TOKYO — Nintendo Company sold 3.5 million-plus units of the Switch 2 in just four days, a record-breaking start for the company’s first new console in eight years.
The numbers, released by the company Wednesday, bode well for its target to sell 15 million units by March next year. They also reinforce analysts’ projections that Nintendo may be able to sell far more if it can pump up supply.
Catching up with runaway demand is the first major challenge Nintendo now faces. President Shuntaro Furukawa has apologised after customers came away from lotteries for the Switch 2 empty-handed.
The Kyoto-based company has asked its partners to speed up production of the console. It is also secured agreements from Japanese online marketplace operators such as Rakuten Group Incorporated, Mercari Inc and LY Corporation to discourage resellers from taking advantage of the hardware’s scarcity.
A chronic shortage may spur consumers to turn elsewhere and flatten momentum. Nintendo's priority is to sustain launch momentum for as long as possible, Furukawa told analysts at earnings briefing in May. That is more difficult due to the Switch 2's higher retail price compared with its predecessor and growing weakness in the global economy.
Furukawa has also warned the company may consider raising the console’s price in the future, depending on US President Donald Trump’s tariff measures.
What Bloomberg Intelligence says:
Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft could be more affected than other game makers by tariffs because they also have hardware businesses. Prices for the Nintendo Switch 2 could still be hiked by 7-8% for US buyers — 30% in our worst scenario — despite the 90-day tariff "truce," our scenario shows, given the high US duties on the main production countries.
Nintendo will officially launch the Switch 2 in Thailand on June 26. The console is officially priced at somewhere around 17,000 baht.
Customers dressed as Super Mario and other characters queue ahead of the sales launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 gaming console at the Currys Plc store on Oxford Street in London, the United Kingdom, on June 4, 2025. (Photo: Bloomberg)
