Smashing Switch 2 Numbers Prove Nintendo’s Strategy Is Super Effective

As you might expect, especially when its successor offers very broad backwards compatibility with performance improvements, Switch 1 numbers have plummeted 60% year-on-year. Yet 1.89 million isn’t a bad figure either, and Nintendo still thinks it can sell 4 million OG Switches this financial year, half a million fewer than previous forecasts. Switch 1 is just 10,000 units away from DS’ all-time console record, with only the PS2 ahead of that. And despite the hardware decline, S1 software forecasts have gone up by 20 million to 125 million. More positive news for Nintendo’s accountants.

Games-wise, the Mario Kart World bundle worked wonders (with most people presumably avoiding the $80 standalone price), with 9.57 million copies of the game out there as of 30th September. And Donkey Kong Bananza has sold 3.49 million units to date. Not Mario Kart numbers, but healthy for a non-bundled release; around a third of all Switch 2 owners also have a copy of DKB. It’s never going to trouble MKW’s current, colossal 92% attach rate, but the ape is holding his own.

High prices and uncertainty in the US made it a tricky launch; with Microsoft and Sony increasing hardware prices this year, Nintendo had a tricky needle to thread with its pricing. But despite the hashtags and general dismay at an $80 Mario Kart — at present, Nintendo’s only non-NS2 Edition game at that price point — and increased accessory costs, the numbers speak for themselves. They threaded that needle well enough.

The system could have been rushed out last year, but again, holding back and stockpiling hardware to satisfy demand has paid dividends, with the ball rolling nicely over the summer months. Despite industry trends and suboptimal circumstances, Nintendo has proved that the market is still there, the appetite still healthy. People are still willing to pay for quality. The slow and steady approach has paid off. The strategy is working.

The third-party support has been excellent, too. Sure, multiplatform gamers may have played a lot of these games before, and Game-Key Card discontent is real, but looking at the best games on Switch 2 so far, ‘old’ games or otherwise, the quality is undeniable.

The wider problems with the games industry surround us still. While PS5 is selling well, Sony’s hardly had the most exciting generation, benefiting as Microsoft lurches between PR disasters and makes Xbox a less viable option by the day. Price increases across the board, however, seem to be making the value proposition of gaming hardware and subscription services worse all the time.

Yet here’s Nintendo putting out a little tablet console that, against the odds, is tracking very favourably with its trailblazing predecessor. Switch 2 certainly isn’t cheap, and it’s arguably still lacking its truly killer app, its ‘I must own a Switch 2 to play Game X!’ Mario Kart was a great opening salvo. Bananza is brilliant, but it’s not a Mario. Switch 2 doesn’t have its Breath of the Wild yet. (In fact, you could argue that, weirdly, Switch 2’s BOTW is BOTW, but that’s another article.)

What it does offer, though, has been enough for more-than-enough people. The launch had its stresses, but Nintendo has maintained the momentum beyond that opening month and is very well-placed to get stuck in over the holidays and into the new year with a packed and varied lineup. Next quarter’s results — the October-November-December crop — will include figures for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Hyrule Warriors, Kirby Air Riders, and Metroid Prime 4.

That’s four brand new games, including two S2 exclusives, and we already know that Pokémon had a monster-sized launch, scoring the US’ biggest physical launch since Tears of the Kingdom. Packed, varied, and super effective indeed – and that’s just the first-party-published stuff.

Over the past few months, I’ve pondered if peppering umpteen NS2 Edition upgrades between its brand new S2 exclusives would be enough to get people on board and sufficiently excited to splash out on a pricey console, despite the pent-up desire for something new. For all the buzz, the next Animal Crossing is, well, the ‘old’ Animal Crossing with some Bells and whistles. Will that be enough? Will the inevitable ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Hyper Fighting Dash Dojo EX’ keep this ball rolling?

All evidence points to ‘Yes, absolutely.’ Well played, Nintendo.