Nintendo's Japanese account on X shared an official statement from the company's CEO, Shuntaro Furukawa, that confirms Nintendo saw 2.2 million applicants for the Switch 2 pre-order lottery in Japan alone.
Based on machine language translation, Furukawa wrote that despite "proceeding with production in advance," the company "received an extremely large number of applications, approximately 2.2 million people in Japan alone."
The CEO said the number far exceeded the company's expectations "and far exceeds the number of Nintendo Switch 2 consoles that can be delivered from the My Nintendo Store on June 5th."
While "a significant number of customers" will miss out in the first round, Nintendo says My Nintendo Store will automatically carry them over to the second round of availability. The company said that "even including the quantity for the second lottery sale," it still cannot fulfill "all of the applications."
Furukawa said the company is "currently working on further strengthening our production system" to meet future demand. Nintendo will also continue "producing and shipping a considerable number of Nintendo Switch 2 units in the future." Nintendo has also confirmed that third-party retailers will open pre-orders soon.
According to The Verge, the first Nintendo Switch sold 360,000 units in its first in Japan. The US leg of the pre-orders is scheduled to start on April 24th, after a minor delay due to the US tariffs. The console will be sold in the US at its original price of $449.99. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be launched on June 5th, 2025.