- Switch 2 sales reportedly slow during the 2025 Christmas period
- In the United States, sales of the Switch 2 were down 35% compared to its predecessor’s launch year during the holidays.
- A “complex economic landscape” is likely the biggest contributing factor
The Nintendo Switch 2 may have been the best-selling console of all time during its June 2025 launch window, but its first Christmas on shelves appears to have fallen short of expectations.
That’s according to Chris Dring of The Game Business. In its latest weekly newsletter, Dring writes that Christmas sales of the Nintendo Switch 2 were down 35% compared to the original Switch during the same period in 2017 (the year that console launched).
It’s a similar story in the UK, where sales of the Switch 2 in the last eight weeks of 2025 were down 16% compared to the original Switch console in the last eight weeks of its launch year.
That being said, there was on average a slightly higher appetite for the Switch 2 in the UK. The new console generated 6% more sales than its predecessor in its first year.
In a statement to The Game Business, a senior Nintendo executive said the sudden slowdown in Switch 2 sales was the result of a “complicated economic landscape.” It seems that the higher prices of hardware and software haven’t really whetted the appetite of casual gamers.
The employee adds that the “lack of a major Western game” – probably in the sense of market appeal, not where the game might have been developed – meant people weren’t as willing to rush out and buy a Switch 2 as they might have been when Mario Kart World was bundled with the console at launch.
While the Switch 2 attracted some big hitters Pokémon Legends: ZA And Donkey Kong Bananzathere was no real barn burner to end the year like a 3D Mario, Animal Crossing, or Super Smash Bros. title. And while Metroid Prime 4: Beyond It’s great, it’s never been a series that appeals to the masses.
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