Summary
TheNintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tourhasn’t been without its controversies. Gamers were astonished to find outthe glorified tech demo wouldn’t be a free pack-in titlefollowing April’s Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, evendrawing ire from former Nintendo of America presidentReggie Fils-Aime. It was also later confirmed thatyou’d need to spend hundreds on accessories and a 4K TVto be able to complete 100 percent of the game.
It seems that the gaming world’s shock has been reflected in Welcome Tour’s reviews, too. It’s now one of the three worst-reviewed games of the year so far and Nintendo’s worst for almost ten years.
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour’s Metacritic Score Is One Of 2025’s Worst
Ofthe 172 gamesreleased so far in 2025 that have received more than seven critic reviews on Metacritic, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is ranked 170th. It currently has anaverage review score of 52, from 24 different critic reviews.
OnlyCaptain Blood, a “pirate-themed action game where you play as a fearsome pirate”, andAmbulance Life: A Paramedic Simulatorhave scored lower, earning an average of 50 and 44, respectively.
A score as low as 52 from a Nintendo game is a once-in-a-decade scenario, and you have to goall the way back to 2015 and the Wii Uto find the last time Nintendo dropped the ball this hard. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, a Mario Party-style title that launched on June 29, 2025,scored a lowly 46from 20 critic reviews. This means that for the whole lifespan of the Nintendo Switch, the company didn’t put out a game that was as badly received as Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour.
Interestingly, the game has a worse user score, sitting at 3.5/10 on the review aggregation website.
In very simple terms, I have no idea who would buy this, or who should.
Ahead of its launch last week,we previewed Welcome Tourand expressed our concerns about its full release. “In very simple terms, I have no idea who would buy this or who should. I know video game manufacturing is more expensive than ever, but life is also extremely expensive,” said Editor-In-Chief Stacey Henley. It seems like these concerns were valid now that the game is out in the wild.
IGN’sreview, which scored the game a 5/10, said, “It’s not worth your money, and, even if it were the free pack-in game it feels like it was always meant to be, it would only barely be worth your time. " Our sister site Game Rant felt similarly. In its 3/10 review,it said, “Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is not an enjoyable experience in the least, but it does have a few redeeming qualities.”
While Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a bit of a flop, the same can’t be said for Mario Kart World, or theSwitch 2as a whole.Mario Kart Worldcurrently sits at an 87 on Metacritic, scoring a4/5 from us at TheGamer, putting it just inside Metacritic’stop ten for the year, and it was just confirmed that the Nintendo Switch 2 isthe fastest-selling home console of all time.
