The Switch is officially Nintendo’s best-selling game machine of all time, second only to Sony’s landmark PlayStation 2 for overall sales. And the follow-up Switch 2 is off to a good start, moving more than 17 million units in its first half-year to become the fastest-selling game system ever.
But with global component shortages, rising prices and slow adoption of the Switch 2 from some major game-makers, Nintendo faces serious challenges in keeping the momentum up throughout 2026.
Announcing the latest sales figures recently, president Shuntaro Furukawa said the rising price of memory — driven by the AI boom — wouldn’timmediately affect the Switch 2 price, which is currently $700, but an increase may happen eventually.
“We do not expect major impact during the fourth quarter of this year. However, from the next fiscal year onward, if this price hike lasts longer than anticipated, it could potentially put pressure on our profitability,” he said, according to Bloomberg.
So, what does the company have planned for 2026 to keep demand high enough to counter the headwinds?
Nintendo’s own offerings
With 155 million Switch consoles sold, Nintendo and other game publishers are keen to continue selling games on the eight-year-old device. Indie games and less graphically intensive games in particular continue to release for the original Switch, and also work on Switch 2. But slowly and surely, players will be encouraged to upgrade to the more expensive and much more powerful new machine.
Nintendo’s approach with its own software is to introduce some games that are exclusively for Switch 2, and some that work on either console but are significantly better on the beefier hardware, while also issuing free and paid updates that bring new Switch 2 features to older games.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which was a huge driver of sales for Nintendo during the COVID lockdowns, received an update recently that bumps the game’s graphics up to 4K, makes use of the Switch 2’s mouse-style controls and microphone, and expands the multiplayer features. Next month, a Switch 2 update for Super Mario Bros. Wonder will add extra characters, modes, levels and minigames.
The advantage here is that the upgrade to Switch 2 gets more appealing the more original Switch games a person has, especially in the case of games like Super Mario Odyssey where the improvements are free. But it also means some games getting more expensive; if you don’t already have Mario Bros. Wonder and want to buy it with the Switch 2 content included, it will cost $110.
At a recent event at Nintendo’s Melbourne headquarters I was able to play early versions of some new and upcoming games. Mario Tennis Fever is exclusive to Switch 2, and it turns tennis into a party game akin to Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros, with powerful racquet effects and weird optional rules on certain courts giving players heaps to keep track of.
On the other hand, Pokémon Pokopia is clearly aiming for the broadest possible audience and is coming to both Switch and Switch 2. Co-developed by The Pokémon Company, Game Freak and Koei Tecmo, it blends the collecting of Pokémon and the social nature of Animal Crossing with the building recipes of Minecraft, but with the addition of some story elements to follow. Players take the role of a shape-shifting Ditto which has chosen the form of a human, and work to make a barren world habitable for a range of friendly creatures. It’s surprisingly engrossing, and could turn out to be one of the year’s sleeper hits.
Later in the year Nintendo is planning to release all-ages platformer Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, anime tactics RPG Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, and multiplayer action adventure The Duskbloods, from the developer of Dark Souls and Elden Ring From Software. The three are exclusive to Switch 2. The company often also announces new games before mid-year.
The wider ecosystem
As development of big-budget games has moved to more capable hardware, including the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, fewer have been released on the low-powered original Switch. The extra grunt of the Switch 2 could potentially correct that, but many major studios are yet to announce their blockbuster games for the portable system. Some analysts point to reports that Nintendo was unable to furnish many studios with Switch 2 hardware ahead of its launch.
Major third-party games planned for, or recently released on, Switch 2
- Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, with sequel Rebirth coming in June.
- Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws.
- Microsoft’s South of Midnight, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition and Oblivion Remastered, all due this year.
- Anticipated James Bond game 007 First Light, Sega’s Yakuza Kiwami 3, and Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem will all launch on Switch 2 at the same time as other platforms in the coming months.
- Resident Evil 7 and Village are arriving along with Requiem.
- EA and 2K’s licensed sports games are supported on the system.
- Cyberpunk 2077 and Street Fighter 6 were included at the system’s launch.
- Elden Ring is due to arrive this year.
At the event I was able to preview a pair of upcoming Capcom games; Resident Evil Requiem and Pragmata. These are games that would never have been able to run on the original Switch, but on Switch 2 they feel great and are visually impressive. If you had this version of Resident Evil side-by-side with a PlayStation 5 Pro running it at 4K and 60 frames per second with ray tracing, you’d immediately spot that the Switch 2 isn’t hitting the same resolution, performance or settings. But then a Switch 2 is almost half the price, and has the advantage of portable play. Both games looked awesome on the small handheld screen.
So the issue currently isn’t that the console is underpowered, but keen gamers still can’t be assured the titles they’re excited for on PC and consoles will come to Switch 2, purely because it would be an extra lift for studios that plan their releases years in advance. It’s a catch-22, but more players may have to invest in Switch 2 before the studios consider it worth their while.
Meanwhile, Nintendo continues to expand its brand in all directions, outside new release games. A second Super Mario movie hits cinemas this year, with a live action Legend of Zelda currently filming. The Pikmin Bloom smartphone app, a take on Pokémon GO which encourages users to explore by walking, is going strong after five years. And the company runs a subscription on Switch and Switch 2 that gives families access to classic games originally published in the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s.
The latest console added to this collection, the Virtual Boy, is notable because it was originally a financial disaster. The heavy and headache-inducing 1995 VR headset sold less than a million units, had 22 games published for it and was pulled from shelves within a year, with Nintendo all but refusing to acknowledge it until recently. Next week, subscribers will be able to play games from the worst-selling Nintendo system ever on the best-selling, with Virtual Boy on Switch and Switch 2.
In my brief testing of the system, which requires a sold-separately viewer you slide your console into (Nintendo is selling both a $140 replica of the original headset and a $30 cardboard version), I was surprised to find the games still feel novel and interesting. They’re monochrome, but the 3D visuals work. Smart filters and display options make them comfortable to look at, and it’s all a reminder of what’s changed and what’s stayed the same in the past 30 years.
If half a per cent of the Switch and Switch 2 audience get a new Virtual Boy, it will have reached more players than the original did back in the day.
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