I wouldn’t exactly call the Nintendo Switch 2’s first year revolutionary. The numbers were impressive, yes; Nintendo reported over 3.5 million hardware units sold in its first four days — its fastest-selling hardware launch ever. By December 31, 2025, the company reported 17.37 million units sold in its 30-week lifespan; by comparison, the first-generation Switch sold around 14.86 million units by December 31, 2017, in its first 36 weeks.
But the Switch 2 needed more than sales to break Nintendo’s generational curse of yo-yo-ing console success. It needed sticking power.
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Personally, I’ve not been quite as glued to the second-generation handheld console as I was the first, but I’m also no longer an undergraduate student with more free time than sense. That being said, whenever I do have an evening to myself, it’s most often spent playing on my Switch 2 rather than my gaming PC or other rival consoles.
While its first year undoubtedly set it off on a solid trajectory despite rising concerns over its pricing, hardware supply chain issues, tariffs and the absence of system-selling software, did the Switch 2 gain enough momentum to secure its future? Let’s review.
A lukewarm reception
From the moment Nintendo revealed the Switch 2 in April 2025, it was positioned as an iterative upgrade. This, naturally, reignited age-old debates between those who have long bemoaned Nintendo’s inferior performance and dated hardware and those prizing the focus on affordability and portability.
Hardware changes included a bigger 7.9-inch 1080p screen, 120Hz support, 4K docked output on compatible displays, better performance and 256GB of storage; all welcome, but still lagging behind the competition. But then, the Switch 2 is no handheld gaming PC — comparisons between it and the likes of the Steam Deck OLED or the Asus ROG Ally have always been slightly fraught, in my opinion.
Still, these complaints muddied the waters, and new social features GameChat and GameShare failed to generate hype, despite marking a significant move from Nintendo to keep pace with its competitors. That being said, I don’t know anyone regularly using either feature today…
Similarly, the novel Joy-Con 2 mouse mode controls weren’t met with the emphatic excitement I’m sure Nintendo hoped for. It was a well-measured reaction, in fairness; while the feature has come in handy in a few grand strategy titles like Civilization VII that port PC interfaces, I’ve yet to find a use case that makes the wrist strain induced by mouse mode worthwhile.
The Elephant Mario in the room
Without hardware to dazzle prospective customers, the real issue facing the Switch 2 at launch was that it wasn’t exciting enough, and without momentum, a console launch can easily fail. Despite the robust Japanese gaming audience in their camp, Nintendo struggled a little to win favor globally, and that was only doubled by a concerningly hollow launch title line-up carried mostly by Mario Kart World.
|
Nintendo Switch 2 software title |
Worldwide sales units* (As of March 31, 2026) |
|---|---|
|
Mario Kart World |
14.70 million pcs. |
|
Donkey Kong Bananza |
4.52 million pcs. |
|
Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition |
3.94 million pcs. |
|
Pokémon Pokopia |
2.41 million pcs. |
|
Kirby Air Riders |
1.87 million pcs. |
*Software units include the quantity bundled with hardware or other products and downloadable versions.
Add to the mix a sour taste over Nintendo’s paid-for tutorial software, Welcome Tour, and the general confusion and discourse around the nature of Virtual Game Cards, and by the time June rolled around, many onlookers expected the Switch 2 to face a disappointing first few weeks. Still, the fans turned out in droves, and Nintendo even managed to one-up Sony by side-stepping supply and demand issues faced by the PlayStation 5.
The best feathers in Nintendo’s cap were the offer of backward compatibility with OG Switch software, upgraded Switch 2 editions for more demanding first-gen titles, and better-designed Joy-Con controllers; it’s largely for these reasons that the Switch 2 faced a warm reception in the face of so much doubt.
