Sales Rebound Eases Concerns, Nintendo's Stock Price Strengthens
The latest tracking by American game market research firm Circana shows that Nintendo Switch 2 saw a significant increase in sales last month, alleviating previous market concerns regarding "weakening demand." The news has bolstered Nintendo's stock price in the Japanese market, achieving an intraday increase at its highest level in nearly two months.
Key Data: December and Annual Double Crown, Industry Hardware Spending Grows Year-on-Year
Circana states that Switch 2 claimed the position of "best-selling game console" in both December and the entirety of 2025 in the United States. Although spending declined in November due to tariffs and rising component costs pushing up console prices and suppressing consumption, the performance of Switch 2 helped offset the weaknesses of competitors, allowing U.S. game hardware spending to achieve an annual growth of approximately **9%** in 2025.
Analyst Opinion: Crowned with Few Promotions, Demand Resilience Reassessed
Brokerage firms are also beginning to adjust their perspectives. Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal believes that the latest U.S. data has largely refuted the narrative of "Switch 2 sales weakness"—achieving top position without major promotions more reflects product strength and demand resilience. Meanwhile, Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino upgraded Nintendo’s rating to "in line with peers," indicating the sell-side's judgment of short-term prosperity is more neutral to positive.
Industry Trends: Overall Market Growth Not High, Subscriptions and Digital Goods More Prominent
Structurally, the overall U.S. gaming market is expected to only slightly grow to about $60.7 billion by 2025, with most of the increase coming from business model shifts: software spending is leaning towards subscriptions with subscription-related expenditures increasing by about 20%. On the content side, "Fortnite" continues to dominate activity and time on console platforms; whereas Roblox’s digital goods sales maintained a leading position both in December and throughout the year, with related revenues still growing.
