Nintendo’s Switch successor – the aptly named Switch 2 – has become the fastest selling video game hardware device in US history, knocking the PS4 off the top spot.
That’s according to the latest data from Circana, with analyst Mat Piscatella revealing 1.6m Switch 2 units were sold in the US during the console’s launch month. The previous record holder was Sony’s PlayStation 4, with 1.1m units sold during November 2013.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given what I have just told you, the Switch 2 was the best-selling console of the month in terms of both physical unit sales and dollar sales.
Piscatella said 82 percent of US Switch 2 owners who purchased their console in June also plumped for launch title Mario Kart World. This was either via a physical new game sale or as part of the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle.
These figures come despite the tariff situation in US around the Switch 2’s launch. As a reminder, Nintendo delayed pre-orders in the US back in April. It additionally raised the cost of Switch 2 accessories in US due to tariffs. Meanwhile, some US retailers were reportedly cancelling pre-orders ahead of the console’s launch.
All in all, the launch of the Switch 2 boosted the gaming market more generally. Consumer spending in the US – for both hardware and accessories – reached new all-time records. Last month, hardware spending in the US rose by 249 percent compared to this time last year, to $978 million. The previous high for June was $608m, which was recorded in 2008.
June accessories spending in the US, meanwhile, reached $293m. The previous record was $247m, which happened in June 2021.
“What the launch sales of Switch 2 primarily tell us is that they made a lot of Switch 2 to sell at launch,” Piscatella said to IGN, when asked if this record breaking launch means that the Switch 2 is now set to surpass the original Switch’s lifetime sales. In February of this year, Nintendo had sold 150.86m Switch consoles.
“Lifetime sales and launch sales of a console often do not correlate, meaning that some consoles with small launches ended up doing incredibly well,” Piscatella continued, noting that the PlayStation 2 only sold 400k in its launch month.
“Since launch month demand is rarely satiated by available supply (and it is certainly not a great sign when it is, historically) all we can really get a read on at launch is the confidence of the manufacturer to make so many units available, and the ability of the supply chain to get those units into the market,” the analyst closed.
“But having the biggest launch month sales for any new video game hardware platform is a helluva good start.”
On its debut last month, the Switch 2 became Nintendo’s fastest-selling hardware ever, shifting 3.5m units worldwide in its first four days on sale. News of those initial sales came despite criticism of the console’s high cost, as well as the price of its games and accessories.