I’m notoriously weak in the knees for The Legend of Zelda, and the upgraded Switch 2 Editions were enough to abate my side-eye at the otherwise vacant launch library. Still, I struggled in those early months — along with many others — to justify owning a Switch 2. If I hadn’t received one through work for review purposes, I probably would have held fire on purchasing one, too.
It’s on like Donkey Kong
For many, everything changed when Donkey Kong Bananza was released a month later; with a Metacritic score of 91 (and our own 4.5-star review in the mix), it was the early win the console needed to see a successful summer. Pokémon Legends: Z-A later in the year didn’t quite stick the landing so well, but the two titles, along with a library back-filled with ports like Cyberpunk 2077 and Yakuza helped to soften the blow.
For me, though, it wasn’t until late 2025 that the Switch 2 really found its rhythm. Further ports and release-day third-party launches like Hades 2 and Resident Evil Requiem have breathed life into the console, giving those of us who prize a quick 20-minute game sesh while commuting and don’t mind a lower-performance rendering the chance to keep pace with the rest of the gaming community.
The good times kept coming for Nintendo even in its comparatively smaller releases; in my household, my Switch 2 usage has increased significantly thanks to the release of Pokopia and Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream this year — we cozy gamers are consistently well-serviced by Nintendo.
The same can’t be said for many fans of meatier, AAA titles, though, and one question has haunted the Switch 2 since the moment it was announced: a rumbling, unanswered anxiety over what’s next.
That uncertainty comes at a cost. News that weak holiday sales are leading to Switch 2 production cuts shows that the console has yet to prove its mettle in the way the first-generation did, even with such high sales figures in its first year. Plus, the Switch benefited from explosive success for mid-lifecycle releases like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, notably in part thanks to the pandemic. Without insight into the future of AAA gaming on the Switch 2, I can only see sales plateauing further.
The Japanese gaming giant holds the keys to several as-yet untouched kingdoms — including The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario — but even news of newer franchises like Splatoon 4 could help abate naysayers. Plus, we’ve likely got at least another year to wait for Pokémon: Winds and Waves, and given the franchise’s recent track record for mainline flops, it’s hard to bet on the upcoming release as a system seller.
Yeah, but no, but yeah…
That only leaves the biggest question of all: Is the Switch 2 a successful follow-up to the first-generation console? A year on, the answer is a resounding “no — but yes, kinda” from me.
For one thing, I’ve already maxed out on storage, though I’d always argue an SD card should be a day-one purchase if you like handheld gaming. And yes, the battery life is worse, but at least with my lifestyle, I’m far more prone to play docked in 4K now than I am in handheld, meaning I can enjoy the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Tears of the Kingdom in all its glory — and it is truly glorious.
It’s a good thing I’m happier in docked mode, too, because while the Joy-Con 2 controllers have been “redesigned from the ground up” according to Nintendo, as seen in iFixit’s Switch 2 teardown, not enough has fundamentally changed to eradicate stick drift. It’s nowhere near the scale of the first-generation console, but I have personally experienced some early signs of drift and tend to stick with my Switch 2 Pro Controller to be safe — and to prevent Link from launching himself off a cliff without warning.
However, even if most upgrades are for quality of life, they really do make up the difference. Faster loading times are always welcome (though it remains to be seen how these will scale as software pulls further ahead of hardware capabilities), and improvements to system software like the eShop mean Nintendo might actually see some digital downloads, especially now that Nintendo has announced digital titles will cost less than physical copies.
There’s plenty of work to be done still on the Switch 2, and we don’t yet know if we’ll see more variants like a Lite or OLED model; who knows, maybe the long-rumored Switch Pro will make an appearance in this second-generation cycle. What we do know is to expect a price hike on the horizon — in the US it’s confirmed to be effective of 1 September 2026 when we’ll see the list price increase by $50. Still, the future is far from bleak, but only time will tell if Nintendo can eke another eight years out of its latest hardware before, if you’ll pardon the pun, switching things up again.
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josephine.watson@futurenet.com (Josephine Watson)
