 5, making it the fastest-selling Nintendo system ever.
But despite the early success, industry watchers say the coming months are key to determining Nintendo's longer-term fortunes. With a high price, small lineup of exclusive games and a more crowded market for handheld gaming — including a major entry by Microsoft — things aren't as simple as the original Switch's debut in 2017.
The system sped onto the sales charts alongside Mario Kart World, a racing game featuring the company's omnipresent mascot.
It's a followup to the original Switch's Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which sold more than 68 million copies — over 20 million more than the next best-selling title, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
"From a business perspective, this is absolutely the right move," said longtime games journalist Jeff Gerstmann.
But it's a less exciting debut than the first Switch, which launched with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, flipping that franchise on its head and earning praise as one of the best video games of all time.
Mario Kart World's trademark racing earned high praise, but reaction to the new "free roam" mode — where players can drive around a large world searching for secret items and missions, has been mixed.
Critics say there's not much to do or search for, especially when compared to other open-world racing games like Microsoft's Forza Horizon series.
John Warren, founder of the gaming site VGBees, said the game's soundtrack in particular shines, with jazzy and rock-based takes on classic Mario songs that sometimes kick in at surprising moments.
"I crested a mountain in the desert, and some [ Super Mario Bros. 2 ] music started playing, and then like, the Shy Guys on magic carpets were floating by," he said, referring to both the 1988 game and the enemy creatures it introduced.
It was "cool" and triggered "extreme nostalgia" for the older game, he said.
High price, more games coming
The Switch 2's price — $629.99, or $699.99 bundled with Mario Kart World — is a lot to swallow, especially compared to its predecessor. The cheapest model of the original Switch, the Switch Lite released in 2019, currently runs for about $250.
It's also on the high end of home console prices, compared to Microsoft's Xbox One S ($449) and Series X ($729), and Sony's PlayStation 5 ($579 to $649, depending on the model) and PlayStation 5 Pro (a whopping $959).
Lex Luddy, a freelance games journalist based in Ireland, says savvy gamers are unlikely to solely blame Nintendo or the other console-makers for high prices, when economic factors such as inflation or U.S. tariffs are considered.
"If it's not Nintendo being out of touch with the consumer. It is a much bigger global problem of: Why are these products and goods that we use for entertainment now [taking up] so much of our annual income?" she said.
Gamers who snapped up a Switch 2 may be anxiously waiting for more made-by-Nintendo games other than Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour — an interactive instruction manual that, infuriatingly, is sold separately from the console for $15.
Donkey Kong Bananza, is likely the most anticipated, set to launch in five weeks. Metroid Prime 4 and Pokemon Z-A are also slated for 2025, but will be playable on both old and new Switch systems.
Game prices are going up from the previous $80 standard, too: Bananza will cost $99 and Mario Kart World will cost $109 if you buy it a la carte.
In the meantime, players will have to fill their time with enhanced Switch 1 games like Breath of the Wild with smoother frame rates and additional game modes.
Third-party games that have been available for some years on competing platforms, like Cyberpunk 2077, are filling out the launch lineup, thanks to the Switch 2's beefed-up technical specs.
Meanwhile, as Nintendo builds its games roster for the holiday season, the market is set to get more complicated.
Last week, Microsoft announced the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, a pair of powerful handhelds made in partnership with Asus.
Asus already has game-focused handheld PCs on the market, in a high-end, relatively niche market dominated by Valve's Steam Deck. Prices for those are more similar to high-end gaming PCs than consoles, often going well north of $1,000.
WATCH | Xbox Ally reveal trailer
The Xbox Ally appears to promise more mainstream appeal. Gerstmann has tinkered with the Steam Deck and lesser-known competitors, and says their interfaces are too complicated to attract a wide audience. The Ally's cleaner Windows experience and the recognizable Xbox branding could overcome that — but don't expect it right away, he says.
"[The Ally is] not going to be some big mainstream device this holiday season, but I think [Microsoft is] continuing to chip away at it and it will eventually get there," he said.