Nintendo Switch 2 to launch with better sales than PS4 and PS5 in first year
Nintendo finally unveiled its successor to the immensely popular Switch console (curr. $274.49 on Amazon) earlier today. While the Switch 2 is now official, Nintendo will be leaving fans hanging until April before fully revealing the console. In the meantime, it is unclear how much the console costs, let alone when it will begin shipping or its launch titles.
Nonetheless, Bloomberg reports that Nintendo is forecasting the Switch 2 to be its most popular console ever in its first year. For context, Nintendo initially hoped to ship 10.5 million Wii U consoles in year one, which represented a 43% drop on Wii units sold over fiscal year 2008.
Perhaps driven by the failure of the Wii U commercially, Nintendo downplayed how many Switch consoles would be sold within the console's first month, which also coincided with the end of its fiscal year. In fact, the Switch outperformed expectations by circa 760,000 units before shipping 15 million units in 2018 and peaking at over 28 million sold throughout fiscal year 2021.
By contrast, Nintendo is said to be preparing for Switch 2 sales figures to exceed 20 million units in year one. It is worth stressing that this figure comes from Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Robin Zhu via Bloomberg rather than Nintendo itself.
If the Switch 2 manages anywhere close to these numbers, then it would see the console outselling not just the Wii and Switch in their first years but also the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 too. Regardless, Zhu insists that Nintendo has already geared its supply chain in preparation for a veritable avalanche of Switch 2 sales throughout 2025 and into early 2026.
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