Nintendo Switch 2 has been available since June, and the system’s launch has gone fairly well. Though there have been some controversies surrounding Switch 2 (largely having to do with the price of software and the use of Game-Key Cards), there are plenty of reasons to be happy with how things have gone over the last three months. There’s certainly room for improvement, but the reality is that sales are high, and the Switch 2 has two exclusive games that have generated a largely positive response in Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza.
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If there’s one area where Nintendo has excelled above and beyond expectations, however, it’s the availability of the hardware. Since the end of June, Nintendo Switch 2 has sold 5.8 million units worldwide, outpacing sales of the original Switch and breaking company records. Impressively enough, the console hasn’t been a nightmare to purchase, and is currently in stock at multiple retailers, including Best Buy and GameStop. It was always a safe bet that interest in Switch 2 would be very high at launch; the original Switch is one of the best-selling video game systems of all-time, and interest in a follow-up has been high for several years. Despite all this, Nintendo has managed to meet demand.
The Problem With Console Launches in the Modern Age
Many Nintendo fans were expecting the worst for the Switch 2 launch. The original Switch was tough to find shortly after it arrived in 2017, and yet that wasn’t nearly as bad as the chaos that surrounded the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S launches in 2020. The reality is, bots and resellers have been a major source of frustration for gamers in particular, and they’ve become a thorn in the side of anyone who just wants to pay the normal retail price.
A quick glance on eBay shows that resellers haven’t had a lot of luck flipping Nintendo’s new system for big money; many of the top searches that come back are all around the $449 or $500 MSRP (depending on if it’s the Mario Kart World bundle). That’s a stark difference from what we saw a couple of months after PS5’s launch, where consoles were sometimes going for double the retail price, or more. Demand for the Switch 2 is clearly high, but resellers are seeing low incentive to jack up the price.
How Nintendo Avoided Switch 2 Shortages
Simple as it might sound, it appears Nintendo was able to avoid shortages for Switch 2 by manufacturing more than enough product to meet demand. Back in February, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa explicitly noted that this would be the company’s strategy for avoiding problems with resellers. There were also unconfirmed reports in the lead-up to launch that Nintendo was building a huge Switch 2 stockpile, possibly in an effort to avoid tariffs. In a financial results briefing in May, Nintendo said that it expected to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles before the fiscal year ending in March 2026. It remains to be seen whether the company will hit that number, but clearly, Nintendo produced enough units with that figure in mind.
Direct sales were one way that likely helped Nintendo avoid resellers. Immediately following Switch 2’s full unveiling in April, Nintendo Account users were able to share their interest in preordering a system from Nintendo, rather than other retailers. This allowed Nintendo to directly sell units to the company’s most passionate fans, who, in turn, didn’t have to worry about bots or resellers clogging up the websites from Target or Walmart. This actually worked a little too well, as Nintendo found that demand in Japan exceeded the amount that was allocated to be sold this way.
Will Nintendo Switch 2 Sell Out if Prices Go Up?
Since the hardware was announced, there has been a lot of grumbling online about the price of the Switch 2, as well as its software. However, one trend we’ve seen in 2025 is that existing hardware prices are going up, likely as a result of tariffs. Nintendo has increased the price of the original Switch, and we’ve seen PS5 and Xbox consoles jump as well. Suddenly, Nintendo’s launch price for the system looks a lot more appealing, and that’s probably going to put some pressure on people who have been holding out on buying one. Nintendo has offered no indication that the Switch 2 price will go up, but Sony and Microsoft offered little to no advance warning about their increases.
Right now, Nintendo has a lot of incentive to hold the line at the current price; bringing up the cost shortly after launch isn’t something they’ve ever done before, and raising prices this early could turn off some buyers. But the prospect of it happening at all is a possibility given the volatility of the current markets. That’s going to result in some people buying the system sooner than they would have otherwise, likely in anticipation of big games that haven’t even been announced yet, such as a new Animal Crossing or the next Zelda.
How Xbox & PlayStation Can Learn From Nintendo
Manufacturing to meet high demand, stockpiling products, and selling directly to your most passionate users seems like the best possible option for a successful video game system launch. Right now, it’s hard to predict what Xbox will do for its next system, given the company’s current multiplatform push; we know that Microsoft is planning a new Xbox console, but demand could be a lot lower if most of the big exclusives are available elsewhere. As a result, there might not be a lot the company can learn from Nintendo right now. However, PlayStation can and should make some efforts to improve its allocations ahead of the PS6 launch.
There are always going to be market factors that can’t be predicted. In 2020, Sony had to plan around the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a huge uptick in video game sales that were a result of people desperate to find a distraction. When the time is right for PS6, the company could still be trying to navigate tariffs, or any other global issues that might come up. No company can plan for every possibility, but hopefully, Sony can come up with a flexible strategy that avoids the same issues that plagued PS5 at launch. Clearly, that has worked for Nintendo so far.
Have you had any trouble finding and purchasing a Switch 2? Are you surprised Nintendo has had so much success meeting demand? Share your thoughts with me down in the comments section!
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Image courtesy of Starz
