A look at how third-party games are selling on Nintendo Switch 2
The Game Business published a new report diving into the sales of third-party Nintendo Switch 2 games.
The outlet has received data from a few different companies. Highlights include
- 62% of Switch 2 physical game sales in the US (launch week) were from first-party games, excluding the Mario Kart World Bundle (Circana)
- 48% of Switch 2 physical game sales in the UK (launch week) were from first-party games, excluding the Mario Kart World Bundle (NielsenIQ)
- 86% of Switch 2 physical game sales in the UK (launch week) were from first-party games, including the Mario Kart World bundle (NielsenIQ)
- By comparison, for the launch of Switch 1, 89% of UK physical game sales were from first-party games (NielsenIQ)
- And for the launch month of Switch 1 in the US, 81% of US physical game sales were from first-party games (Circana)
- CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077 was the best-selling third-party game during the launch of Switch 2, beating launch sales of CD Projekt’s The Witcher 3 on Switch 1 (NielsenIQ)
- Sega was the No.3 biggest publisher on Switch 2 at launch (Circana)
- When it comes to games released both physically and digitally, over 80% of Switch 2 game sales came from physical retailers (data shared by publishers)
Chris Dring, who relayed the information above, says that the numbers “aren’t great at all” for third-parties. He also heard from one publisher that the data is “below our lowest estimates”.
There are a number of factors to consider. For one thing, many games released for Nintendo Switch 2 at launch were older ports. Additionally, there has been a negative reaction to game-key cards. Almost everything released was made available at retail in that form, with Cyberpunk 2077 being one of the big exceptions as a true physical release. Digital also doesn’t seem to be accounted for here.
You can check out a list of initial best-selling Nintendo Switch 2 physical games in the U.S. here.
