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Kotaku: Japan's Nintendo Switch Lines Are Hell

Last I checked there still seems to be a lot of stock in Australia.

Don't think Nintendo has much hold here. Come for a holiday and pick up a Switch
(and a spider bite)
on the way.

People could buy a Switch locally from a scalper for less than a Switch costs in Australia.
 

requiem02

Banned
Nintendo need to work on their stock distribution. The Switch is readily available in Australia. As one of their weakest markets a lot of our stock should be in Japan right now.
 
i keep peddling hard the switch to my family, the first one i got for myself i admit someone made me an offer i couldnt refuse and sold it for a profit but my second one went to my bro, third one to my cousin, if i get a fourth one that one will probably go to my nephew because my dad wanted to gift him one

almost a perfect console
 
I've seen them here at a WalMart consistently whenever I come here in NorCal. I live in a smaller city though (approx 15k ppl) so it might just be that people who bought one here already have one.
 

jts

...hate me...
I feel like some titles will, secretly or not, slide their release date until the Switch stock situation is sorted. Alliteration unintended.
 

zelas

Member
And you think they haven't done this? You do realize different regions get drastically different stock allocations, right?

No, I dont think they've done this because when I say limited I'm saying limiting sales to specific regions only. Either Japan or US alone first. Then some EU markets a much later date. Like they've already done with other successful launches. There is no benefit to under shipping everyone.
 

Maximo

Member
Can walk into any store here in Australia and buy one, sucks for those having to look at bloody websites refreshing all the time in this case que up all day/week.
 
350 units for 3000 people? In your native market?! Get your shit together Nintendo.

But then again people can spin this as "Watch how the Switch has people turn into crazed Zombies!" Well you are gonna get lines when you can't provide your product.
 

Dremorak

Banned
People could buy a Switch locally from a scalper for less than a Switch costs in Australia.

Yeah, Aus is boned on the price and here in NZ is even worse. We still have stock on the shelves, but the price is only 73usd less than the price of a ps4 pro (which is 475usd). Its nuts.
 

Oregano

Member
350 units for 3000 people? In your native market?! Get your shit together Nintendo.

But then again people can spin this as "Watch how the Switch has people turn into crazed Zombies!" Well you are gonna get lines when you can't provide your product.

This post is more embarrassing than Nintendo's inability to provide enough stock.

Even with massive shortages the Switch is leaving everything from the 2010s not named 3DS in its dust launch aligned.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
So glad I got that preorder in


cnLiOny.jpg
 

ngower

Member
350 units for 3000 people? In your native market?! Get your shit together Nintendo.

But then again people can spin this as "Watch how the Switch has people turn into crazed Zombies!" Well you are gonna get lines when you can't provide your product.

My local Gamestop only had 40 on launch day in a town just south of one of the larger cities in the Southeastern US. 350 is quite a large supply for one store's shipment.
 
How do these people even get the time to queue, don't they work practically every day?

Switch is sold on saturdays, even if in Japan the concept of working week is different from the west.

I lined up last week in the Bic Camera store near my home, they make a lottery cause the demand is quite above the units available; I think around 150 people got the tickets and only twenty units were available.

Next Saturday will be insane
 
350 units for 3000 people? In your native market?! Get your shit together Nintendo.

But then again people can spin this as "Watch how the Switch has people turn into crazed Zombies!" Well you are gonna get lines when you can't provide your product.

This post is embarrassing.
 

KtSlime

Member
We actually have work week system where certain industries have certain days of the week off, however most salarymen work Monday-Saturday. Monday was a national holiday so pretty much all full time employees and students got the day off.

Muppets. Just backorder one on Amazon and then wait.

You can't backorder on Amazon (nor Bic/Yodobashi/Joshin/etc) in Japan...
 
http://www.istocknow.com/live/#devi...on=37.661913730236, -92.02563329302598&zoom=4

Its unfortunately walmarts and targets and they do disappear sometimes after a bit but I have had friends in Dallas and Minnesota tell me there are still switches for sale in some targets in those areas. You may be able to use brickseek to pinpoint it, if you know the Switch SKUs, but the two stores are really finicky when it comes to inventory of an item when it drops below 3 available iirc. Like 0-3 is all equivalent to 0.

I'm in Dallas. Switch availability in Dallas is not well tracked by iStockNow. Every single time it said something was in stock near me, the damn thing was sold out almost as soon as they got the their stock in. The Walmart and targets I tried said they update inventory at around midnight. Thus far, I've yet to see a Switch in the wild at any Best Buy, Target, or Walmart in the North Dallas, Addison, Carrollton, or Richardson areas.
 

Pepboy

Member
3,000 people 😳

Some will be friends or family doing it as a favor. Each person gets 1 ticket for a receipt. So you go in large groups to increase chance of getting one.

Edit: that and scalpers, from all over Asia. Japan switch is cheapest once you factor exchange rates, and can be sold tax free if you are a foreigner.
 

Astral Dog

Member
No, I dont think they've done this because when I say limited I'm saying limiting sales to specific regions only. Either Japan or US alone first. Then some EU markets a much later date. Like they've already done with other successful launches. There is no benefit to under shipping everyone.
I thought they were competing with the big apple for components
 
I thought they were competing with the big apple for components

Everyone is always competing with Apple for components. They are real douches when it comes to buying up supply lines. It's how Apple's Cinema Displays had the best IPS Panels for like 5 years--they would overorder and overpay to completely shut competitors out of the market. They've done it with NAND and Cell Phone screens as well.
 

moving

Neo Member
I think the worst part is I’ve seen so many opportunities where a lottery wasn’t necessary to buy one. I walked into Yodobashi Camera (Akihabara) in late March and picked mine up after about five minutes queueing. Seen multiple other stores with stock too.

