The Switch 2 Has Had The Biggest Video Game Console Launch In US History

The Switch 2 has set yet another sales record in the video game industry.

No, you aren’t reading the same article twice. We just reported that the console had the fastest selling console launch in Japan. It has just done the same thing in the US as well.

The Big Announcement

Mat Piscatella shared these insights from Circana’s report for June 2025:

Hardware – Nintendo Switch 2 sold 1.6M units in June, the highest launch month unit sales for video game hardware in US history. The previous high was the 1.1M units of PlayStation 4 sold during November 2013.

Hardware – June hardware spending increased by 249% when compared to a year ago, to $978M. This is a record high for hardware spending in a June month, surpassing the $608M reached in June 2008.

The Switch 2 Launch Was Big For The Games, Too

The Circana report also revealed that video game software spending increased by 6 % year on year. This increase can be credited to an increase in 19 % spending in games on game consoles, and that is primarily from the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.

As one can expect, Mario Kart World was at the top of the pack for these games. 82 % of all Switch 2 owners also got a copy of Mario Kart World, with a lot of them getting it as part of a Switch 2 bundle.

Piscatella also shared a table of the best-selling games on Nintendo platforms. While these rankings do not indicate if these games were sold on the Switch or Switch 2, it’s clear that most of them are Switch 2 exclusives.

And How Did Game-Key Cards Sell?

And what’s even more interesting here is that 3^rd parties are doing very well in Circana’s sales tracking charts. Cyberpunk 2077 is the second best-selling game on the list, followed by Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma.

Both these games were loudly declared to be complete on Switch 2 Game Cards. So, their success seems to prove that Switch 2 owners prefer their games that way than buying Game-Key Cards.

It’s also true that Street Fighter 6, Hogwarts Legacy, and Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster, all releasing on physical as Game-Key Cards, made this list. On the other hand, we don’t know if these games sold as Game-Key Cards, or if they really sold more on digital.

Success That Makes Us Hopeful For The Future

Overall, the Switch 2’s launch paints a rosy picture for the industry too. It’s led to higher sales for both video games and video game consoles. The Switch 2’s success means developers have another platform where they can find success for their games too, as soon as they get dev kits anyway. And the Switch 2’s rising tide lifts all boats, especially as soon as Sony, Microsoft, and Valve start publishing their games on the Switch 2 as well.