An announcement broke yesterday that the Nintendo Switch will no longer be sold in Europe starting in mid February 2027, just short of its 10th birthday. This includes all variations; however, the Switch 2 will continue as normal (almost).
The announcement was made on the back of a new requirement by the E.U. that electronic devices must feature user-replaceable batteries. New versions of the Switch 2 have been adapted and are set to continue sales in Europe, but Nintendo understandably passed on creating new versions for the original Switch.
This change will only affect customers in the European Union, however, and the Switch will still be available globally. “We plan to continue selling Nintendo Switch in regions outside of Nintendo of Europe,” Nintendo told IGN.
The original Switch line of consoles will continue production and sales until the February deadline, so customers in Europe who still want to get their hands on one have plenty of time.
At this time, it’s still unclear whether the changes to the Switch 2 console will affect its price, but more news from Nintendo should arrive in due time.
Nintendo has said nothing about plans to discontinue the Switch anywhere else, but given that it’s now almost 10 years old and new games are less frequently available for both consoles, it may only be a matter of time.
The Nintendo Switch launched in March of 2017 and has sold almost 156 million consoles. With the potential slowdown of Switch production and sales, it’s now in serious doubt whether it would be able to unseat the PlayStation 2 as the world’s best-selling console, sitting at 160 million units.
