Nintendo said during its latest quarterly earnings call last week that it expects to sell 15 million units of the Switch 2 during the fiscal year when it launches next month. Industry analysts and investors have called the company’s projections conservative, considering the high demand for the hybrid console. Nintendo, however, has said its lower-than-expected sales volume forecast reflects the Nintendo Switch 2’s higher price tag. The company has also clarified that the tariffs announced by the US last month did not affect its projections.
Switch 2 Price a Factor in Sales Forecast
In an investor Q&A published Tuesday following the company’s financial results report for fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, last week, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said Switch 2’s sales projection aimed to reach the same level of sales the original Switch achieved in the 10-month period following its launch in March 2017.
“Nintendo Switch 2 is priced relatively high compared to Nintendo Switch, so we recognize that there are corresponding challenges to early adoption,” Furukawa explained in response to a query about Nintendo’s conservative estimates for Switch 2 sales volume. “That being said, Nintendo Switch 2 can play compatible Nintendo Switch software, so there is continuity between the platforms. We are taking steps like bundling software with the hardware to accelerate adoption in the first fiscal year, aiming to get off to the same start we did with Nintendo Switch.”
US Tariffs Did Not Affect Forecast
While Nintendo was forced to push back Switch 2 pre-orders in the US last month after President Donald Trump announced widespread tariffs on imported goods from several countries, Furukawa claimed the company’s projections were not affected by the trade situation.
“The limits of our hardware production capacity were not a factor in setting our sales volume forecast. Additionally, the tariff situation in the U.S. or a possibility of a recession did not affect our sales volume forecast either,” the Nintendo president said.
“In order to achieve sales of 15 million units, we will need to manufacture the hardware in quantities greater than that. Our first goal is to get off to the same start we did with Nintendo Switch, and we are working to strengthen our production capacity so we can respond flexibly to demand,” he added.
Nintendo Switch 2 Demand
Despite the higher price point than its predecessor — Nintendo Switch 2 starts at $449.99 in the US — the upcoming console has seen high demand in both US and its home market in Japan. Nintendo has said it received 2.2 million applications for the Switch 2 lottery sale on its official online store for customers in Japan alone — far exceeding its expectations. In fact, Furukawa said a significant number of the applicants won’t be selected owing to high demand for the console.
In the US, pre-orders for the console quickly sold out across retailers. The Switch 2 is expected to be the biggest console launch in history and its higher price has not deterred eager fans.
Furukawa acknowledged the strong response to the Switch 2 in the Q&A, but said it would be hard to maintain the sales momentum going strong beyond the launch period.
“We recognize the positive feedback from the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience events and the situation with applications for randomly selected drawings for pre-orders on My Nintendo Store in Japan. But the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware is priced relatively high compared to Nintendo Switch, so even if there is momentum around the launch, we know it will not be easy to keep that momentum going over the long term through the holiday season and beyond.
“We have been working to ramp up Nintendo Switch 2 hardware production since even before we held the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience events and began My Nintendo Store applications. Our sales volume forecast was not determined based on any limit to production capacity.”
Mario Kart World will also be available as part of a bundle with the Switch 2
Photo Credit: Nintendo
In addition to hardware sales, the executive shed light on Nintendo’s software sales projections, confirming the company’s software sales volume forecast of 45 million units did not include Mario Kart World units included in the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle.
“When we account for software units bundled with the hardware, the forecast surpasses the roughly 52 million units of software sold for Nintendo Switch in the 10 months after its launch,” he said.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is set for launch in select markets on June 5. The device marks Nintendo’s first video game system launch in eight years after the original Switch came out in 2017.
