Nintendo president says the Switch 2’s lower than expected sales forecast is due to its high price, not US tariffs
- Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa says the Switch 2’s high price is a factor for the company’s 15 million unit sales forecast
- Furukawa says that limits to hardware production capacity and US tariffs were not a factor
- Nintendo also expects to sell 45 million units in Switch 2 software, excluding copies of Mario Kart World included in Switch 2 bundles
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has said the lower than expected sales prediction for the Nintendo Switch 2 is due to the console’s high price point.
Following its financial report last week, where Nintendo said it expected to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles during its launch window last week (via VGC), investors have since asked the company why it has predicted lower sales than some analysts were anticipating.
“We are forecasting Nintendo Switch 2 hardware sales of 15 million units for this fiscal year,” Furukawa said in a new Q&A published today. “We set this figure with the aim of reaching the same level of sales we achieved with Nintendo Switch in the roughly 10-month period between its launch in March 2017 and December that year.”
Furukawa also said that the console’s high cost of $449.99 / £395.99 is a key factor in its predictions, but that its backward compatibility and software bundles will increase sales before the end of the first fiscal year.
“Nintendo Switch 2 is priced relatively high compared to Nintendo Switch, so we recognize that there are corresponding challenges to early adoption,” the Nintendo president explained. “That being said, Nintendo Switch 2 can play compatible Nintendo Switch software, so there is continuity between the platforms. We are taking steps like bundling software with the hardware to accelerate adoption in the first fiscal year, aiming to get off to the same start we did with Nintendo Switch.”
Furukawa continued, saying that limits to hardware production capacity “were not a factor” in its sales prediction, and that the recent rise in US tariffs or the possibility a recession “did not affect our sales volume forecast either”.
“In order to achieve sales of 15 million units, we will need to manufacture the hardware in quantities greater than that. Our first goal is to get off to the same start we did with Nintendo Switch, and we are working to strengthen our production capacity so we can respond flexibly to demand,” he added.
After acknowledging the positive feedback from the Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on events around the world, before returning to the topic of the console’s high price in comparison to the original Switch, saying that “even if there is momentum around the launch, we know it will not be easy to keep that momentum going over”.
“We have been working to ramp up Nintendo Switch 2 hardware production since even before we held the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience events and began My Nintendo Store applications. Our sales volume forecast was not determined based on any limit to production capacity,” he said.
Nintendo also predicted that it sell 45 million units in Nintendo Switch 2 software, excluding the Mario Kart World copies included in Switch 2 bundles, which would surpass the 52 million units of software sold for the Switch in the 10 months after its launch.
It was said that this is in part due to “a more robust line-up” of games from publishers and the availability of Switch 2 Edition titles.
Furukawa was later asked to confirm the impact of expected US tariffs on the sales forecast after Nintendo was forced to raise the price of some of its upcoming accessories last month.
“Our financial projections were created based on the assumption of U.S. tariffs of 10% on products produced in Japan, Vietnam, and Cambodia, and 145% on China,” he explained, but couldn’t disclose the impact of tariffs on individual products, like some accessories and amiibo, that are produced in China.
“Our basic policy is that for any country or region, if tariffs are imposed, we recognize them as a part of the cost and incorporate them into the price,” Furukawa added. “On the other hand, the fiscal year ending March 2026 is the launch period for our first new dedicated video game system in eight years. If the tariff assumptions change, we will consider how to handle the situation while keeping in mind the importance of platform momentum and growth of the hardware install base.”
The Nintendo Switch 2 launches globally on June 5, 2025. UK pre-orders and US pre-orders are now live.