Say what you will about the Nintendo Switch 2’s relative success internationally throughout its first year on the market—and while signs of a holiday slowdown got folks wondering whether its early-days era was especially frontloaded, it’s broadly done quite well for itself—there’s no denying that it’s an absolute behemoth in Japan.
Towering over the competition month after month, Switch 2 has already struck the domestic five-million mark. While that amounts to roughly a fourth of its global achievement (last we heard, it’d hit 17.37 million as of December 31, and it’s obviously higher now), it speaks volumes to not just Switch 2’s own momentum, but the staying power of the all-powerful Switch brand itself within the region.
It’s All About Perspective
What it boils down to more than anything is the comparable slowdown of the PlayStation brand in Japan. PS5 is well into its sixth year on the market, and it’s at “just” 7.5 million units over there, despite skyrocketing past 92 million worldwide. Make no mistake; Sony’s powerhouse is alive and well in the Land of the Rising Sun. But where it once ruled the roost, it’s not just another player, and it’s got no cards next to domestic Nintendominance.
No wonder, then, that Square Enix is in such a rush to go multiplatform. (There are actually like a dozen solid reasons for that, but within distinctly Japanese-market context, this is top dog.) When Switch 2 has hit two-thirds as many units sold as PS5 in a sixth as much time, it’s clearly poised to surpass PlayStation 5 in relatively short order. Quite possibly by year’s end, in fact.
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Japan’s urban public transportation infrastructure runs laps around what many within the United States would expect, and even plenty of European countries. Its workforce is accustomed to long commutes, to say nothing of its students, whose schools are often a full train ride away. This made the Nintendo DS so appealing there in its heyday, as well as the PlayStation Portable and the 3DS. (Sorry, Vita. You just never quite caught on.) It bolstered the smartphone gaming economy, and it led to the meteoric rise of the Switch 1.
Now, Switch’s successor is a beast in its own right, and it shows no signs of decay. Indeed, as heavy hitters like Pokemon Wind and Waves, the inevitable next Animal Crossing, and highly-rumored titles like a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time hit the world, we’ll see the full extent of Switch 2’s commercial potential. In Japan, however, that potential is through the roof.
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