Switch 2 Had the Biggest Nintendo Launch in the UK, But Falls Below PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PS4 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 10 June 2025 / 5,668 Views
The Nintendo Switch 2 has set a record as the best-selling Nintendo launch in UK history, according to NielsenIQ data reported by The Game Business.
The latest console from Nintendo best the previous record holder, the 3DS in 2011, and more than doubled the Nintendo Switch 1, which sold over 80,000 units in its launch week. This does mean the Switch 2 sold over 160,000 units in its launch week in the UK.
Overall, the Switch 2 had the fourth biggest console launch in UK history in terms of units sold with it falling behind the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Xbox Series X|S. It did generate more revenue than the PS4.
it should be noted the Xbox Series X|S launched on a Tuesday, so its launch week had five days, compared to three days for the Switch 2. The PS5 launched on a Thursday, so launch week sales are for three days. The PS4 launched on a Friday, so launch week sales are for two days.
Nintendo has struggled in the UK compared to other parts of the world. The Nintendo Wii outsold the Xbox 360 worldwide, however, it was behind the Xbox 360 in the UK. The Switch 1, which has sold over 150 million units worldwide, is behind the PS4 in the UK.
Here are the top 10 best-selling console launches in the UK (minus handhelds):
1. PlayStation 5
2. PlayStation 4
3. Xbox Series X|S
4. Nintendo Switch 2
5. PlayStation 3
6. Xbox One
7. Nintendo Wii
8. Nintendo Switch
9. Xbox 360
10. Xbox One X
Launch week is Sunday-Saturday period. Some consoles only had two days of sales, while others had up to five days.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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Still a very solid debut, 160k+ is huge
A great start for a fantastic console.
3DS launch was in 2011, not 2010 ..
Great job, Nintendo! I hope we'll find out how many were sold worldwide very soon!
its coming, the more the better
Not surprising, most guys I know in the uk only play Fifa and nothing else. Also a lot of men are very insecure about playing nintendo in the uk.
I think it's as simple as the UK historically not being a particularly strong market for Nintendo. Nintendo in general does have the same "synonymous with videogames" status in europe that it has had in north america since the NES days.
PS5, Series X and PS5 launched during holidays let's not forget that.
I really don't think it matters. Early adopter demand will be the same regardless and drowns out any demand from more casual consumers.
PS5, Series X and PS5 were sold out let's not forget that.
Xbox Series sold more? Interesting...
More stock available not much more to it, the Wii, Switch and DS all had smaller launches. Than the Xbox Series, het massively outsold it.
PS5 has massive shortages too. UK is not a big Nintendo country anyway; but the greed (price) likely put some buyers off.
I expected much more, breaking the PS5 records, falling behind the Xbox Series doesn't seem good to me, Switch 2 won't sell more than the first one
I don't think anyone is actually expecting the Switch 2 to surpass the Switch. Will still sell incredibly well though. Just not Switch 1 levels. Sony to this day still can't come anywhere near the PS2 despite being the de facto premium console. It just seems to be an industry trend.
“Switch 2 won’t sell more than the first one” based on the fact that NSW2 had a UK launch that was double the size of NSW1? Lol.
Well, I think everyone would be incredibly surprised if S2 sold anywhere near as much as the Switch globally.
Switch was Nintendo's rebirth after the WiiU failure so there was definitely a "OMG Nintendo is back to past glory!" vibe, it was the first hybrid system and that got lots of hype and interest for this novel new type of system, and it launched with what was probably the game of the decade to drive word of mouth from day 1, oh and of course it was affordable.
Switch 2 is just a better version of the same thing, has no game of the decade type game at launch or anywhere in sight, and is far more expensive which is going to cut out a lot of multiple-buys for families and cut out lots of budget gamers. Switch 2 of course also has plenty going for it (BC with Switch, super powerful, pretty much improved everything from Nintendo's first hybrid system design, successor to the hugely popular Switch, good AAA 3rd party support), but all in all it'd be extremely surprising if it got within 20 or 30 million sales of the Switch, especially given the fact that Nintendo now completely abandoned affordability which has been a core part of their brand for two decades so sales will probably slow down a lot quicker later in it's lifecycle and also never come close to Switch's mid-to-high 20 millions yearly sales.
But in terms of the UK, well it was Nintendo's best launch ever. And reports are that it absolutely destroyed the gaming system launch globally in history. So to see "doesn't seem good" about S2's launch is super silly haha. If this launch wasn't good then every other system in history has had an absolutely abysmal launch.
People want to see Nintendo fail and are grasping at anything to get it.
Sometimes, but very rarely. And this is not one of those times. No one knows what the Switch 2 is going to end up being. No one. Not you. Not me. Not Nintendo. Not the fanboys, the haters... no one. So anything other than having a neutral opinion on the subject is pretty much black-and-white thinking. I personally choose the former. I wish others did as well.
While nobody can know for sure how the Switch 2 will ultimately perform, oh enlightened one, we can evaluate evidence and arguments.
Concluding that the Switch 2 will underperform the switch 1 based on the data that it sold twice as much is clearly ridiculous. People calling it out as such are correct. Doing so does not make any assertion that the Switch 2 will be successful, it just points out that the person's reasoning is, to put it mildly, flawed.
I agree no way in hell do the sales point to underperformance, but looking at the otherside, If we take into account that the Switch at launch was a relative unknown coming off the back of the Wii U, with no monumentum. then compare that with the SW2 launch.
The Switch 2 releasing is in a much more favorable position with the Switch's popularity helping to open the way for a much larger and aggressive launch with a reinvigorated Nintendo market many times larger than at the switch's launch so those numbers while very good shouldn't be surprising.
So my conclusion is Nintendo will be pleased that the SW2 has done exactly what they aimed for and jumped out of the box giving them a great foundation to build on .
That is a fair assessment. I too would expect the Switch 2 sales to be more frontloaded, but how much so is hard to say.
What I am comfortable saying is that you don't get from this article to the conclusion Switch 2 is going to sell less than Switch 1 without a heavy dose of bias. Regardless of whether that actually happens, it is still a dumb position to hold based on the available data.
While nobody can know for sure how the Switch 2 will ultimately perform, oh enlightened one, we can evaluate evidence and arguments.
Concluding that the Switch 2 will underperform the switch 1 based on the data that it sold twice as much is clearly ridiculous. People calling it out as such are correct. Doing so does not make any assertion that the Switch 2 will be successful, it just points out that the person's reasoning is, to put it mildly, flawed.
The UK has always been a relatively weaker region for Nintendo and it not having as big of a launch as PS5/Series X in that region shouldn't be any indication at all on how the Switch 2 will perform when it comes to sales. Of anything the fact that it's the best Nintendo console launch in history beating the Switch 1 by twice as much should be a great sign that this system is gonna be huge, especially in the regions more into Nintendo like most of the world is outside the UK.
It wasn't until relatively recently maybe in 2023 when the Switch 1 FINALLY outsold the Xbox One in the UK which is crazy to say since it felt like an eternity since the Switch 1 outsold the relatively weaker selling Xbox One globally, goes to show how the UK always been a weaker region for Nintendo. It seems like most people over there primarily care about their annual Fifa/COD games and not much else, and there might be stronger embarassment stigma playing Nintendo's more kid friendly games.
