Maybe not the news some of us disillusioned with Nintendo want to hear, but it is the news. The Switch 1 has also become Nintendo’s best-selling console ever (and in my opinion, will likely stay that way).
The key is, Nintendo produces more Switch 2 on release than Switch 1. Also when Switch 1 got released, nobody knew how hot it would be, as the last console prior to it was the Wii U flop. So given those two points, its only logical that the Switch 2 sells more on launch than the Switch 1 did. The question is, how long this will last.
Unless there’s a prolonged software drought, analysts say that if it did this well during the holiday, it will probably do just fine into the future. Switch 1 numbers are a high bar to clear long term, but it’s on pace to outdo most consoles historically. In less than one year, it’s already putting up numbers that rival what the Gamecube or Xbox did in four or five years.
Would switch 1 have done anywhere near what it did without pandemic? Every last model of the DS is still incredibly expensive on the aftermarket, due to pandemic. Before that used consoles of previous generations were pretty readily available at cheap prices.
Point being if pandemic made even a bygone generation of handhelds revitalized and holding value for 5 years. It’s impact on Switch 1 sales cannot be underestimated.
We’ll see how the holidays go for Switch 2 without the power of FOMO and existential nomadic existence.
There was a whole price fixing thing for retro games that happened in the same time frame, so it’s not an experiment that could be run with only a single variable. Old hardware is going to become more expensive as time goes on, as it becomes harder to source; young people are finding a curiosity with old tech that has no mandatory online connectivity, for a host of reasons; and quite honestly, the Switch 1 launched with Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild in its first year, with Smash soon after, Mario Kart 8 being one of the best-selling games of all time even before the pandemic, and Animal Crossing would have done gangbusters regardless. I’m convinced the pandemic had little to do with its success, even if Animal Crossing has a major chapter in it.
