Nintendo Switch Console Sales Are Down Two Quarters in a Row

Nintendo shared its earnings report for the end of 2024, showing that console sales were down further than expected in the months before the Switch 2 reveal.

Matt Buckley

Source: Nintendo

Comparatively, Nintendo’s 2024 was a much slower year than 2023. While it barely lost out on winning Game of the Year at the Game Awards, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was a huge seller for Nintendo. 2023 was also the year of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, and the modestly successful Super Mario Bros. Wonder. As 2024 was the Switch’s eighth year of activity, it makes sense that it would start to slow down eventually. Nintendo’s latest earnings report, which covers the final three months of 2024, seem to suggest that the Switch had even less life left in it than Nintendo thought.

Nintendo lowers console sale forecast for the second quarter in a row

The first three months of 2025 are the final financial quarter for Nintendo, and with two consecutively lowered hardware sale forecasts, plus the announcement of the successor console, the Nintendo Switch 2, it seems like the original Switch is on its last legs. Nintendo has forecasted hardware sales to drop lower than expected this quarter, previously expecting 12.5 million sales, now lowered to 11 million. This is also after previously lowering expectations from 13.5 million at the end of the previous quarter.

While expectations are lowered, a huge announcement during this quarter was the reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2. In an earnings call, reported by Sankei and VideoGamesChronicle, Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa reportedly said that he did not believe the Switch 2’s announcement would have significant impact on the current sales of the original console. This may be true, but it’s odd to think that with a new console finally confirmed to be on the horizon, millions of more people will continue to buy the now eight-year-old Switch.

The old console’s sales numbers might not be very important, but the Switch is approaching a significant milestone. With another 4.82 million consoles sold over the holidays, that brings Switch sales up to 150.86 million. Another 10 million sales would put the Switch over Sony’s PlayStation 2, making it the best-selling console in history. That title could be a goal worth striving for.

VideoGamesChronicle talked to Dr Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, a Tokyo-based consulting firm, who said that the Nintendo Switch 2 “cannot come soon enough.” Toto continued, “it is now much clearer how Nintendo overestimated the life that is still left in the Switch at the start of the fiscal year.” Optimism is always commendable, but looking at the slate of first-party games launched in 2024, it is hard to see what Nintendo saw.

Super Mario Party Jamboree sold 6.17 million units, quickly becoming the best-selling game in the series at the end of 2024. Other notable games included The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which reached 3.91 million sales at the end of the year. Mario and Luigi Brothership sold 1.4 million.

Looking ahead at 2025, Nintendo has the launch of the Switch 2 to look forward to, and several notable games. Pokémon Legends: Z-A is still expected to be released in 2025 alongside the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. The Switch 2 reveal trailer also showcased a brief glimpse at what looks like a new Mario Kart, which could be a huge win for Nintendo as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continues to top the chart of best-selling Switch games.

Furukawa also said that the company would continue to support the Switch even after the launch of the Switch 2, as long as there is demand. Given that the Nintendo Switch 2 is confirmed to be backwards compatible with original Switch software, there will almost certainly be plenty of overlap. On April 2nd, Nintendo will host a Direct presentation to share much more information about the upcoming console, so for now we will have to wait to see what the new Switch can do, and how much it will cost early adopters.

Super Mario Party Jamboree

October 17, 2024

Nintendo
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Matt Buckley

Author: Matt Buckley

After studying creative writing at Emerson College in Boston, Matt published a travel blog based on a two-month solo journey around the world, wrote for SmarterTravel, and worked on an Antarctic documentary series for NOVA, Antarctic Extremes. Today, for Gamepressure, Matt covers Nintendo news and writes reviews for Switch and PC titles. Matt enjoys RPGs like Pokemon and Breath of the Wild, as well as fighting games like Super Smash Bros., and the occasional action game like Ghostwire Tokyo or Gods Will Fall. Outside of video games, Matt is also a huge Dungeons & Dragons nerd, a fan of board games like Wingspan, an avid hiker, and after recently moving to California, an amateur surfer.