Nintendo’s Switch 2 might have come out swinging, but it appears that it was ignored over Christmas.
The console shifted 3.5 million units in four days after its June 2025 launch, topped six million by August 2025 and cleared 10 million by November 2025, making it look untouchable.
A new report from The Game Business says the first proper holiday stretch was not the victory lap it should have been. In the US, Switch 2 sales from November to December were 35 per cent lower than the original Switch managed in its first holiday season in 2017.
The UK picture was less grim but still downbeat, with Switch 2 sales 16 per cent lower than Switch 1 across the same window. Add the rest of Europe and the story flips slightly, with Switch 2 beating Switch 1’s debut holiday period by seven per cent.
France said “non” with holiday sales 30 per cent below Switch 1’s 2017 festive showing. Across the major European markets, the report says Switch 2 generally lagged the original.
The software line-up did not exactly scream “must-buy” to everyone with a shopping list. Nintendo had big first-party names in 2025 such as Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Kirby Air Riders and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but no fresh 3D Mario platformer.
Switch 1 did not launch with Super Mario Odyssey either, but it was out by Christmas 2017, and that mattered. The Game Business points to tariffs introduced last year, which did not hike Switch 2 pricing directly but still squeezed household budgets.
Circana executive director and analyst Mat Piscatella has previously linked tariffs and the cost of living to US shoppers cutting back on non-essentials, including games. That sits alongside the ugly milestone of the US games business having its worst November since 1995 for hardware units and physical game sales.
The Game Business said a senior Nintendo employee blamed the slowdown on the “complicated economic landscape” and “the absence of a major Western game.” Even Japan, where 2025 finished 11 per cent ahead of Switch 1’s launch-year pace, still landed slightly below the 2017 holiday period.
