- Switch 2 sales reportedly dropped during the 2025 Christmas period
- In the US, Switch 2 sales fell 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, but its first Christmas on shelves appears to have fallen short of expectations.
That is according to Chris Dring from The Game Business. In his latest weekly newsletter, Dring writes that the Nintendo Switch 2’s Christmas sales fell 35% compared to the original Switch during 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 fell by 16% compared to the original Switch console during the last eight weeks of its launch year.
That said, there was marginally more appetite for the Switch 2 in the UK on average. The new console achieved 6% more sales than its predecessor in its first year overall.
In a statement to The Game Business, a senior Nintendo employee said the sudden slowdown in Switch 2 sales is the result of a “complicated economic landscape.” It seems that higher prices for both hardware and software haven’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 people weren’t as eager to rush out and pick up a Switch 2 as they might have been when they Mario Kart World was shipped with the console at launch.
While Switch 2 got some big hits in Pokémon Legends: ZA and Donkey Kong Bananawere there no real barnburners to end the year on like a 3D Mario, Animal Crossing or Super Smash Bros. title. And while Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is great, it’s never been a series that pulls in the masses.
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