Not to mention the much stronger third party support SW2 has had compared to early SW1 you'd think would be helping software sales comparisons too. I was baffled when they first forecast only 60m software sales this fiscal year and I'm still baffled now.

I just posted a question about exactly this in the news article, thanks to ShadowLink93 and Zippy for their comments.

As far as I know Nintendo still doesn't count 'download only' titles in their software sales. Perhaps Switch2 got a lot of games' sales where no physical exists? But then the same can be said of Switch1, eventhough I remember a lot of indy titles got a physical initially on Switch1.

Example: HollowKnight & Silksong do not have a physical release yet on Switch2 (Oct 18th), where the original Hollowknight on Switch had from the beginning.

Example2: Hades2 doesn't have a physical release yet (November 20th)

I do not know if Nintendo would count digital sales of those if the physical is not there yet and where the physical was announced quite a bit after launch.

Basically, with Switch 1 you got a new mainline Zelda, (and a revolutionary one at that) 3D Mario, and Splatoon in the first 9 months; these are substantially bigger hitters than series like Donkey Kong, Kirby, et al on Switch 2 sales wise.

Aslo the Switch1 was not backwards compatible. If you wanted to play something you needed to buy it for the system. Switch2 is backwards compatible. As example Nintendo said 40% of Tomodachi Life was played on Switch2. But obviously they count as Switch1 game sales.

A good point.

IIRC the way they report sales of Switch 2 editions titles also favours Switch 1.

The crazy thing is; Those 2.55M sales in 1 quarter for Tomodachi Life in Japan means there is a very real likelihood of Tomodachi Life already outselling MH Wilds in Japan (depending on Wilds digital sales on PS5 and Steam in Japan). Who would have thought that would happen during the 3DS generation? Ever more so given that MH has been growing since the 3DS in Japan while Tomodachi Life has been a dormant IP during that period.

Yeah the software discrepancy between Switch 1 at this stage and Switch 2 is almost entirely down to the particular titles released. Switch 1 had 3D Zelda, Mario Kart, 3D Mario, and mainline Splatoon all released by this stage. The Switch 2 has just one of those, Mario Kart World, that does have a very impressive attach rate. I don't think it's that concerning all things considered.

sad about no numbers about metroid prime 4 sales

People seem to forget that Switch 2 owners are still buying Switch 1 software. Especially people who didn't own a Switch 1. The Switch 1 has sold over 170 million games from Q1 last year to now.