Nintendo Switch 2: This Time It's Not Switch 1

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themantis

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  • #801
    Switch 2 had the best sales records of any console launch of all time in terms of total number of consoles sold (a true comparison with prior consoles is difficult due to many factors, but on the simple measure of how many did they sell, they sold more than any other video game system at launch).

    https://www.gamesindustry.biz/nintendo-switch-2-sold-582-million-units-in-q1-2025

    I guess I don’t understand the narrative that Switch 2 had an underperforming launch year. It’s possibly true that it sold fewer units in Q4 2025 than in Q2, but that’s only because it sold so many in Q2. But we don’t have the official data for Q4 yet.

    The report people are talking about now (there’s a front page story on Ars about it) compares Switch 1 in holiday 2017 with Switch 2 in holiday 2025. I don’t think that’s a great comparison. This report is getting too much attention, in my view.

    Anyway, we’ve got many data points to argue that Nintendos launch strategy ($450, MKW, DKB, etc) was a resounding success.

    How they do in year 2 is an open question. We could see a big drop off this year without more exclusives, especially if they have to raise the price above $450. But 2025? Switch 2 had a strong launch.
     
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  • #802
    themantis said:
    Switch 2 had the best sales records of any console launch of all time in terms of total number of consoles sold (a true comparison with prior consoles is difficult due to many factors, but on the simple measure of how many did they sell, they sold more than any other video game system at launch).

    https://www.gamesindustry.biz/nintendo-switch-2-sold-582-million-units-in-q1-2025

    I guess I don’t understand the narrative that Switch 2 had an underperforming launch year. It’s possibly true that it sold fewer units in Q4 2025 than in Q2, but that’s only because it sold so many in Q2. But we don’t have the official data for Q4 yet.

    The report people are talking about now (there’s a front page story on Ars about it) compares Switch 1 in holiday 2017 with Switch 2 in holiday 2025. I don’t think that’s a great comparison. This report is getting too much attention, in my view.

    Anyway, we’ve got many data points to argue that Nintendos launch strategy ($450, MKW, DKB, etc) was a resounding success.

    How they do in year 2 is an open question. We could see a big drop off this year without more exclusives, especially if they have to raise the price above $450. But 2025? Switch 2 had a strong launch.
    Click to expand...

    Your post prompted me to read that front-page article, and a paragraph near the top spells out what I think may be the biggest reason for this:

    To be fair, the original Switch’s first holiday season set a high bar for any new Nintendo console to meet. When the Switch proved unexpectedly popular following its March 2017 launch, Nintendo hastily bumped worldwide production by 4 million units to help ameliorate holiday shortages. That helped the first Switch sell 15 million units in its first full year on store shelves, roughly mirroring the initial sales mania for the Nintendo Wii a decade earlier.
    Click to expand...

    So the first holiday season of the Switch 1 was huge because of pent-up demand from insufficient supply. But there is no pent-up demand for Switch 2, because Nintendo had ample supply at launch.
     
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    Ryan B.

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  • #804
    Asral said:
    Switch was released on march 3rd and Mario Odyssey was released on october 27th, 2017. It's a first-year title, but almost 8 months is a very generous definition of a launch period.
    Click to expand...

    Fair. Pitfall of going off of memory without verifying.

    (Although in the context of the current discussion, both games were available to be system sellers during the holiday season, so the point sort of does still stand.)
     
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    japtor

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  • #806
    Ryan B. said:
    So the first holiday season of the Switch 1 was huge because of pent-up demand from insufficient supply. But there is no pent-up demand for Switch 2, because Nintendo had ample supply at launch.
    Click to expand...
    Yeah the biggest launch ever seems like kind of a key factor to just sweep under the rug there. Holiday might be down single-double digit percent depending on region, but Q2 was up like...a few hundred percent?

    To the point about games though, that's valid. Odyssey was in October, while the last big big S2 game was probably DK in July or so? The big holiday games were uhh Pokemon, Metroid, and Kirby Air Riders? And only the last one was actually S2 exclusive...and super niche (although considering Metroid sales historically I wonder which one sold better).

    Personally it's my only gaming system (barring Wine on my Mac) so it's still holding up with random third party games, whether new ones or just old ones simply working better on S2. I'm curious about the dev kit situation, cause I've still seen stories about this or that dev waiting on them. If nothing else it seems like Capcom and Square Enix have them. The FFVII Remake stuff looks like a solid port (there's a demo btw) for anyone into that, while I'm looking forward to Capcom's stuff in RE9 and Pragmata. Supposedly there's been leaks of Monster Hunter Wilds...it'll be interesting to see if that's any less of a technical/performance mess than what I've heard about it elsewhere.

