Nintendo says western sales of Nintendo Switch 2 have been weaker than expected

Nintendo has informed shareholders that while sales of the Nintendo Switch 2 have met the company’s expectations in Japan, they are weaker than the company had expected here in the west. We know from a report from the Game Business that sales of the console during the all-important Christmas period were less than expected. Here’s what Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa told investors:

“While our forecasted global hardware and software sales volume remains unchanged, the breakdown by region and product is based on different assumptions from the revised forecast announced at the time of our second-quarter financial results announcement,” Furukawa said, via machine translation. 

“Furthermore, as you understand, domestic hardware sales volume exceeded our expectations, while overseas sales were slightly weaker than our expectations,” he continued.

“We believe that the reason for the stronger-than-expected hardware sales in Japan is that, amid the continued momentum of the initial launch of the Switch 2 hardware, new titles such as Pokémon Legends: Z-A Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and Kirby Air Riders, released during the holiday shopping season, [leading] to a relatively high trend of existing Switch owners switching to the Switch 2 compared to overseas.”