- Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa says Switch 2’s high price is a factor of the company’s 15 million unit sales forecast
- Furukawa says that the restrictions on hardware production capacity and US tariffs were not a factor
- Nintendo also expects to sell 45 million devices in Switch 2 software, excluding copies of Mario Kart World Included in Switch 2 -bundles
Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has said the lower than expected sales prediction for Nintendo Switch 2 is due to the high price point of the console.
Following his financial report last week, when Nintendo said it expected to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles during its launch window last week (via VGC), investors have since asked the company why it has predicted lower sales than some analysts expected.
“We predict the Nintendo Switch 2 -hardware sales of 15 million units for this fiscal year,” Furukawa said in a new Q&A published today. “We set this number for the purpose of reaching the same level of sales that we achieved with Nintendo Switch in the approximately 10-month period between launch in March 2017 and December of the same year.”
Furukawa also said the high cost of the console of $ 449.99 / £ 395.99 is a key factor in its predictions, but that its backward compatibility and software bundles will increase sales by the end of the first financial year.
“Nintendo Switch 2 is priced relatively high compared to Nintendo Switch, so we recognize that there are similar challenges for early adoption,” explained the Nintendo president. “That said, the Nintendo Switch 2 can play compatible Nintendo Switch software, so there is continuity between the platforms. We are taking steps as bundling software with hardware to speed up the adoption in the first financial year with the aim of getting the same start we did with Nintendo Switch.”
Furukawa continued and said that the restrictions on hardware production capacity “was not a factor” in its sales prediction, and that the recent increase in US tariffs or the possibility of a recession “also did not affect our sales volume forecast”.
“To achieve sales of 15 million units, we need to manufacture hardware in quantities larger than that. Our first goal is to get the same start as we did with Nintendo Switch, and we are working to strengthen our production capacity so we can respond flexibly to demand,” he added.
After acknowledging the positive feedback from Nintendo Switch 2 practical events around the world before returning to the topic of the high price of the console compared to the original switch and says “although there is momentum around the launch, we know it will not be easy to keep that momentum over”.
“We have been working to increase the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware production as we even before we had Nintendo Switch 2 experience events and began my Nintendo Store applications. Our sales volume forecast was not determined on the basis of any limit for production capacity,” he said.
Nintendo also predicted that it sells 45 million devices in Nintendo Switch 2 Software, excluding Mario Kart World Copies included in Switch 2 bundles, which would surpass the 52 million units of software sold to the contact for the 10 months after launch.
It was said that this is partly due to “a more robust line-up” of games from publishers and the availability of Switch 2 Edition titles.
Furukawa was later asked to confirm the impact of expected US tariffs on the sales forecast after Nintendo was forced to raise the price of some of its upcoming accessories last month.
“Our financial projections were created based on the assumption of US tariff rates of 10% on products produced in Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia, and 145% on China,” he explained, but could not pass on the impact of customs on individual products, such as something accessories and Amiibo produced in China.
“Our basic policy is that for any country or region whose duty is imposed, we recognize them as part of the cost and incorporate them into the price,” Furukawa added. “On the other hand, the financial year ends March 2026, the launch period for our first new dedicated video game system in eight years. If the customs changes change, we will consider how to deal with the situation while remembering the importance of platform moment and growth of the hardware installation base.”
Nintendo Switch 2 will be launched globally on June 5, 2025. UK proposers and US pre-orders are now live.
