Nintendo has announced that it will stop selling the original Switch in Europe from next February, in response to forthcoming EU regulations requiring easily replaceable batteries in most consumer electronics. Rather than redesign its ageing Switch models to comply—as it is doing with the newer Switch 2—Nintendo will simply withdraw the older console from the region. The move, which does not affect Switch availability elsewhere, prompted Ars Technica to consider how much longer the nine-year-old console might remain on sale as attention shifts to its successor.

An analysis of Nintendo's earnings data shows the Switch to be unusually resilient. Its hardware sales peaked at nearly 29 million units in the 2021 fiscal year, later in its life than earlier consoles, and it was still shipping 3.8 million units—around 13 per cent of its peak—in its ninth fiscal year, when the Wii had all but died off. Software sales are even stronger, with nearly 137 million games sold last fiscal year, roughly 58 per cent of the peak. Historically Nintendo consoles linger one to four years after a successor arrives, but the Switch 2's rapid start of nearly 20 million units suggests strong demand to upgrade, making the original's remaining lifespan hard to predict.