Nintendo's Switch 2 has the handheld market all to itself

EIGHT YEARS since the launch of Nintendo Co.'s original Switch, the new console is finally here, in stores Thursday and online Friday.

- By Dave Lee

To greet the Switch 2, the return of what I feel is a much-missed staple, there was a frenzied midnight launch. Reports The Guardian:

"The sight of throngs of gamers looking to get their hands on the latest hardware when the clock strikes 12 is growing increasingly rare. But if you happen to walk by a Smyths toy shop at midnight on 4 June, you may encounter a blast from the past: excitable people, most in their teens or 20s, possibly discussing Mario Kart. They will be waiting to buy the Nintendo Switch 2, the first major games console launch since 2020 and potentially the biggest of all time."

When the first Switch hit the market in 2017, rival console makers paid little attention. Nintendo was the walking wounded, reeling off the back of a highly disappointing Wii U, which sold a mere 13.6 million units, an extreme disappointment after 100 million in sales of the groundbreaking Wii. Its choice to separate from the pack, to not create a traditional home console to compete with Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox and Sony Group Corp.'s PlayStation, was seen as an admission of having fallen behind.