    Nintendo wise, well guess they're keeping things close to their chest. Mario Tennis will probably be solid enough, but barely got into the last one. Rhythm Heaven I'm super looking forward to, hopefully the original GBA one (Japanese only and all) will show up too. Otherwise all I can think of that was announced is Tomodachi Life (I could see that one being a sneaky seller) and Splatoon Raiders. And of those only two are S2 exclusive. And I guess the Animal Crossing S2 Edition/update, it'll be interesting to see if that pumps new life into that community.
     
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  • #807
    japtor said:
    Supposedly there's been leaks of Monster Hunter Wilds...it'll be interesting to see if that's any less of a technical/performance mess than what I've heard about it elsewhere.
    Click to expand...
    While I would be super stoked to be able to play Wilds with my kid at all (assuming cross platform play… she's on a PC), I would be a bit miffed at Capcom if they release it for Switch 2 and not for Mac.
     
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  • #808
    gregatron5 said:
    While I would be super stoked to be able to play Wilds with my kid at all (assuming cross platform play… she's on a PC), I would be a bit miffed at Capcom if they release it for Switch 2 and not for Mac.
    Click to expand...
    Hell I'm surprised they haven't announced a RE9 Mac version considering they put (all?) the other recent ones on there. Guess it'd join SF6 and Pragmata as other Capcom games on Switch 2 but not Mac. Or they'll show up as late ports perhaps.
     
    Demento

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  • #809
    japtor said:
    Yeah the biggest launch ever seems like kind of a key factor to just sweep under the rug there. Holiday might be down single-double digit percent depending on region, but Q2 was up like...a few hundred percent?

    To the point about games though, that's valid. Odyssey was in October, while the last big big S2 game was probably DK in July or so? The big holiday games were uhh Pokemon, Metroid, and Kirby Air Riders? And only the last one was actually S2 exclusive...and super niche (although considering Metroid sales historically I wonder which one sold better).

    Personally it's my only gaming system (barring Wine on my Mac) so it's still holding up with random third party games, whether new ones or just old ones simply working better on S2. I'm curious about the dev kit situation, cause I've still seen stories about this or that dev waiting on them. If nothing else it seems like Capcom and Square Enix have them. The FFVII Remake stuff looks like a solid port (there's a demo btw) for anyone into that, while I'm looking forward to Capcom's stuff in RE9 and Pragmata. Supposedly there's been leaks of Monster Hunter Wilds...it'll be interesting to see if that's any less of a technical/performance mess than what I've heard about it elsewhere.

    Nintendo wise, well guess they're keeping things close to their chest. Mario Tennis will probably be solid enough, but barely got into the last one. Rhythm Heaven I'm super looking forward to, hopefully the original GBA one (Japanese only and all) will show up too. Otherwise all I can think of that was announced is Tomodachi Life (I could see that one being a sneaky seller) and Splatoon Raiders. And of those only two are S2 exclusive. And I guess the Animal Crossing S2 Edition/update, it'll be interesting to see if that pumps new life into that community.
    Click to expand...
    My kid's pretty stoked for Rhythm Heaven and Tomodachi. The Switch 2 version of Z-A practically counts as a different game, but not surprised given how "good" GameFreak is at optimisation. The S2 version looks like a really good S1 game and the S1 version is hot garbage.
     
    Asral

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  • #810
    japtor said:
    Nintendo wise, well guess they're keeping things close to their chest. Mario Tennis will probably be solid enough, but barely got into the last one. Rhythm Heaven I'm super looking forward to, hopefully the original GBA one (Japanese only and all) will show up too. Otherwise all I can think of that was announced is Tomodachi Life (I could see that one being a sneaky seller) and Splatoon Raiders. And of those only two are S2 exclusive.
    Click to expand...
    They've also announced a new Fire emblem, Duskbloods, and Pokemon: Pokopia. None of those are very interesting to me so far, although Duskbloods could potentially convince me if it isn't too multiplayer-focused.

    At the moment I'm mostly m looking forward to Yoshi and the mysterious book, it's due sometime in the spring.
     
