Nintendo Switch

More than 150 million units sold since 2017 made Nintendo Switch the platform Nintendo is now extending and replacing with Switch 2.

Who they are

Nintendo Switch is Nintendo’s hybrid console and handheld platform, appearing in coverage as the company’s long-running hardware base, a target for emulator enforcement, and the reference point for the backward-compatible Switch 2.

The recent arc

Recent coverage shifted from the mature Switch’s slowing sales to the transition into Switch 2. Nintendo’s 2024 first-quarter results showed Switch sales down 46% year over year, while the March 2024 Yuzu settlement and Ryujinx’s removal later that year kept the original platform in the news through Nintendo’s efforts against emulation.

Coverage concentrated in early 2025 around the successor’s rollout: Nintendo teased Switch 2’s backward compatibility in January, introduced Virtual Game Cards and GameShare in March and April, and delayed preorders to assess tariff effects while retaining the June 5 launch date. By August, Nintendo reported 5.82 million Switch 2 units sold in its first month, framing the older Switch less as Nintendo’s growth engine than as the installed base the new system is meant to carry forward.

The tension

The central tension is succession amid a widening handheld field. Switch 2 preserves physical and digital compatibility with the original Switch, but Microsoft and Asus have positioned ROG Xbox Ally devices as handheld competitors running Windows games from multiple storefronts; Nintendo is also balancing ecosystem openness and control, as its emulator actions and new game-sharing mechanisms show.

Why it matters

The Switch’s installed base gives Nintendo an unusually large audience to migrate through compatibility, digital-library portability, and multiplayer features. If that migration continues, Nintendo could sustain engagement across two hardware generations; the uncertainty is whether pricing, tariff exposure, and PC-based handheld competition constrain the successor’s momentum or change how quickly players move on from the original platform.

Related: Nintendo · Switch 2 · Xbox · Nintendo delays Switch 2 preorders, which were set to start on April 9 · Nintendo Q1: revenue up 132% YoY to ~$3.8B, operating profit up 4.4% t