An angular view of the Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode

Nintendo Reportedly Preparing to Ship 20m Switch 2 Units in First Year

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Published: January 16, 2025 11:22 AM

Nintendo is reportedly preparing a massive amount of Switch 2 shipments for the console's first year on sale, with the figure apparently dwarfing that of the original Switch.

According to a Bloomberg report (which, in turn, cites analyst Robin Zhu of Sanford C. Bernstein), Nintendo's supply chain network for the Switch 2 will allow it to sell "more than 20 million units in its first year".

As Bloomberg points out, that figure would be five million higher than the original Switch, which managed to sell 15 million units during its first year on sale. It's clear that Nintendo is banking on its new console doing well.

A new version of Mario Kart running on the Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode
Nintendo is preparing its new console for around 20 million shipments in its first year, apparently.

It's also possible the company wants to avoid a repeat of the great chip shortage of the early 2020s, which made consoles like the PS5 and the original Switch very hard to obtain. It might sound obvious, but Nintendo really doesn't want you not to be able to find this console in stores.

In case you missed it, Nintendo finally announced the Switch 2 earlier today after months of speculation regarding when the console would finally be revealed.

It's fair to say that the announcement itself was pretty terse; it showed off the console's form factor, as well as what appears to be a new game in the Mario Kart series, but it didn't give away anything about the machine's specs or launch day lineup.

We do, however, already know that the Switch 2 will be able to play original Switch games, although Nintendo has said that the successor may not support every original Switch game at launch.

Nintendo has promised that it will reveal more about the Switch 2 during a Direct presentation in April. It's likely we'll learn more about the console's hardware specs then, and we'll probably get a release date too. Stay tuned.

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Joe has been writing for TechRaptor for several years, and in those years has learned a lot about the gaming industry and its foibles. He’s originally an… More about Joseph