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  • #811
    Totally forgot about Duskbloods somehow, perhaps cause they're just publishing it rather than being in house. The others are decent to fill in the schedule, but not one of their huge games. I think the biggest question is Smash, do they make a new one (who knows how long that'd take with Sakurai having spent his time on Air Riders) or S2 Edition + expansion it?
     
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    MiguelMC

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  • #812
    The thing is, Switch came without the current geopolitical instability, before COVID and the cost of living crisis, and on top of some solid if not stellar titles it got both BotW for launch and Odyssey early enough before Xmas. Add MK8DX. Following that act was always going to be tough. I mean, I could be in a desert island with only those three games and not really complain about gaming.

    The Switch 2's lineup is good, but not stellar. I didn't like MKW nearly as much as I thought. Bananza's great, but not Odyssey great. MP4 is, well, not the best title in a series that doesn't sell all that much. The S2 editions of BotW and TotK are exactly that, S2 editions (and yes, Nintendo being a touch stingy doesn't help). If you come from a OG Switch, the access to new(er) 3rd party titles is very welcome. Split fiction's got some amazing bits. SF6 is there. Cyberpunk is there. But there is not quite a killer game, and times are tough.

    I suspect the S2 will continue to sell OK next year and, provided we get two/three really good games, it'll be business as usual (but not quite Switch@COVID levels).
     
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  • #814
    Nintendo share price has slid 1/3 from an all-time high in August.

    Nintendo's share price has been on a downward turn over the last several months, currently sitting at 9,950 yen following an all-time high of 14,795 yen in August 2025.

    Fluctuations are inevitable in this business, but according to Kantan Games' CEO Dr. Serkan Toto, Nintendo's investors are "spooked" by the prospect of price rises along with the lack of any major first-party titles in 2026 (so far!).

    In a post on X (via XCancel), Toto states:

    "Nintendo stock in Japan is sliding: All-time high of 14,795 yen in August 2025, and closed at 9,950 yen today.
    Click to expand...
    "So -33% in 5 months: Investors are spooked by possible price hikes, lack of 1st-party hits and US/EU hardware discounts during the holidays."
    Click to expand...
    Honestly, we're not sure what the heck is going on with that last point. Was anyone really expecting to see a console discount within the first year of sale? Christmas or not, that just seems bonkers to us.

    Either way, it's a noteworthy downturn, but we're not worried at the moment. The Switch 2, despite some apparent struggles over the Christmas period, is still the fastest-selling console of all time. Furthermore, we're confident Nintendo will have some more big games up its sleeve for the latter half of 2026. Pokémon Gen 10, anyone?
    Click to expand...

    https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2026/01/nintendos-investors-are-reportedly-spooked-as-stock-slides
     
    Ryan B.

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  • #816
    Just got past the fork in the road in Bananza. Picked a branch, beat it, went to the next level...and the game is like "OK now do the other branch LOL."

    I mean, I was gonna do that anyway. What do you take me for. But it does call into question what the point of the branch even is. So you get to choose the order in which you complete two of the stages. Wowee.

    Edit: and while I'm whinging, I may as well complain about the two-tiered fast travel system. What is the point of needing to fast travel to a specific spot that then lets you travel to a different level? Do they just want to make sure you complete some of the current level before bouncing back to a previous?
     
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  • #817
    Ryan B. said:
    Edit: and while I'm whinging, I may as well complain about the two-tiered fast travel system. What is the point of needing to fast travel to a specific spot that then lets you travel to a different level? Do they just want to make sure you complete some of the current level before bouncing back to a previous?
    Click to expand...
    Might be resources, level loading, and other behind-the-scenes things don't work for whatever reason, so going to a certain place in the level makes the engine start the various level changes processes from a known place. Streaming the entire world is hard, and while the switch 2 is better than the switch 1, it's still limited compared to a PS5, which had the new Ratchet and Clank wowing a lot of folks with it's streaming stuff. Also, if it's built on the Mario engine, that was 100% level based, where you could only change levels from one place.
     
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  • #819
    Figure it's a memory management thing? One lets you bounce around the current world with destruction in tact (for the most part) while switching levels swaps in a fresh untouched world.

    Otherwise yeah design choice as far as delineating this big travel one as extra significant (and will take longer to load, and wipe your destructive progress) vs the other one essentially working like a quick cannon barrel within a level.
     
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  • #823
    Colm said:
    The upgrade pack is $20, so I'd expect the bundle to be $80. Fantastic game, though.
    Click to expand...
    Has the price been confirmed? I sort of hoped it'd be less, but hopefully it has more content than DK:Banana dlc.

