New report suggests third-party Switch 2 game sales are “below estimates”

Though sales of Nintendo’s new Switch 2 hardware had become one of the fastest-selling consoles ever, sales of third-party games have reportedly been sluggish and “below estimates.”

That’s according to a new report by The Game Business, which intimates that despite attracting strong buy-in from partners like EA, Take-Two, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Sega, Capcom, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, CD Projekt, and Konami – and although third-party publishers have fared better with the Switch 2’s launch than its predecessor – “most third-party Switch 2 games posted very low numbers.”

According to NielsenIQ, CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077 is currently the best-selling third-party game of Switch 2’s launch. However, although third-party publishers “appear to have done slightly better during the launch of Switch 2 compared with Switch 1,” report author Christopher Dring added: “It’s hard to describe these statistics as positive.”

“Most third-party Switch 2 games posted very low numbers. One third-party publisher characterised the numbers as ‘below our lowest estimates’, despite strong hardware sales,” Dring writes. “The improvement over the Switch 1 launch is also slightly misleading. For starters, there were more consoles sold this time. Plus, the Switch 1 only launched with five physical games: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, 1-2-Switch, Just Dance 2017, Skylanders Imaginators, and Super Bomberman R. By comparison, the Switch 2 had a wider selection, with 13 physical games available at launch.”

Dring also posited that the lack of early review units for press – which has, in turned, hampered timely reviews – may also have adversely impacted sales as “there were no critical reviews available for them to base their purchasing decisions on.”

Earlier this week, we reported Nintendo Switch 2 has sold more than 1.1 million units in the United States, breaking launch week records for gaming hardware. Hardware sales for the Nintendo Switch 2 have reached almost one million units in Japan, too, making it the country’s biggest console launch to date.

The Game Business newsletter was created and written by GamesIndustry.biz’s former head of games, B2B, Christopher Dring.