Guess I just lucked out?
 

ggx2ac

Member
All these people saying there's plenty of stock in Australia, how many units are we talking?

Since I was looking for data, according to this article:

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/11/nintendo-wii-sells-over-2-million-units-in-australia/

Whereas the Nintendo DS took 52 months to hit 2 million units sold, the Nintendo Wii took five months less – hitting the same target in 47 months.

All it tells me is that Australia is an extremely small market compared to Japan.

The Wii took almost 4 years to sell 2 million units there.

If I remember correctly, the Wii sold 10 million units LTD in Japan. (And this is without mentioning the 30 million DS units sold LTD in Japan.)

Switch has already sold 1 million units in Japan in 4 months without any end of year holidays.

I really doubt diverting any Switch stock from Australia to Japan would significantly help in anyway.
 

KtSlime

Member
Its the price and lack of advertising

Advertising I will give you, however price shouldn't be a problem. I never understood this argument.

Hours of work at minimum wage for Switch VAT/consumption tax included:
Au: 26.5
Jp: 39.25
US:NY 33.5
US:GA 62.1 (Damn, must suck to work in Georgia)
 
Why don't Japanese people just import one from overseas? Pretty sure there's plenty in Australia.

If Nintendo could somehow divert all Australian stock to Japan, it'd probably be sold out within a week. It's actually smart to just leave the units there, so they don't have to worry about resupplying that market anytime soon.
 
I think the worst part is I’ve seen so many opportunities where a lottery wasn’t necessary to buy one. I walked into Yodobashi Camera (Akihabara) in late March and picked mine up after about five minutes queueing. Seen multiple other stores with stock too.

Guess I just lucked out?

Late March was one of the bigger resupplies in Japan since launch. There was extra stock the week of the first Splatoon Testfire.
 

Trace

Banned
I bought one off craigslist for less than retail that had only been used for like 60 hours. Lots of people that were selling off the Switch after playing Zelda here.
 

remz

Member
Switch stock isn't that overflowing in Australia- although they are readily available (bought one on sunday for Splatoon) most (city) places are pretty low on both hard copy games and consoles, and we had to go to a few stores to get one!
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Why don't Japanese people just import one from overseas? Pretty sure there's plenty in Australia.

Expensive as fuck and the average person isnt going to spend the time figuring out if voltage etc works.

And to all those saying why dont people order online. Most of the time online stock goes up its the reseller assholes grabbing them up due to not having a job and pressing F5 all day.

Whats stupid too is that resellers are not making that much profit off of the systems. Generally around 100-200 profit. Not all that much honestly as you know most of these jackasses are not able to secure a huge amount of systems to sit on due to the low stock to begin with.
 

Jimrpg

Member
If Nintendo could somehow divert all Australian stock to Japan, it'd probably be sold out within a week. It's actually smart to just leave the units there, so they don't have to worry about resupplying that market anytime soon.

I'm talking about individually. Japanese people could just go to eBay.com.au and buy one probably.
 
I'm talking about individually. Japanese people could just go to eBay.com.au and buy one probably.

Well yeah, but it wouldn't take long for that to drain most stock in the region. Australia is a very small market. Also, I'm pretty sure Switch is a lot more expensive there. Though I'm sure some Japanese consumers are already doing this if they're desperate.
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
And yet they're continually lining up even three months after launch, for a lottery? If they want one that bad they could try other ways.

Did common sense not tell you that people are lining up because there are no other ways for them to obtain one.

Well yeah, but it wouldn't take long for that to drain most stock in the region. Australia is a very small market. Also, I'm pretty sure Switch is a lot more expensive there.

Its about 100 USD more than how much it is in Japan if you convert the 450 AUD to JPY
 

KtSlime

Member
I'm talking about individually. Japanese people could just go to eBay.com.au and buy one probably.

It's cheaper to buy from retailers/scalpers at inflated prices than import from Australia, and you don't have to deal with power converters.

It's annoying, but not much of a hassle to spend your Saturday checking to see if you won a Switch, many families go out shopping on the weekend anyway.
 

ggx2ac

Member
I'm talking about individually. Japanese people could just go to eBay.com.au and buy one probably.

Going by currency exchange rates, it would be much cheaper buying a new Switch in Japan than Australia and that's not including the shipping costs you'd have to add on top of it.
 

Jimrpg

Member
Well I'm just saying what I would do if there were no switches where I live. I wouldn't personally pay extra, but it's an option for people who don't mind.
 

pirata

Member
I wouldn't be surprised if they're starting to hold back some stock for October with the release of Mario Odyssey and the start of the holiday shopping season. It's going to be brutal. A Switch with a copy of Mario and Zelda is going to be a very popular item on wish lists.
 

ggx2ac

Member
Well I'm just saying what I would do if there were no switches where I live. I wouldn't personally pay extra, but it's an option for people who don't mind.

You also didn't factor that in the three to four weeks on average that something takes to ship internationally, there would be a good chance you could buy a Switch in Japan using methods other than relying on lotteries since we know from sales data there was always consistent shipments happening each week.
 
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