Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa dropped some revealing numbers during the company’s Q3 fiscal earnings call on February 3 and the message was clear: Japan is loving the Switch 2 way more than the rest of the world right now.
“Domestic sales exceeded our expectations, while overseas sales were slightly weaker than our expectations“, Furukawa stated to investors, confirming that Nintendo’s newest console isn’t performing equally across all regions.
The Switch 2 launched with serious momentum, hitting 17.37 million units shipped by the end of December 2025, with 15 million units sold through to customers by the fourth week of December.
Those are solid numbers for any console launch, but the regional breakdown tells a more interesting story. Japan went hard on the Switch 2 from day one, and that enthusiasm carried through the holiday season, while international markets showed more restrained adoption.
Why Japan went all-in on Switch 2
Furukawa explained that Japanese consumers were quick to upgrade from the original Switch to the Switch 2, particularly when heavy hitters like Pokémon LEGENDS Z-A Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and Kirby’s Air Rider dropped during the holiday season.
These releases gave existing Switch owners in Japan the perfect excuse to make the jump to the new hardware, creating a migration pattern that was noticeably stronger than what Nintendo observed overseas.
The company intentionally ramped up production ahead of the holiday season to avoid the nightmare scenario of stock shortages during peak demand.
That strategy resulted in higher inventory levels than usual, but Nintendo maintains that current stock levels are within appropriate ranges and won’t negatively impact their fiscal year projections.
Fourth quarter shipments are expected to be lower than Q3, which was always part of the plan given the front-loaded production strategy.
The memory price headache
Beyond regional sales performance, Furukawa addressed growing concerns about memory component costs, which have been spiking recently.
While Nintendo secured long-term agreements with suppliers to stabilize pricing for the current fiscal year, prolonged increases could squeeze hardware profitability down the line.
The company isn’t planning any immediate price adjustments for the Switch 2, but executives acknowledged that if memory prices stay elevated for an extended period, they’ll need to consider various options while balancing platform growth against hardware margins.
Nintendo’s current approach prioritizes maintaining profitability on a global scale without selling hardware at a loss, but Furukawa emphasized that years two and three of the Switch 2’s lifecycle are critical for building the install base that will drive software sales long-term.
The overseas performance might be softer than Nintendo hoped, but the company is banking on a multi-year transition from Switch to Switch 2, keeping both ecosystems active with major updates to titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Splatoon 3 to maintain engagement while gradually migrating players to the new platform.
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