Third-Party Game Sales on Nintendo Switch 2 Struggle, But Still Exceed Switch 1’s Early Numbers

Market analyst Mat Piscatella has weighed in on the potentially very low sales of third-party games released on Nintendo Switch 2, emphasizing that, in any case, the numbers are noticeably higher than those recorded in the first month of the original Switch’s life cycle.

In recent hours, a report published by The Game Business highlighted that third-party games—except for Cyberpunk 2077—have experienced relatively modest sales on Nintendo Switch 2. In particular, it seems that 62% of physical sales in the USA come from titles developed in-house by Nintendo, with Mario Kart World leading the charge.

Early Conclusions Are Premature

Piscatella, citing data from Circana, confirmed this trend but also offered an alternative interpretation. While it is true that third-party game sales represent only 40% of the total, he pointed out that the trend is still considerably more positive than on Switch 1, where, in the first 30 days, sales were below 20%, less than half of what Switch 2 is currently seeing. Does this mean that the numbers on Switch 2 are disappointing? Not necessarily. Piscatella emphasizes that it is premature to draw conclusions just two weeks after launch, and we don’t yet know the sales targets set by various publishers.

We add that, while the comparison with Switch 1 is interesting, it should be contextualized. Eight years have passed since the launch of the previous console, during which the market has changed, and the low sales could be due to an initial lineup with limited appeal to the general public: among third-party games were titles like The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Disgaea 5 Complete, Dragon Quest Heroes 1+2, I Am Setsuna, Just Dance 2017, Super Bomberman R, Skylanders: Imaginators, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence. While interesting, these titles had significantly less appeal compared to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

In contrast, Switch 2 already boasts major third-party games like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Street Fighter 6, and Civilization 7, to name a few. However, these are titles that have been available on Switch 1 or other platforms for months or even years, which may have led many players to pass on them in favor of a killer application like Mario Kart World, at least as a first purchase at launch.