Nintendo aims to match Switch success with new console
By Katie Forster and Kilian Fichou
Nintendo hopes to match the runaway success of the Switch when its leveled-up new console hits shelves Thursday, with strong early sales expected despite the gadget's high price.
Featuring a bigger screen and more processing power, the Switch 2 is an upgrade to its predecessor, which has sold 152 million units since launching in 2017 -- making it the third best-selling video game console of all time.
But despite buzz among fans and robust demand for pre-orders, headwinds for Nintendo include uncertainty over U.S. trade tariffs and whether enough people are willing to shell out.
The Switch 2 "is priced relatively high" compared to the original device, company president Shuntaro Furukawa said at a financial results briefing in May.
"So even if there is momentum around the launch, we know it will not be easy to keep that momentum going over the long term," he warned.
Sales of the Switch, which can connect to a TV or be played on the go, were boosted by the popularity of games like "Animal Crossing" as a pandemic lockdown pastime.
The Japanese company forecasts it will shift 15 million Switch 2 consoles in the current financial year, roughly equal to the original in the same period after its release.
The new device costs $449.99 in the United States, over a third more than the Switch. A Japan-only version is cheaper, at 49,980 yen ($350). New Switch 2 games such as "Donkey Kong Bonanza" and "Mario Kart World" -- which allows players to go exploring off-grid -- are also more expensive than existing Switch titles.
Most original Switch games can be played on the Switch 2, and some Switch blockbusters such as "Zelda: Breath of the Wild" will have enhanced editions released for the new incarnation.
"People were a bit shocked by the price of 'Mario Kart World', the first $80 game that we've ever seen," said Krysta Yang of the Nintendo-focused Kit & Krysta Podcast.
While the company is "going to have to do some work" to convince more casual gamers that it's worth upgrading, Nintendo fans are "super excited", she told AFP.
The Switch 2 will have eight times the memory of the first Switch, and its controllers, which attach with magnets, can also be used like a desktop computer mouse.
Although the new console is not radically different, "a lot of people (are) saying, 'this is what I wanted, I wanted a more powerful Switch -- don't mess with a good thing'," said Yang, a former Nintendo employee.
New functions allowing users to chat as they play online and temporarily share games with friends could also be a big draw, said David Gibson of MST Financial.
"It's a way to appeal to an audience which has got used much more to the idea of streaming games and watching games, as well as playing games," he told AFP, predicting that the Switch 2 will break records in terms of early sales.
And success is crucial for Nintendo.
While the "Super Mario" maker is diversifying into theme parks and hit movies, around 90 percent of its revenue still comes from the Switch business, analysts say.
Nintendo delayed pre-orders for the Switch 2 in the United States by two weeks as it assessed the impact from President Donald Trump's global assault on free trade.
But its pre-orders have since sold out in the U.S. market and elsewhere, with the company boasting of particularly high demand in Japan.
Furukawa said in May that Nintendo's financial projections are based on the assumption of U.S. tariffs of 10 percent on products produced in Japan, Vietnam, and Cambodia, and 145 percent on China.
"Hardware for North America is mainly produced in Vietnam," he added.
Trump's hefty so-called "reciprocal" tariff of 46 percent on goods from Vietnam is on pause, while those on China have been slashed.
Tariff uncertainty could in fact push consumers to buy a Switch 2 sooner, because they are worried that the price could go up, Yang said.
Charlotte Massicault, director of multimedia and gaming at the French retail giant Fnac Darty, told AFP that pre-sale demand has been "well above what we imagined".
"For us, this will be a record in terms of first-day sales for a games console," she said.
The Switch 2 is "less of a family-focused product, and more of a 'gamer' product" compared to the Switch, she said. "That's what Nintendo wanted, and it works."
© 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
30 minutes ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Tokyo University of the Arts to Establish Game Department MA; Aims to Conduct, Disseminate Game Research
Tokyo University of the Arts announced Thursday that it will establish a 'Department of Games and Interactive Arts' master's program in the Graduate School of Film and New Media in April 2026. 'Japanese games, which have exploded in popularity, have gained worldwide recognition and should be promoted,' President Katsuhiko Hibino said at a press conference in Tokyo. 'We aim to conduct and disseminate research on games from the unique perspective of an arts university with expertise in fine arts and music.' The university views games as a 'new form of comprehensive art in the modern era' that combines multiple artistic fields — including fine arts, music and video — with digital technology. Since 2019, the university has been conducting research through a Game Course within the Graduate School of Film and New Media. However, with the increasing use of games in various spheres of society, such as healthcare, education and regional revitalization, the university decided to establish a new department. The planned enrollment capacity is 20 students, and the university expects to admit not only students with backgrounds in the arts but also those from the fields of information science and engineering.
