One third-party Nintendo Switch 2 game developer told The Game Business that sales numbers were “below our lowest estimates,” highlighting the lukewarm performance of third-party launch titles in the first two weeks of the Switch 2’s lifespan.
The Nintendo Switch 2 launch lineup consisted of a healthy number of third-party titles, including Konami’s Survival Kids, Square Enix’s Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster, CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077, and more. According to data from Circana, cited by The Game Business, 81% of physical Nintendo Switch 2 game sales were for first-party titles, such as Mario Kart World and the Switch 2 Editions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. NielsenIQ reports Cyberpunk 2077 has been the best-selling third-party game on Switch 2 so far, while Circana’s data reveals Sega is the third-biggest Switch 2 game publisher.
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.