2 days ago
Switch 2 breaks Nintendo record, selling 3.5 million units in 4 days
Nintendo sold more than 3.5 million units of its new Switch 2 console in the four days after it launched, breaking a record for company hardware sales, the Japanese gaming company said on Wednesday.
Customers essentially cleared out the stock Nintendo had built up over the past months for the market launch in just a few days after June 5.
Some online retailers are now quoting waiting times of up to two months. In early May, Nintendo set a sales target of approximately 15 million Switch 2 consoles by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2026.
Some market experts consider this forecast cautious given the high demand for the device. However, Nintendo chief executive Shuntaro Furukawa assured at the time that its prediction was not influenced by any limits on production capacity.
It is not unusual for there to be a rush for gaming consoles at launch, with sales quickly normalising afterwards. However, the Switch 2 is the console upgrade that many Nintendo fans have long been waiting for, arriving more than eight years after the release of the original.
The rapid sell-out is also a positive sign for Nintendo, as the Switch 2 is significantly more expensive than the original model, with a higher launch price of $450/€470 or $499/€509 with the flagship game "Mark Kart World".
The new Nintendo console is also being released at a time of change in the gaming industry. Many users are turning to game streaming, where games run on servers online and are transmitted to devices like televisions over fast internet connections.
Nintendo, however, is for the time being committing itself to games with the company's popular characters, such as Super Mario, only running on its own consoles.
With this approach, the Japanese company has sold more than 150 million units of various Switch console models. A key factor in this success is that the devices can be used both on the go and connected to a television.
However, with more elaborately designed new games, it has recently become evident that the original Switch is reaching its technical limits.
