Nintendo Sold 3.5 Million Switch 2s in 4 Days and I've Found Something to Complain About

Yes, I'm a little upset that my fragile purchasing power didn't allow me to acquire the Nintendo Switch 2 at launch. Yes, I'm a little envious of the 3.5 million people who bought Nintendo's latest handheld console. OK, I've said it. Tears of rage lapped at my computer keyboard, complete with spasms of jealousy interspersed with every word I wrote here.

I assure you, I'm not motivated by bad faith or malicious intent of any kind. No, it's simply the only way I've found to make the news of the Switch 2's record 3.5 million sales in four days interesting from a different perspective. Above all, it's a way for me to exorcise a real problem I felt with the first Switch. A feeling that, in my opinion, is shared by more than one Nintendo fan and is no stranger to the resounding and undeniable success of the Nintendo Switch 2.

Nintendo Switch 2: A deserved and logical sales record

The Nintendo Switch 2 is the best-selling console ever, taking into consideration all consoles and brands combined. 3.5 million units sold in four days since its launch on June 5? That's insane. That was a launch that outstripped competitors such as the PS5, PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X/S. Nintendo has surpassed the PS4, which previously held the record with 1 million units sold in 24 hours in 2013.

And there are plenty of valid, positive, and not at all gloomy reasons for this success. The first Switch, released in 2017, shifted a hefty 152 million units. That makes it the second-best-selling video game console in history, behind the indestructible PS2. The Switch 2 incorporates most of what made its predecessor such a success, with a few improvements. So it's off to a good start, aimed at users who are already loyal to the Nintendo brand and the Switch.

All the more so when you think back to the launch of the first Switch. The Switch was the successor to the Nintendo Wii U, a commercial flop that sold just 13.5 million units. Suffice to say, Nintendo was much more confident this year with the Switch 2 than it was back then.

Nintendo also seems to have handled the launch of the Switch 2 a little better. Despite strong demand and the onset of stock-outs in France, Nintendo implemented an anti-scalper system that required, among other things, proof of a certain number of hours played on one's Nintendo account when pre-ordering the console. The console was not held hostage by soulless retailers like the PS5 in 2020.

The Switch 2 also arrives at a time when Nintendo is welcoming new players. The console is more powerful than its predecessor. Above all, it's less powerful than most of its competition, with the approximate power of an Xbox Series S. As Xbox requires all games developed for Series X to run on Series S, the catalog of potential third-party games looks set to be quite extensive.

• Discover all Nintendo Switch 2 games available at launch

So what's my problem with the Switch 2?

As I've just explained, the Switch 2 craze is an overwhelmingly organic console that justifies its existence. However, it's also the result of a dependence on novelty, maintained and exacerbated by Nintendo, which literally starved its fans by providing them with piecemeal content.

Nintendo's strength lies in its exclusive games. These are far more numerous than those of Sony or Microsoft. The PS5's notable exclusives can be counted on my ten fingers. Microsoft has even abandoned the very concept of exclusives, since most first-party games are released on all platforms. But its weakness was the lack of third-party games released on other consoles.

And that's where I'm going to shamelessly trauma-dump you. I'm going to tell you about my problem with Nintendo, which explains why I'm on an impulse to buy the Switch 2. Yes, it took me ten paragraphs to get to the point. Eleven, if you were to include this.

The first Switch was great. But after buying it at the end of 2022, I quickly became bored. After spending 300 hours on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, followed by Tears of the Kingdom, and at least 500 hours on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I felt like I was going round in circles. I tried to buy a few ports of third-party games, such as The Witcher 3 or Nier: Automata. However, it's hard to shake the feeling of a lack of content.

There are plenty of Nintendo exclusives, but most of them didn't speak to me, the hardcore gamer. Little by little, I turned away from my Switch. And when I bought my Xbox Series X at the end of 2023, I never touched my Nintendo console again, before selling it shortly afterwards.

It's not for nothing that Nintendo has gone to great lengths to make the Switch 2 more competitive with portable PC consoles. The idea is to encourage third-party developers to port their games to Nintendo's console. Diversify the catalog to better retain gamers. This is crucial since Nintendo's main exclusives often take a long time to feature a new title.

Place yourself in the shoes of someone who's been playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe since its release on the Wii U in 2014. This person has been playing the same game for over ten years. This person most certainly has a problem. I'm not talking about an attachment problem or a sickly inability to move on. No, this person's problem is that they're bored stiff and would give anything for a bit of novelty.

So when the Switch 2 comes in at $449.99 with the Mario Kart Tour bundle for another $50, this person doesn't even bother with the price tag. All that matters is that she can finally play a new game on a new console after all these years. Quite frankly, I completely understand how that person thinks and acts. That person could have been me.

What about you? Have you rushed out to buy the new Nintendo Switch 2?