Nintendo Switch 2 is set to launch on June 5th, which is a pretty unusual date for a new gaming platform. In most cases, PlayStation and Xbox have opted to launch systems closer to the holiday season, but Nintendo tends to march to the beat of its own drum. In an interview with NPR (via Nintendo Everything), Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser addressed the summer launch window, and how systems are typically launched in the gaming industry. While it might seem like an unusual timeframe, Bowser says that the portable nature of Switch 2 allows gamers to take it with them as they travel in the summer months.
“We like to think that the year is a year and that there are no specific time frames when you should or must launch video games. And so, as we looked at the games that we had prepared and ready to launch with the hardware, we thought June was a very good timing. It’s the start of summer season, and obviously, with a Nintendo Switch 2, you have a device that you can both play at home and play at home docked like a gaming console, or you can take it out of the dock and take it on the go. So it’s a perfect game for summer travel,” said Bowser.
In that regard, June actually makes a lot of sense to release a portable system. It’s worth noting that this is not completely unusual for Nintendo; back in 2001, the company released the Game Boy Advance in June in both North America and in Europe. Launching a system outside of the holiday months is also something we saw with the original Switch, which got a worldwide launch in March 2017. That clearly worked out well for Nintendo, as the company was able to build up stock ahead of the system’s first big holiday on the market, while also establishing a library of exclusive games.
If the Switch 2 launch ends up being a big success, it could make other companies rethink their system launch strategies. As Bowser indicates, each year is pretty wide open, and there’s no real reason a system has to launch in one particular month or season, just because it worked in the past. At the very least, launching outside of the holiday season is a way to avoid a time of year when most people have other spending priorities.
We’ll have to wait and see how the June launch window actually works out for Nintendo Switch 2, but demand seems to be very high so far. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa revealed a few days ago that more than 2.2 million people registered to preorder the system through My Nintendo in Japan, surpassing expectations and what the company will have available. Preorders also opened in the U.S. and Canada, with retailers like Target, GameStop, and Walmart selling out their allocations.
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Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/nintendo-switch-2-why-coming-out-in-summer-june-release-date/