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Kotaku: Japan's Nintendo Switch Lines Are Hell

T

TheLegendOfCap

Member
Nintendo should just look for the European commenters saying "Are they really that hard to find? I see X amount at my local store all the time" and cut off supply to the country they're from
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
ethomaz said:
Yeap but they knew that before launch.

It is not like they are are shipping some monstrous numbers every month... in fact they are even shipping less than consoles with very low demand (aka Wii U... of course this case was because there is no demand at all :p).
Click to expand...

No one knew for sure that demand would be this high prior to launch....just look at all the Doom and Gloom GAF threads during the January reveal... " lolol no buy at a dollar above 199" etc.

Its easy to say that they should have changed things now that we have experienced the demand after launch, but even some of Nintendos closer partners like Capcom had nothing ready for the first months...
 
F

FantasticMrFoxdie

Mumber
Its strange here in the big city. The Switch here is pretty easy to come by second-hand for the same price as retail.

edit: well I guess thats not strange considering scalpers lol
 
T

Tyraniboah

Member
Blam said:
Yeah seriously this is going to hurt the console in the long run. I seriously don't understand why Nintendo didn't pre-produce the fuck out of this before even releasing it.

They didn't have the NAND shortages before it launched.
Click to expand...

You seriously don't understand? Do we need to go through the Wii U again? Nobody in their right mind would have predicted the Switch to come out of the gate and do this well. The 3DS had a lackluster launch, the Wii U never recovered from its poor launch, and even the Switch reveal didn't go well with investors in the company. Why would they manufacture more than they think people will buy?

Remember when the Wii was this hard to find? It stayed that way for several months and even over a year in some places. Did that hurt the console? It's been a little over four months since the Switch launched. Give Nintendo some time to solve their production issues before we go all doom and gloom about how high demand actually hurts consumer electronics only a few months after launch.
 
R

Retro Edge

Member
Man, I'm so glad I've got two at launch from Amazon in Germany for me and my girlfriend and we also got a massive discount on both of them because of the Amazon price error in January.

Only if you ask about it after release and if they promised you the lower price in January. I've got 150€ back for each of them, which makes 300€.
Pretty crazy.
 
Buggy Loop

Buggy Loop

Member
Wow, Nintendo should recall all those apparent switch units sitting on shelves in Spain/Portugal/Greece/Italy and send them to Japan.

Splatoon 2 is not even out

And all those upcoming games too which will increase demand

I think tomorow if Nintendo would drop 5M units in japan, it would soak it up like a drop of water in the desert.
 
M

marvelharvey

Member
Day one Amazon scalp price was around 39,000 yen. Soon this rose to around 44,000 yen, where it stabilised for most of the spring. For July though, prices first climbed to 46,000, but suddenly on Friday the hit 50,000!

Shit is crazy and so happy I bagged one in the first 3 minutes of Amazon preorders.
 
J

JonnyKong

Member
I'm amazed by how many people in Japan are willing to put up with this.

If I lived over there and saw those queues for a raffle, I'd easily be thinking fuck that.
 
PSFan

PSFan

Member
Spirited said:
the fuck are you on dude? Do you really believe in artificial scarcity when they have so much to lose by not having the supply there?
Click to expand...

10k said:
You honestly think Nintendo would cripple their own sales on purpose to create false demand? That would wreck their bottom line. They don't make money off of demand. They make money off of supply being sold. Nintendo is the most frustrated and has the most to lose with these shortages.

There's even articles out there proving they are in a component war with Apple to get Switch's made.
Click to expand...

KHlover said:
That shady, shady tactic of "Apple is buying all the available chips we need for the Switch"
Click to expand...

phanphare said:
bahahahaha
Click to expand...

Yeah, laugh and skoff as usual. I've been buying Nintendo stuff since before the NES. I remember the Nintendo Power editiorials, whenever a new console was set to launch, would be talking about how limited the product would be at launch. It happened with SNES, N64, and GameCube.

Why do they always seem to have some sort of supply problem with all of their product launches? The NES came out over 30 years ago, you would think by now they could keep any of these supply issues under control, but they appear to be as inept as ever.

So yeah, I believe there's at least some truth to those scarcity accusations.
 
Chittagong

Chittagong

Gold Member
Zedark said:
They absolutely won't be able to fulfill demand, but demand will gradually fall as they continue to meet bits of it over the next couple of weeks: Splatoon 2 demand is highest right now, it won't be higher in later weeks. As such, I think this week is where the lines will be longest compared to supply
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
X

Xbro

Member
PSFan said:
Yeah, laugh and skoff as usual. I've been buying Nintendo stuff since before the NES. I remember the Nintendo Power editiorials, whenever a new console was set to launch, would be talking about how limited the product would be at launch. It happened with SNES, N64, and GameCube.

