Switch 2 Has Unseated PlayStation 2 For Fastest Console Launch In Japan

It took over a month after launch, but the Switch 2 seems to have set a new record in Japan’s console sales as well.

Nintendo confirmed that their console launch hit 3.5 million units in just four days. This set a new benchmark for the biggest video game console launch in history.

Famitsu now reports that the Switch 2 has sold over 1.5 million units in Japan, as shared by GoNintendo. This makes it the fastest selling console in the country’s history.

How The Switch 2 Compares To Japan’s Best

As we noted in our headline, it overtakes the PlayStation 2, which had launch sales of 1,134,862 units. But the Switch 2 also overtakes its portable Nintendo predecessors. The Game Boy Advance sold over 1.36 million units and the DS over 1.26 million units on their launches.

These huge sales indicate that Nintendo’s strategy to focus on their home country is a huge success. At least, that is a popular theory that has been going around from some industry observers and analysts.

Is This What Nintendo Is Worried About?

As the theory goes, Nintendo was facing a lot of economic uncertainty from the Liberation Day tariffs. They were of course concerned about the direct effect of tariffs on their business. But Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa also told his company’s investors that they were concerned about their customers being unable to afford even ‘daily necessities’ as a consequence of the tariffs.

If Famitsu’s reporting is on the money, figuratively and literally, it means that Nintendo has secured their immediate financial future. The profits that they make in Japan won’t be compromised by potential issues coming from tariffs, or unfavorable changes in the exchange rate between the Japanese yen and the US dollar. Nintendo also gets a cushion from taking too many risky bets in the future. Nintendo may need that protection as it looks like they have issues they aren’t talking about with the public quite yet.

Other Possible Worries For The Future

Digital Extremes recently revealed that there’s a backlog for Switch 2 dev kits, which allegedly affected smaller game developers the hardest. While there’s been a lot of targeted FUD against the console, this issue could be a real concern for the company.

It’s also believed that the Game-Key Card issue has negatively affected sales of Switch 2 3^rd party games. But Nintendo President Furukawa would not confirm or deny if this is true, even to investors.

Nintendo has succeeded in maneuvering the issues surrounding the Switch 2 to secure its record breaking launch. While there’s still a lot of uncertainty for its future, Nintendo’s success cannot be denies.