Nintendo to produce 20 million Switch 2s in FY27, exceeding sales forecast by 21%

Nintendo has plans to produce tens of millions of Switch 2 consoles throughout this fiscal year as the company faces cost-pressured product margins.

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Nintendo intends to manufacture up to 20 million of its new Switch 2 systems in FY27, sources tell Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki. Bloomberg had previously reported that Nintendo was cutting its Switch 2 output by 30% from 6 million to 4 million units in a purchase order made in March, and it was said that the reduction would begin in April, coinciding with Nintendo's Q1'FY27 period.

In its recent earnings report, Nintendo tells investors that it expects to ship up to 16.5 million Switch 2s in the year, and if this new estimate is accurate, the company intends for its hardware production to overshoot shipments by 21%. These estimates are known to be safe bets that the company easily beats--Nintendo forecasted 15 million NSW2 sales in FY26, but ended up selling 19.86 million instead, establishing the console's current sales mark.

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The news comes after Nintendo opted to raise Switch 2 prices in the pre-holiday Q2'27 period in September, with the decision being driven by market pressures like the ongoing RAM shortage.

Nintendo has brought the Switch 2 to market during one of the most volatile and tumultuous periods in modern gaming, and the company's hardware margins have been squeezed as a result; the Switch 2 was already less profitable than its predecessor at launch, and inflation combined with other disruptions have led to a price hike a year into the system's market presence.

The Switch 2 has already outsold the Switch 1 in launch-aligned shipments, however despite these high sales, the profits aren't as high as Nintendo wants them to be--especially after the tariff-proof MSRP has proven that it can't keep up with steadily-rising costs. That's why Nintendo is raising the price of the system to begin with. The company wants to preserve profitability as much as possible, especially given the Switch 2 already had lower margins by default even in a perfect world scenario.

Consumers around the world seem to be buying up new Switch 2 consoles en masse before the new price hike goes into effect, especially in Japan during the annual Golden Week sales. There are reports of the Switch 2 being sold out in domestic retailers, and Nintendo recently offered a $499 Choose Your Own Game bundle that includes the console and a NSW2 game.