From our other sites
The story
On May 25, 2026, Nintendo raised the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 console from ¥49,980 to ¥59,980 — a ¥10,000 increase — reportedly due to rising semiconductor memory prices and a weak yen. Four months after the hike, weekly sales for September 14–20 came to 34,341 units, about four times the PS5’s sales over the same period. The thread split between those saying “comparing it to the PS5 is meaningless” and those saying “the fact that it hasn’t slowed down even after the price hike, at this price point, is a big deal.” Discussion also spread to comparisons with the 3DS’s supposedly poor second-year sales, and to the current state of the PS5, which has had its own string of price increases.
On May 25, 2026, Nintendo raised the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 console by ¥10,000, from ¥49,980 to ¥59,980.
The reasons given are rising semiconductor memory prices and the weak yen.
Four months later, weekly sales for September 14–20 came to 34,341 units.
Source: hashout.jp / Original article here
What people said
Falcom: "PS is petering out"
Square Enix: "PS5 is mid-range"
Hara◯ (name redacted): "Does PS actually sell the numbers it announces?"
Hideo Kojima: "I suddenly got a cancellation notice for 'PHYSINT' from SIE"
PS official: "It's no longer on store shelves"
MAGES: "PS isn't profitable" ←New!
GEO (used-game retailer): "We've got PS5s that customers bought to ride the hype but haven't turned on in over a year"
The cast of characters is now complete.
Some publisher: "Other/Misc"
Add that one to the list too
Year-2 sales
3DS Switch 2
Week 01 72,032 23,059
Week 05 94,776 32,797
Week 10 71,282 28,395
Week 11 88,226 37,165
Week 12 45,063 20,734
Week 13 41,712 22,265
Week 14 51,804 24,281
Week 15 101,718 28,341
Week 16 61,212 34,341
Week 17 56,394 32,198
Total 6,288,334 6,360,353
https://gamesdata.info/hard-3ds.html
3DS price cut: a desperate strategic pivot to boost adoption after poor sales
https://mantan-web.jp/article/20110729dog00m200002000c.html
Not sure what exactly you think doesn't mean anything, but it does mean something.
Looking at the price bracket, Switch 2 has kept selling steadily even after the price hike, unlike the PS5, which is struggling despite even releasing a Japanese-only model.
That blows a hole in the "too expensive to sell" theory.
At the end of the day, what matters is whether it's hitting Nintendo's internal targets and tracking as expected. Outselling the PS5 doesn't really have much bearing on that, does it?
Media outlets with no ties to Nintendo obviously have no way of knowing Nintendo's internal targets. So naturally they compare it to the PS5 instead, since it's the rival console and also a current-gen system — that's just the go-to comparison.
Is that really true? The Dreamcast sold pretty well actually:
Resident Evil CODE: Veronica — 403,962
Seaman: The Forbidden Pet — 399,342
Sonic Adventure — 385,365
Sega Rally 2 — 374,892
Shenmue Chapter 1: Yokosuka — 355,902
Well, the Dreamcast was running TV commercials during primetime though.
Both now and back then, it's nothing but scalper merchandise for stuff unrelated to gaming — military repurposing, mining rigs, you name it. On the surface it's sold over 7 million of that "junk PlayStation," but as an actual gaming console it's doubtful it's even cracked 3 million.
Even at Yodobashi the stock is plentiful, so it's just that there's no demand.
https://www.yodobashi.com/ec/product/stock/100000001009510756/
The Switch's big surge started around when Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched during the pandemic. Even by the standards of past Nintendo hardware, that growth curve was pretty abnormal.
That's beside the point. It kept selling because it's a unified home/portable system that kept getting a steady stream of games. Even during COVID, PlayStation didn't see that kind of growth.
The Switch was actually sold out pretty much from the start, and that lasted a good while. It seems like it only became easy to buy around 2019.
Cumulative through week 69 / weekly sales
6,518,576 161,624 DS
6,360,353 *32,198 Switch 2
6,288,334 *56,394 3DS
5,646,918 *49,534 Wii
5,575,841 *31,502 GBA
4,524,037 *46,750 Switch
4,172,069 *75,693 PS2
3,210,909 *36,713 PSP
2,032,355 *71,945 GC
1,941,806 *13,893 PS3
1,694,137 *13,073 WiiU
1,440,216 *10,117 PS4
1,428,789 *25,679 PS5
1,419,690 *19,879 PSV
*,389,439 ***,937 Xbox
*,371,014 **3,774 XB360
*,160,346 **1,962 XBS
*,*64,051 ***,479 XBO
I was wondering why nobody's comparing it to the Switch, but turns out it's outselling the Switch too. I see.
There's something sitting below the WiiU there…
Because it doesn't have Animal Crossing, that's why.
Did the Switch sell about as much as the Switch 2 in its first year too?
https://teitengame.com/graf_b.html
Early on, the Switch got so little attention that it felt like it just quietly showed up and people only noticed after the fact.
Wait, before Yodobashi had infinite stock, it was a brutal fight just to land a pre-order. Were you living up in the mountains or something??
Must've been in a room with no windows lol
Wouldn't you need a monitor to properly enjoy the Switch 2 as well though? Having one made a big difference on the original Switch too.
I mean, a washing machine or a laundromat is essential too, if you think about it…
Though I guess the "skip-the-bath crew" (people who don't bathe daily) don't need one…?
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
It’s easy to overlook that Switch 2’s May 2026 price hike was attributed to external factors — rising semiconductor memory prices and a weak yen — rather than to poor sales on Nintendo’s part. Within the thread, opinions split over how meaningful it is to frame this as “outselling the PS5,” a debate that really comes down to the gap between each company’s undisclosed internal targets and the weekly sales figures the media actually has access to. The comparison with the 3DS surfaced data showing Switch 2’s cumulative second-year sales running almost neck-and-neck with the 3DS’s — but the 3DS later lost steam after a price cut, so whether Switch 2 follows the same trajectory remains to be seen. There were also moments where figures of dubious accuracy — like extreme North American weekly sales numbers sourced from social media screenshots — spread without verification, a reminder to treat sales figures without an official announcement with caution.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Media: ‘Switch 2’s weekly sales reach 4x PS5’s even after ¥10,000 price hike’.”
Leave a Reply