Nintendo Switch 2 Third-Party Developer Claims That Sales Were "Below Our Lowest Estimates"
Third-party games for Nintendo Switch 2 are reportedly underperforming as players flock toward first-party games like Mario Kart World
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Now Playing: Every Switch 2 Launch Game
Circana executive director Mat Piscatella posted on Bluesky that "Third party unit share of Switch 2 physical software during week 1 reached just shy of 40%," which is almost double what third-party games did at the launch of the Switch 1. The Game Business did point out that improvement over the performance of third-party games on the original Switch, but also explains that "it's hard to describe these statistics as positive." That's understandable, considering the Switch 2 has had one of the most successful console launches of all time, yet an anonymous publisher is claiming that even its lowest estimates overestimated how well third-party games would do on Switch 2.
The release of this information has caused discussions over the negative impact of Game-Key Cards, which are physical game cartridges that don't contain a game's full data and still require a download. Kelsey Lewin, owner of Seattle game retailer Pink Gorilla Games, said on Bluesky that Game-Key Card sales have flagged. "We had very low expectations carrying these in-store but can anecdotally confirm: no one is buying these," Lewin wrote
Niko Partners director of research and insights Daniel Ahmad is less bullish on the idea that Game-Key Cards had a negative impact on third-party Switch 2 sales. "I hate to break it to people, but the 'I refuse to buy a game for my Nintendo Switch 2 if the physical version is not on the cart' crowd are both a minority today and will be an even smaller minority in five years," he posted on X.
While the third-party numbers on Switch 2 aren't very promising thus far, we'll see how these games perform in the coming months and years as more brand-new games come to the platform.
Every Nintendo Switch 2 Launch Game
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Nintendo Switch 2 Cyberpunk 2077This story originally appeared on: GameSpot - Author:UK GAG
