Skip to main content

Nintendo Switch pre-orders are outpacing PS4 at Swedish retailer

Nintendo Switch Preview Trailer

If Nintendo Switch sales end up anything like what was reported by Swedish retailer Webhallen, Nintendo has an incredibly popular commodity on its hands, one that could stand up to Sony and Microsoft in the marketplace.

As reported by Nintendo Life, the large retailer has not only exhausted its pre-order allocation, it has received more Switch pre-orders than it did for the PlayStation 4. A Nintendo Life reader translated the Webhallen statement into English:

It’s still January but 2017 seems to be Nintendo’s year. We have already received more pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch than the PlayStation 4, and it’s still going strong! The first batch to release in March is already fully booked, but we recommend you sign up for the next shipment for the highly wanted gaming console to ensure to get one in the next coming days and weeks after its release.

Unfortunately, actual numbers were not provided, so the fact that the Switch appears to be outpacing the PlayStation 4 ahead of launch in Sweden might not mean much as we inch closer to the Switch’s launch date.

The basic message, however, that the Switch is currently sold out, mirrors the situation in regions across the globe. In the United States, Switch pre-order limits were met within a day or two after being made available January 13, and currently it’s nearly impossible to pre-order a unit for launch in the states. U.K. pre-order allotments were spoken for within a few days, and in Japan, demand caused websites to crash.

Nintendo has stated that it will ship two million units worldwide throughout March, and expects that this will meet global demand. We don’t know how many of those two millions consoles have already been pre-ordered, though.

If interest in Sweden reflects interest the Nintendo Switch worldwide, the product may be harder to find than Nintendo expects.

Editors' Recommendations

Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
Sony’s new PlayStation earbuds are a perfect match — for my Nintendo Switch
Sony's Pulse Explore earbuds sit next to a Nintendo Switch OLED.

If you’re the kind of PlayStation loyalist who buys every add-on Sony puts out, 2023 may have been a pricey year for you. We’ve gotten the DualSense Edge, PlayStation VR2, a brand new PS5 model, and the PlayStation Portal -- but that’s not all. Sony is refreshing its audio offerings on top of all that, starting with the Pulse Explore next month.

Sony’s new wireless earbuds are built with PlayStation devices in mind. They use a new PlayStation Link connection system, which is built to easily pair them with the PlayStation 5. That tech actually replaces Bluetooth entirely on the new PlayStation Portal, which means that the Pulse Explore will be one of the only ways to get wireless audio on the handheld this year. It’s a sign that Sony is getting more aggressive about building a dedicated PlayStation ecosystem, Apple-style. It doesn’t just want you to buy Sony consoles, but all of the black-and-white accessories that go with them too.

Read more
What games will Nintendo Switch 2 launch with? We have some ideas
Mario and friends zip through a race course in Mario Kart 8.

We’re officially on “new console watch.” Reports from credible publications like Eurogamer say that Nintendo secretly showed developers its next system behind closed doors at this year’s Gamescom. While it’s only a rumor, it’s a realistic one. We’re six years into the Nintendo Switch’s lifespan and even the longest-running consoles turn over at eight. If Nintendo’s next system is one or two years away, it’s time to start lining up support from third-party developers.

We’ve speculated on features we’d want in a new system before, but the reality of a new platform has me asking another question: What games would you launch with something like this? The Nintendo Switch’s launch day was crucial to its long-term success thanks to a bonafide classic in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. While the rest of its launch lineup wasn’t as impressive, Nintendo capitalized fairly quickly with titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2. If Nintendo’s going to push Switch owners over to a new system, it’ll have to roll out the big guns.

Read more
Red Dead Redemption is coming to Nintendo Switch and PS4 this month
red dead redemption switch ps4 release date key art

The original Red Dead Redemption is coming to two new platforms, PS4 and Nintendo Switch, later this month. It'll retail for $50 on both platforms.
Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare Coming to Switch and PS4
Rockstar Games' open-world western game first launched in 2010 for Xbox 360 and PS3. It was critically acclaimed and a smash sales hit, creating a new franchise for Rockstar that could stand alongside the likes of Grand Theft Auto. It received a sequel, Red Dead Redemption 2, in 2019, but the original Red Dead Redemption remained stuck on older platforms outside of backward compatibility support on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
That's why fans got excited when a rating for the game from the Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea popped up. We've now learned that this rating is for new Nintendo Switch and PS4 ports of Red Dead Redemption by Double Eleven Studios. Red Dead Redemption will release across both of those platforms digitally on August 17, with a physical launch to follow on October 13.

It will cost $50 and includes the base campaign as well as the zombie-infested Undead Nightmare expansion; the Red Dead Online multiplayer is not included. This is the first time Red Dead Redemption will ever be on a Nintendo system, although it doesn't look like the port will have much in the way of Switch-exclusive features. That said, a press release does reveal that this will be the first version of the game to include Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese localizations.
Red Dead Redemption comes out on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on August 17. 

Read more