- Switch 2 sales reportedly slowed down over the 2025 Christmas period
- In the US, Switch 2 sales were down 35% compared to its predecessor’s launch year over the Holidays
- A “complicated economic landscape” was probably the biggest contributing factor
The Nintendo Switch 2 may have been the fastest-selling console ever in its June 2025 launch window, but its first Christmas on shelves appear to have fallen below expectations.
That’s according to The Game Business’s Chris Dring. In his latest weekly newsletter, Dring writes that the Nintendo Switch 2‘s Christmas sales were down 35% compared to the original Switch over the same period back in 2017 (that console’s launch year).
It’s a similar story in the UK, where Switch 2 sales in the last eight weeks of 2025 were down 16% compared to the original Switch console over the last eight weeks of its launch year.
That being said, there was marginally more appetite for the Switch 2 in the UK on average. The new console managed 6% more sales than its predecessor did in its first year overall.
In a statement to The Game Business, a senior Nintendo employee said the sudden slowdown of Switch 2 sales is the result of a “complicated economic landscape”. It seems higher prices for both hardware and software hasn’t exactly whetted the appetite of more casual gamers.
The employee adds that “the absence of a major Western game” – presumably in the sense of market appeal, not where the game may have been developed – meant that folks weren’t as keen to rush out and pick up a Switch 2 as they may have been when Mario Kart World was bundled with the console at launch.
While the Switch 2 did get some big hitters in Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Donkey Kong Bananza, there were no real barn burners to end the year on like a 3D Mario, Animal Crossing or Super Smash Bros. title. And while Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is great, that’s never been a series that pulls in the masses.
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