According to Kotaku, new sales data shows the Nintendo Switch 2 had a surprisingly weak holiday season across major markets. In the US, sales during November and December 2025 were down roughly 35% compared to the original Switch’s performance in late 2017. In the UK, sales for the final eight weeks of the year were 16% lower than the OG console’s same period in 2017, though the Switch 2 did sell about 6% more for the full year 2025. The news was worse in France, where first-year sales trailed the original Switch by 30%. A senior Nintendo employee reportedly blamed a “complicated economic landscape,” higher prices, and the lack of a major Western holiday game.
The Momentum Problem
Here’s the thing: a post-launch slowdown isn’t unusual. But a 35% holiday drop in the US? That’s a big red flag. The first holiday season is supposed to be where a new console builds unstoppable momentum, riding a wave of must-have games and gift demand. The fact that the Switch 2 is struggling to match a console that launched seven years prior, in a much smaller install base environment, is genuinely concerning. It suggests the “Switch 2” proposition isn’t cutting through the noise or the economic pressure as strongly as Nintendo hoped. You have to ask: is the upgrade compelling enough?
Beyond The Excuses
Nintendo’s cited reasons—the economy, high prices, no big Western game—feel a bit like a cover. Sure, the global economy is tough and component costs are insane, partly thanks to the AI gold rush gobbling up supply. But wasn’t all that true at launch, too? The console still flew off shelves then. So what changed? The software lineup post-launch might be the real culprit. A console lives and dies by its games, and if the post-launch slate hasn’t had a system-selling “event,” holiday shoppers might have just… paused. They’re probably looking at their existing Switch library and wondering if they really need the new one right now.
A Tricky Road Ahead
This is where it gets risky. A weak holiday can create a vicious cycle. Lower-than-expected hardware sales can make third-party publishers skittish, which leads to fewer games, which leads to even slower hardware sales. Nintendo has the first-party power to course-correct, but it needs to act fast. The employee’s note that 2026 will likely be as tough as 2025 isn’t just corporate caution; it’s a stark warning. Even for a company with Nintendo’s legendary resilience, navigating a high-stakes hardware transition in this economic and industrial climate is a monumental task. Basically, their margin for error just got a lot smaller.
