Nintendo expects the Switch 2 to be just as successful as the original 

Nintendo has forecast global sales of 15 million Switch 2 consoles by the end of March 2026, which would be roughly comparable to the original Switch’s first year on sale, despite retailing for a much higher price. The company suffered an expected slump in both hardware and software sales this year, according to its latest earnings release, and will be hoping for a bumper year ahead.

The Switch 2 launches on June 5th, so will have 10 months on sale to hit that forecast, with Nintendo also expecting to sell 45 million Switch 2 games in the same period. It’s not written its older console off though, and is expecting to shift another 4.5 million Switch consoles and over 100 million games in the year ahead, down from 10.8 million and 155 million of each last year.

The first Switch launched in March 2017, at the tail end of a fiscal year, so direct sales comparisons are tricky. It sold 17.79 million units worldwide in its first 13 months on sale — comfortably more than Nintendo’s forecasts at the time — so Nintendo is expecting sales in the same ballpark this time around. The Switch has sold more than 150 million units over its lifetime, and is close to overtaking the DS as Nintendo’s best selling console ever.

Nintendo might be hedging its Switch 2 sales estimate, however, given the uncertainties with tariffs in the all-important US market. We’ve already seen that Switch 2 demand is higher than the company may have expected, despite widespread complaints about the $449.99 price tag. When US preorders finally began — delayed in the wake of Trump’s tariffs, amid fears that the price would climb even higher — they sold out almost immediately. Meanwhile the company put out a supply warning in Japan after receiving 2.2 million applications for preorders, which Nintendo said “far exceeds our expectations.”