    The game itself left me a bit disappointed, as great as the art was, or the sheer brilliance of some bird. I found the base game quite easy, and then the post game increased difficulty too fast and only for a handful of levels.
     
    hambone

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  • #826
    Mmmm, finally got me the Switch2 MarioKart bundle. Thanks salary COLA increase!

    First impression: great refresh of the hardware. Everything feels like a Switch "Pro Max" upgrade tier. Bigger, prettier, feels more solid. Props to Nintendo.

    Speaking of props, MKW is a triumph. It takes a "give me everything I know I want" approach then throws in news tricks like the Charge Jump, Rails, and Wall Boosts. I've been a MK fan since SNES and I love the MKW edition. (Can't say the same for GameCube Double Dash and whatever that Wii abomination was).

    My only hangup: I'm not 100% sold on the way GP circuit tracks are visually designed to gradually transition from track to another. I know it fosters Knockout and Free Roam mode, and those are nice new additions to the franchise (and greater solo play). But I spend most of my time in multiplayer GP and Versus mode, and the gradual transition model just dilutes and diminishes the distinctiveness and personality of the tracks.

    That said, the racing is fast, the new boost mechanics add a lot more dimensionality to every race, and the mayhem has never been mayhem-ier.

    I heard there are paid upgrades for some Switch games like SMBWonder and SSBU? Is it worth it?
     
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  • #827
    hambone said:
    I heard there are paid upgrades for some Switch games like SMBWonder and SSBU? Is it worth it?
    Click to expand...
    Of the 1st party titles, there are some free upgrades (e.g. Link's Awakening, Echoes of Wisdom, Mario Odyssey) and some paid (BoTW and ToTK Zeldas, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Animal Crossing). Of the two you mentioned, SSBU hasn't had one announced, but either the game or the Switch 2 firmware have received compatibility updates.

    The paid ones are a bit hit-and-miss, and depends a lot on the case. I own both ToTK and BoTW upgrades, and played through both games, and the extra smoothness and resolution was worth the two pints of beer. The Mario Party Jamboree is apparently lacklustre. Kirby is more like an expensive DLC (it comes w/ extra post-game). AC:NH is forgettable but "cheap".

    Other than that, a few 3rd party games have made upgrades available. Hogwarts Legacy is paid, but you qualify for the full title at ~85% off. It goes from "it runs, somehow", to okay. Red Dead Redemption has a free upgrade that turns it into the 4k/HDR remaster the PC got a couple of years ago. Hope it stays free. Silksong has a free upgrade, as does IIRC Fantasy Life i.

    On the other hand, Square Enix is no longer doing upgrades, and wants you to get the right edition at sale point.
     
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  • #829
    Speaking of Square Enix, the FFVII...whatever name port is apparently really good. If you're interested hope you have plenty of space though, I think I saw somewhere it's like 100GB?

    But hell with FFVII, I'm here for the latest in technology, Virtual Boy!


    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVvaCe4esCQ


    Two unreleased games! And non red options! (...later this year? must be hard)

    Related video, Slow Mo Guys did a video on Virtual Boy recently, the display mechanism is pretty wild.


    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW7M8H99x7Y


    Other random stuff over the last few weeks: Animal Crossing update came out, DKC Returns got an update that fixed stuff (apparently the Switch port was kinda broken!) and upgraded visuals a bit, Mario Tennis Fever got some overview video, Tomodachi Life is getting one this morning/soon iirc, and just saw Kirby Air Riders got a pretty big functionality update (local/online GameShare was particularly unexpected). And saw some retailer leaked a NSO image showing Pikmin 2 and Metroid Prime 2. RE:9 had some hands on previews recently, tentatively excited for it.

    Oh and about the sales decline, saw something that Nintendo already had it forecasted in their own projections in one of their earlier quarterly reports. So things going as expected for them. Other than perhaps tariffs and AI ruining the world and the US falling apart.
     
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  • #832
    There was some preview event the other day, off the top of my head there was Mario Tennis, Mario Wonder (for the S2 DLC), Virtual Boy, RE 9, and Pragmata. Latter two in particular seem like impressive showings, targeting 60 fps. RE 9 seems to stick more with it (course it was just the Grace demo), Pragmata less so but still looks good, and apparently better handheld likely cause VRR there...hopefully there'll be a docked VRR update eventually. Maybe it'll be like Bluetooth audio on Switch that randomly came years after launch in an update.

