Nintendo Switch 2 probably has the best console launch of all time

Within four days of its market launch, the Nintendo Switch has sold 3.5 million units. This was announced by Nintendo. It is the most successful console launch in the company's history, writes Nintendo. The first Switch took around a month to sell 2.7 million units.

The Switch 2 is therefore clearly ahead of the Switch 1, at least at market launch. But the figures are also impressive beyond that: it is probably the most successful launch of a video game console of all time. The PlayStation 5 was previously regarded as the game console with the best market launch. We know from Sony that the PS5 sold 4.5 million units in the two months following its market launch. Analysts assume that 3.4 million PS5 consoles were sold in the first four weeks.

The Switch 2 is apparently selling much faster than the PlayStation 5, which is probably also because the Sony console had to contend with massive supply chain problems at market launch in the middle of the coronavirus crisis and was sold out for months. Although stocks of the Switch 2 are somewhat scarce, Nintendo can meet a large part of the demand.

15 million targeted

So it remains to be seen whether the Switch 2 has the staying power that many of the most successful games consoles of all time have had and still have. Nintendo wants to sell 15 million Switch 2s by March 2026, the company told its investors ahead of the release. The Japanese company's financial year ends on March 31, 2026 – so there is almost a year to go until this milestone is reached.

When it was announced, the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 caused discussion: with an RRP of 470 euros, the Switch 2 is considerably more expensive than the Switch 1, which was launched at a recommended retail price of 330 euros. The current figures clearly show that users are willing to pay this higher price.

(dahe)