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As Japanese Switch supply shrinks, consumers form long lines for retail "lotteries"
- Thread starter Cerium
- Start date
That's unfortunate to hear. Sony needs to increase the supply. I dont understand why both Nintendo and Sony aren't providing enough stock for Japan.
Jim_Cacher
Member
Maybe I should get some time to start asking around to get the shipping cost to Japan lol
People say this, but this only has two consequences: New Zealand suddenly becomes supply constrained because the units were taken away, and Japan is hardly any less constrained since the demand is much larger than the NZ surplus.
I'm sure the 10k Switches New Zealand has are enough to cover japanese demand for a day.
Neff
Member
I seem to remember a quote from Koizumi saying that Super Mario Odyssey is essentially finished.
Judging by other posts in Nintendo threads from a variety of posters that pull the exact same bullshit? It's a little of both, most likely.
By conspiracy theories you mean ignorant assumptions, right?
Is this the second Media Creates thread?
ds is the third pillar
portable: switch
console: docked
third pillar: 3ds
learn the lore bro
Reallink
Member
My guess is it's more a matter of not wanting to pay other manufacturers/suppliers more than they're paying their current contractors, in addition to not wanting to risk getting stuck with excess inventory should demand quickly dry out. Nintendo are frugal as fuck, so in that respect, you could argue it's intentional, or rather self inflicted.
maniac-kun
Member
Wow never expected the demand to be this big 
Jon Carter
Member
It was tracking behind Wii U in Japan until recently, but only because the Wii U launched during the holidays and wasn't supply-constrained past the first two weeks. It's now only behind 3DS, but is selling more every week than all the previous systems launched this decade at the same point in their lifecycles, including 3DS. The real fight starts this summer when the 3DS dropped in price and the Switch gets Splatoon 2 and Monster Hunter XX HD.
SinCityAssassin
Member
It's not, the component in particular of high demand is Toshiba's NAND flash memory unit. It's not exactly something you want to switch manufacturers for at this point in time. And you can't fucking outbid Google and Apple.
Of course they don't wanna drive the production cost above the retail price... They aren't in the business to lose money. Not driving you production costs high to satisfy demand isn't the same as intentionally holding back stock. People act like Nintendo is sitting on 5m Switches in their warehouses but refuses to ship them be a use 'teh hype'...
When feelings win the battle over facts...
SinCityAssassin
Member
Yeah, by January Mario Odyssey had finished much of its main development stages. Additional polish, QA testing and probably music were the only things left and they wanted a lot of time on that.
TalentAlwaysWins
Banned
A lottery 2-3 months in is not a good thing especially for something replacing both a handheld and a console for years to come imo. With Splatoon being popular in Japan that would only hurt it I think if they don't get any out by then
EDIT: they're battling for parts against Apple makes sense now. Wow that's not good for them. This explains the mini getting discontinued.
Let me correct you there.
Nintendo have been using both Toshiba and Samsung since Switch launch for eMMC.
The point is that there are so many devices that use NAND flash memory (Smartphones, Tablets, Database servers) that the costs for manufacturing rise because of demand being higher than supply that Nintendo would have to pay a higher cost to get to the front of the line or stay at the same cost and wait their turn.
What source says that it replaces both the Wii U and the 3DS?
What current source do you have for this?
Nintendo is not launching a new 2DS XL in July?
https://www.nintendo.com/2ds/new-nintendo-2ds/
Also, where is your source saying that the 3DS and 3DS XL has stopped being manufactured?
SinCityAssassin
Member
I didn't add Samsung because it was already announced Apple would be their biggest customer this year.
Chinbo37
Member
I know it's not the same thing exactly but what about the nes classic mini.
If I was a shareholder I would damn well want to know why these things aren't being made still.
EatinOlives
Member
Crazy stuff. I wouldn't have imagined that it's even harder to get one there than it is in the US.
SinCityAssassin
Member
Because it was initially only a holiday item and they stand to make more money on lifetime sales on virtual console games than one time sales of 30 games.
neohwa
Junior Member
Agreed. I wonder how long Nintendo can keep this up making everyone unhappy? A lottery for buying your stuff is absurd. There is no product in this world harder to buy than Nintendo's.
The fact that they discontinued it while demand was still high is proof that the shortages were never artificial. The artificial shortage theory rests on the assumption that after "creating" demand you eventually meet it.
TalentAlwaysWins
Banned
I mean we did it for the Wii but they should've anticipated this? Idk however now I'm seeing they're battling for parts so it's kind of out of their hands cause Apple has their hands in the jar rn
SinCityAssassin
Member
That said, in spite of the shortages in components, any sort of increase in manufacturing would basically take effect on the stock amount into June.
After the Wii U? Even if the President wanted Wii-like numbers, I don't think the company as a whole expected this much demand in such a short time. Hell, most of this forum didn't expect it either.
After the Wii U? Even if the President wanted Wii-like numbers, I don't think the company as a whole expected this much demand in such a short time. Hell, most of this forum didn't expect it either.
For the Splatoon 2 launch I would do whatever it takes to flood Japan with Switches, even if it means diverting supply from other regions.
Reallink
Member
It's a standard 32GB eMCC isn't it? There must be a half dozen to a dozen different manufacturers producing them with nearly identical specs.
Consoles are about losing money on the front end to build a user/customer base, which lures third parties, who pay Nintendo royalties and eShop fees for every software unit sold.
TalentAlwaysWins
Banned
After Pokémon Go and Mini consoles which helped with promoting their overall brand and anticipation for Switch they should've I think. Them being conservative makes sense though considering the U
Yeah their catalog going through Splatoon, Arms, and Monster Hunter screams that they want to make Switch the local multiplayer portable of Japan's dreams within its first year. They need to stock the device to have the impact of that software and what it could mean for third party support.
SolicitorPirate
Member
It's a debate in the same way climate change is a debate
Grim Patron
Member
Yea I agree. Splatoon 2 could push this to triple launch sales.
Samanosuke Akechi
Member
xochipiltontli
Member
Wow, Splatoon 2 is going to destroy Japan.
RandomExpletive
Member
I wonder if Nintendo will eventually eat some profits to push more of these out. I can't imagine these parts shortages will get any better with the holidays.
How do you even solve a problem like this?
How do you even solve a problem like this?
Yup. Same in Germany.
Thanks.You linked a wrong url. This is the correct.
Samanosuke Akechi
Member
No, never been the case for Nintendo and wont be the case on Switch.
Their financial forecast isnt based on them increasing the production costs for the system every 2 weeks because of demand.
No one does this....if every first party was willing to pay ANY price for the console production so there are no shortages, we never would have had shortages...crazy to expect Nintendo to do it lol.
I had to line up for my Wii at like 5 am the summer after it was released
Tyraniboah
Member
Nobody anticipated this. The Wii U flopped and the 3DS took about a year to get traction. The moment the hybrid rumor started floating around people were predicting a swift death. Remember when Nintendo shares dropped after the Switch reveal? Even after we knew what the system was and that Zelda would launch with it, people still thought it was going to fail. I don't even think anybody at Nintendo was sure that Zelda would be a hit. Think about it. A hybrid system launching with a port of one of Nintendo's biggest franchises that broke most of the tropes it was known for. Why would anybody there have anticipated a worldwide scarcity?
On another note, these artificial shortage conspiracies need to stop. Nintendo is not sitting on stock of a console in high demand to "create hype". The hype is clearly here and people still can't find one easily in most places. Do any of you know how ridiculous you sound?