Switch 2 Smashes Console Records but Nintendo’s Game Lineup Faces Early Warning Signs

There are a lot more moving parts when it comes to games, though. The study is the best look yet at whether the Switch 2 could keep up its early sales pace during the busiest shopping season of the year, from October 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025. For computers, the answer is a resounding "yes." It doesn't answer all of our questions, though.

The Switch 2 has sold 17.37 million units in just seven months. During the quarter, 7 million more units were sent out. That number is the best for any Nintendo system in the third quarter, even better than the Wii's previous highs. If you look at how long the Wii U has been out, it took longer to sell than the Switch 2. That's pretty amazing when you think about how new the tech is. It's almost as big as the GameCube, which shows how quickly video game systems have grown.

When it comes to hardware, Nintendo's Q4 2025 financial numbers show a smooth launch of a system. 

17.31 million software units were shipped during the quarter. This brings the total number of software units sold for the Switch 2 to 37.93 million. Those numbers look good at first glance, but they still haven't topped the Wii U's all-time software sales, and a lot of those sales are in just one game. A lot of people have different ideas about the Switch 2's early software lineup because these games are spread out so differently.

The Pokémon Legends: ZA scores are the most surprising to me. The game sold 12.3 million copies on Switch and Switch 2 in its first 77 days. I mean, that's not very high for Pokémon. It's not as good as Sword and Shield, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Legends: Arceus, or Scarlet and Violet, even though it was played by a lot more people.

Even more interesting is the fact that only 3.89 million of those sales were from the Switch 2 version. People had higher hopes for the first Pokémon game that could be played on Nintendo's new hardware, since the first Switch had been attacked for a long time for not working well. A chance to make Pokémon better and healthier did not cause the boom that many people thought it would.

It worked better with the Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 Pack, but not as well. In three months, 2.28 million machines were sent out. Sales were better than the first Mario 64 DS and the first Mario 3D World for Wii U, but they were never quite as good as Mario Odyssey's. In terms of being a remake package with games that were already out in other forms, it does a great job. 

People are even more sure now that they want a new 3D Mario game, though.

The Kirby Air Riders game wasn't a huge hit. When it came out in late November, it sold 1.76 million copies in just over a month. That's more than a lot of other Kirby games. A great many people watched both the spin-off and the main show. Now we need to know if the game will be popular for a short time or for a long time. As we can see from the past, Kirby's biggest growth seems to come from full 3D games. Forgotten Land's 7.5 million sales are still the norm.

One of the most touchy parts of the report is the story of Donkey Kong Bonanza. The game has sold 4.25 million copies so far, which is a lot for a Donkey Kong game. Still, it's a big drop from one quarter to the next. Sales dropped from 3.49 million units in Q3 to just 760,000 units in Q4.

Many people see this as proof of how dangerous it is to think of the game as a straight replacement for a new 3D Mario. It's still a hit on its own, but its sharp drop suggests that it might not be as popular in the long term as a top-tier single-player Nintendo journey. Compare this to Mario Odyssey's 9 million first-quarter sales, and the gap is even bigger.

Mario Kart World, on the other hand, is the best Switch game so far. The strong slope shows that sales go from 5.63 million in the first quarter to 3.94 million in the third and then back up to 4.46 million during the holidays. At 14 million copies sold, it's the fastest-selling Mario Kart game—even faster than Mario Kart Wii.

There's no doubt about the speed right now, but you can feel the heat building up. 

As you can see, bundles have been very important. They sell the game for a lot of money with the device and make it seem like the Switch 2 game you have to have. As most bundles end, everyone will be looking at how well the game can be played on its own and whether it can live up to the legendary life of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

It's not always good news. It's possible that Nintendo didn't report Metroid Prime 4 separately because it didn't sell enough copies on either the Switch or the Switch 2. There may have been more than a million units sold, but it's hard to tell how well they did since they can't be seen. 

Many months without any trailers or news about the game, along with a general lack of information even close to launch, all point to poor marketing as a major reason. For many fans, the result is both sad and enlightening. It makes people wonder what will happen to 3D Metroid games in the future and if Nintendo will go back to making 2D games for now.

If you look at the first few months of the Switch 2 as a whole, you can see a clear pattern.

An awful lot of people want gear, and Mario Kart World is the main software game they buy. And after that, it's not clear what happened. Some niche games do well, but others don't live up to the hype that comes with having a big brand or being made for a long time. In the long run, we'll need a better and more clearly defined team, as we can see from the picture.

Next week will bring new games and news that will either keep the Switch 2 growing or stop it. The plan for 2026 doesn't seem too busy yet, so people are getting more and more excited for the next big secret. A Nintendo Direct at the right time and a bunch of bold first-party games might be all that's needed to keep people interested in the system.