    And there's a Direct tomorrow. It's been rumored for a little while, with E33 and Metaphor, so we'll see.
     
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  • #833
    Both Subnauticas, OG and Below Zero are getting free Switch 2 updates, as announced by Unknown Worlds. Good! The first one was mostly fine in the Switch, other than a bit of pop-up and inconsistent frame rate "outside the water". Below Zero performed worse, and the section in the frozen region was painful.

    The announcement states 1440p 60fps target, but doesn't mention improved detail. I hope there'll be some extra effects plus a touch of HDR for "those" regions and biomes.

    This will certainly trick me into replaying them.
     
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    MiguelMC

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  • #834
    MiguelMC said:
    Both Subnauticas, OG and Below Zero are getting free Switch 2 updates, as announced by Unknown Worlds. Good! The first one was mostly fine in the Switch, other than a bit of pop-up and inconsistent frame rate "outside the water". Below Zero performed worse, and the section in the frozen region was painful.

    The announcement states 1440p 60fps target, but doesn't mention improved detail. I hope there'll be some extra effects plus a touch of HDR for "those" regions and biomes.

    This will certainly trick me into replaying them.
    Click to expand...
    So far I've given [vanilla]Subnautica a good go. Graphically, it's a major upgrade. It now looks essentially like the videos I've seen on other platforms. I'm not sure it's 1440p, but even the title screenis clearly higher res (on a 4k tv). On the other hand, while the game may target 60 fps, it's regularly nowhere near that. The videos I've seen show about 45-50 fps on the safe shallows, and thus it's probably quite nice on VRR handheld. Runs miles better than the OG switch code, and I haven't had a few crashes.

    Performance while walking (namely in the QEF and the floating island) is much improved, but certain green textures still make me a touch dizzy.

    Now, the unexpected: I've been "clipped" by a certain large creature in end-game zones. Hadn't happened to me before. Fortunately, the bug sent me right where I wanted to!
    Worse, there seems to be some collision detection bug with the knife. Slicing ripe marblemelons is so frustrating I swapped my diet to other, less efficient plants. Hitting aggressive fauna seems much harder than before.

    I'm about 1h away from running the credits. Will return to Blue Prince (on Mac, sorry) before giving Below Zero a go.
     
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  • #838
    Colm said:
    Blue Prince got announced for Switch 2 yesterday along with some other cool looking stuff.

    https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-indie-world-showcase-announcements-reveals-trailers/
    Click to expand...
    I've been hoping for that once since seeing it mentioned in a front page article (and comment discussion) here a while back, Ars' favorite roguelikes of 2025 iirc. Looking forward (if slightly intimidated) to finally playing that one. There's also Minishoot Adventures (aka top down Zelda but shmup), which I've been waiting/hoping for forever. Denshattack was one I was curious about (it was announced elsewhere a little while back), demo seems fun, gameplay feels OlliOlliWorld like.

    RE9 Requiem just came out and reviews are solid for the Switch version if anyone was curious about that, haven't had time to actually get started myself. The return of Leon sucked me back in.

    Pokopia seems to be getting rave reviews, basically seems to deliver on the premise of Pokémon x Animal Crossing x DQ Builders, and/or Stardew Valley and Minecraft, etc. Like the ultimate cozy/building game backed with a big ass license and actually executed well. I'd probably get it if not for just getting RE9.

    And there's a Pragmata demo available for anyone curious about that one. It's an absolutely funky premise but I love it.
     
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  • #840
    Blue Prince really is all it's been called. It just came out for Switch 2 three months too late for me! Anyway, if you're into puzzle games or similar, I totally recommend it. I've got 80+ hours already on it, and haven't yet "finished" it (yet I rolled the credits ages ago). I can't see why it wouldn't run great on S2, given the requirements for PC. Having said that, given it's zero twitch, even 30 FPS (which is what the videos I've seen look like) would work fine.

    My main complaint is that the cursor is super small and dark on my Mac, and there is no way to make it bigger. It's such an annoyance that I often trigger the screenshot function or swap screens on purpose so that, due to an oversight, the OS cursor overrides the game one. The cursor on switch seems to be a touch bigger, but it's usually just as dark.

    Expect to take many, many, many screenshots. Shame you can't categorise them in folders...

    EDIT: The other "complaint" is that the game has a few puzzles that require quite a good level of English, from anagrams to word play. Sadly, I can't see how my father could really solve these without a guide, and it's really the sort of game he'd love.
     
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