Nintendo’s recent confirmation that the Switch 2 has sold over 17 million units has been met with skepticism from investors. According to Reuters, the company’s share prices have fallen by 11 percent in light of its recent earnings report. Analyst Atul Goyal of Jefferies has indicated that this might stem from uncertainties about whether Switch 2 sales will continue momentum.
“Results are good with (the Switch 2) breaking records,” said Goyal, who went on to note that they’re still “not great”. However, he also acknowledged the fact that, “The run is just starting and the platform is growing rapidly.”
Asymmetric Advisors analyst Amir Anvarzadeh, on the other hand, has noted that software sales on Nintendo’s newest console haven’t been as strong as they were for the original Switch. “The new Switch 2 console is not selling as (much) software as its predecessor did,” he wrote in a note.
The falling share prices might also be indicative of uncertainties of the console market as a whole. Morningstar’s Kazunori Ito made a note of this, saying, “Console profitability will decline further starting next fiscal year due to the ongoing surge in memory prices.”
As part of its earnings release, Nintendo had also confirmed that the Switch has become its best-selling console ever, thanks to over 155 million units sold. With this milestone, the Switch has surpassed the Nintendo DS, which reached 154 million sales in its lifetime. The company has also confirmed that the newest entry in its kart racing franchise—Mario Kart World—has sold over 14 million copies as of the end of December. These sales figures also include copies included with Nintendo Switch 2 bundled SKUs.
Analysts have already predicted that the Switch 2 might see eventual price hikes thanks to the ongoing global memory shortages, which in turn has led to RAM prices going through the roof. Research firm Niko Partners brought this up in its report about how the gaming industry will change over the course of 2026.
While the firm acknowledged that the Switch 2’s lower price when compared to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles has benefited Nintendo so far, the company might have to follow Sony and Microsoft in its pricing decisions moving forward. There is also a chance that the base $449 SKU of the Switch 2 might be discontinued entirely in favor of higher-priced bundles.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa had also made a note of rising memory prices in January, confirming that the company is currently paying attention to market conditions before making any major pricing decisions. He also noted that manufacturing for the Switch 2 is fine for now since Nintendo procured the necessary RAM in advance.
“Hardware profitability depends on factors like component procurement conditions, cost reductions through mass production, and the impact of exchange rates and tariffs,” Furukawa said. “It’s difficult to generalize. Fundamentally, we aim to address this by advancing component procurement over the medium to long term.”
“We procure from suppliers based on our medium- to long-term business plans, but the current memory market is very volatile,” he continued. “There is no immediate impact on earnings, but it is something we must monitor closely.”
