Why Nintendo's Switch 2 Production Is Being Cut Down Big Time In 2026

Pokémon Pokopia might've been a bigger hit than expected, but Nintendo is still going to have to cut back production on the Switch 2 in 2026. The handheld console's sales during the 2025 holiday season fell short of the company's expectations all across the world, but they were especially disappointing here in the U.S. Thus, according to Bloomberg, Nintendo will cut manufacturing to about 4 million units in the second quarter of 2026, one-third less than its initial target of 6 million.

It's surprising considering how strong a start the Switch 2 had. Since its debut in June 2025, the Switch 2 has sold more than 17 million units. That means it outperformed all previous Nintendo launches. Journalists loved the Switch 2 as well, as shown by our Switch 2 review from August 2025. Still, the momentum has slowed. Demand has remained strong in Japan, but sales everywhere else haven't quite kept up. Nintendo's decision is not even about the actual cost of making the consoles, either. Bloomberg's report claims that rising memory chip costs were not a driving factor behind the scale-back, and it's really all about the dip in consumer demand.

Even with the reduced production, Nintendo is still expected to meet analyst projections of roughly 20 million units sold for the fiscal year. That's far from a disappointment. If anything, dropping the quota from 6 million to 4 million is about correcting expectations rather than failing to meet them. Nevertheless, investors aren't too pleased. Nintendo shares dropped pretty sharply in Tokyo following reports of the production cut.

Beyond the raw sales numbers, there are other, deeper concerns Nintendo needs to think about. For the Switch 2, major titles that typically drive console demand through the holidays were either released earlier in the year or failed to generate all that much momentum. Pokémon Pokopia's success was a nice surprise, but it's not going to make up for the diminished sales during Christmas 2025. 

History may repeat itself during 2026's holiday season, and it's all thanks to the highly anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto VI on the more powerful consoles. Analysts expect GTA VI to dominate consumer spending during the holidays, and there's probably little Nintendo can do to come out ahead of the GTA VI hype. Cutting down production seems like the smart move.