Nikkei Asia
6 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Japan's NYK Line moves forward with sea-based rocket recovery plan
A reusable rocket stands on the deck of a recovery vessel in a concept image. (NYK Line) TOMONORI WASHIDA TOKYO -- Japanese shipping company NYK Line has obtained an industry body's approval for a proposed water-based recovery system for rockets, aiming to spend the next two years working on technical designs before conducting field testing in fiscal 2028. The company, officially known as Nippon Yusen, met with parties including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is handling the rocket technology side of the project, to discuss using ships for soft landings at sea.
The Mainichi
9 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Tradition meets AI in Nishijinori weaving style from Japan's ancient capital
KYOTO (AP) -- Nishijinori, the intricate weaving technique for kimonos that dates back more than a thousand years in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, is getting a high-tech collaborator: artificial intelligence. The revered colorful weaving style associated with "The Tale of Genji" of the 11th-century Heian era, has gone through its share of ups and downs. But its survival is more perilous than ever today, as demand for kimonos nose-dives among Japanese grappling with modernization. Hironori Fukuoka, the fourth-generation successor to his Nishijinori business, is determined to keep alive the art he's inherited, even if that means turning to AI. "I want to leave to legacy what my father has left for me," he said in his rickety shop in the Nishijin district of Kyoto, a city with statue-filled temples and sculpted gardens that never seems to change. "I've been pondering how the art of Nishijinori can stay relevant to the needs of today," said Fukuoka. Besides the AI project, Fukuoka is also working on using his weaving technique to make super-durable materials for fishing rods and aircraft. Where tradition and technology meet Giant looms clatter at his shop, called Fukuoka Weaving. The patterns on the gorgeous fabric, slowly turning out from the loom, are repetitive and geometric, which makes it conducive to translating into digital data. Deciding which hand-dyed color thread goes where to make the patterns is much like the on-or-off digital signals of a computer. Such similarity is what Fukuoka focuses on in exploring how AI might work for Nishijinori, with the help of Sony Computer Science Laboratories, an independent research arm of electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. AI only makes suggestions for the designs and doesn't do any of the actual production work. But that doesn't bother Fukuoka or the researchers. "Our research stems from the idea that human life gets truly enriched only if it has both what's newly innovated and what never changes," said Jun Rekimoto, chief science officer at Sony CSL, which is also studying how AI can be used to document and relay the moves of a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. "We don't believe AI can do everything. Nishijinori is a massive, complicated industry and so it starts with figuring out where AI can help out," said Rekimoto, also a professor at the University of Tokyo. What has come of it is a startling but logical turn in thinking, fitting of the art adorning kimonos worn by Japan's imperial family. The AI was fed various Nishijinori patterns that already existed and instructed to come up with its own suggestions. One was a bold pattern of black and orange that seemed to evoke a tropical motif. Striking a balance To Fukuoka, some of AI's ideas are interesting but simply off. The difference between AI and the human effort is that the former can come up with multiple suggestions in a matter of seconds. Fukuoka immediately gravitates toward the one that uses a motif of a leaf to define the angular lines of a traditional pattern, something he says a human wouldn't have thought of. He finds that ingenious. The kimono the AI collaboration has produced is a luscious soft green, although it doesn't have a price tag and isn't in production yet. The weaving is carried out by the old-style machine under the guidance of the human artist in the traditional way. Nishijinori kimonos sell for as much as a million yen ($6,700). Many Japanese these days don't bother buying a kimono and may rent it for special occasions like weddings, if at all. Putting one on is an arduous, complicated affair, often requiring professional help, making kimonos even less accessible. A creative partnership Dr. Lana Sinapayen, associate researcher at Sony CSL, believes AI often gets assigned the creative, fun work, leaving tedious tasks to people, when it should be the other way around. "That was my goal," she said in an interview at Fukuoka Weaving, of her intent to use AI in assistant roles, not leadership positions. Digital technology can't automatically represent all the color gradations of Nishijinori. But AI can figure out how to best do that digitally, and it can also learn how the human artist fixes the patterns it has produced. Once that's all done, AI can tackle arduous tasks in a matter of seconds, doing a pretty good job, according to the researchers. Artificial intelligence is being used widely in factories, offices, schools and homes, because it can do tasks faster and in greater volume, and is usually quite accurate and unbiased, compared to human efforts. Its spread has been faster in the U.S. and other Western nations than in Japan, which tends to be cautious about change and prefers carefully made, consensus-based decisions. But the use of AI in arts and crafts is promising, such as text-to-image generative AI for the creation of visual images from text prompts, according to a study by Henriikka Vartiainen and Matti Tedre, who looked at the use of AI by craft educators in Finland.