Why do they always seem to have some sort of supply problem with all of their product launches? The NES came out over 30 years ago, you would think by now they could keep any of these supply issues under control, but they appear to be as inept as ever.

So yeah, I believe there's at least some truth to those scarcity accusations.
Click to expand...

Did it happen with Wii U and 3DS though?
 
Renna Hazel

Renna Hazel

Member
PSFan said:
Yeah, laugh and skoff as usual. I've been buying Nintendo stuff since before the NES. I remember the Nintendo Power editiorials, whenever a new console was set to launch, would be talking about how limited the product would be at launch. It happened with SNES, N64, and GameCube.

Why do they always seem to have some sort of supply problem with all of their product launches? The NES came out over 30 years ago, you would think by now they could keep any of these supply issues under control, but they appear to be as inept as ever.

So yeah, I believe there's at least some truth to those scarcity accusations.
Click to expand...

This also happened with almost every major console release in the industry.
 
S

Spirited

Mine is pretty and pink
PSFan said:
Yeah, laugh and skoff as usual. I've been buying Nintendo stuff since before the NES. I remember the Nintendo Power editiorials, whenever a new console was set to launch, would be talking about how limited the product would be at launch. It happened with SNES, N64, and GameCube.

Why do they always seem to have some sort of supply problem with all of their product launches? The NES came out over 30 years ago, you would think by now they could keep any of these supply issues under control, but they appear to be as inept as ever.

So yeah, I believe there's at least some truth to those scarcity accusations.
Click to expand...

Damn it was soooooo hard to get all those 3DS and Wii Us. Come on dude, they didn't expect the sales after their two latest consoles having a mediocre to terrible first few months.

It's not artificial scarcity, I don't know what to say to you.
 
K

KJRS_1993

Member
I'm quite baffled to be honest.
People from the US and obviously Japan are really struggling, but in the UK they don't seem particularly hard to get hold of at all -
Anecdotally of course.

I get it's two big countries versus one relatively small one, but nonetheless..
 
Chittagong

Chittagong

Gold Member
Zedark said:
Wanna elaborate?
Click to expand...

Switch is nowhere near its peak demand a week before Splatoon. What do you think when the word gets out, people see people playing Splatoon in the tube, in restaurants...? It will be end times, that's what it'll be.

Saying Switch is now at peak demand compared to supply is like saying Wii was at peak demand compared to supply in March 2007.
 
Astral Dog

Astral Dog

Member
Blam said:
Yeah but even at the beginning of the Wii U same shit happened as well. Shortages even for that sure for not as long as the switch. But they could see how much hype was around it. Could they clearly not take a coin toss to make a shitload more for launch.



Well clearly they are already having problems with that.
Click to expand...
That takes months and don't forget they are competing with Apple for the xomponents, @pple🍎
 
A

AmFreak

Member
-MB- said:
IMHO they really should have concentrated supply to Jpan, it is their most vital market, which they need to be successful in as fast as possible.
They need to seize that momentum to the max there to cement Switch as the de facto 3DS replacement.
Click to expand...
A certain level of success in Japan was always a given.
But the fate of the Switch is decided in the rest of the world.
 
Z

Zedark

Member
thestopsign said:
Does he have to? It was an inaccurate statement. Sure some people might give up waiting in lines like this, but they will surely be there once supply is readily available.
Click to expand...
But that's what I was saying: this week (before the actual release day) is where lines are longer in comparison to the actual amount of consoles available (of course on the say itself many more units will be available, so the ratio will be smaller that day). What I am saying is that demand outpacing supply is at its highest right now, and at later points in Switch' lifetime the demand will either be lower because during that specific week no release the size of Splatoon 2 is happening or the supply has increased already. I don't see what's flat out inaccurate about that.
 
K

KHlover

Banned
PSFan said:
Yeah, laugh and skoff as usual. I've been buying Nintendo stuff since before the NES. I remember the Nintendo Power editiorials, whenever a new console was set to launch, would be talking about how limited the product would be at launch. It happened with SNES, N64, and GameCube.

Why do they always seem to have some sort of supply problem with all of their product launches? The NES came out over 30 years ago, you would think by now they could keep any of these supply issues under control, but they appear to be as inept as ever.

So yeah, I believe there's at least some truth to those scarcity accusations.
Click to expand...

PS4 was also complete unavailable to buy at retail and you had to wait way over a month if you wanted to buy one online within the first few months after launch here in Germany. Consoles being hard to get in the months following launch (if they are successful) is not some concept invented by Nintendo.
 
P

phanphare

Banned
KHlover said:
PS4 was also complete unavailable to buy at retail and you had to wait way over a month if you wanted to buy one online within the first few months after launch here in Germany. Consoles being hard to get in the months following launch (if they are successful) is not some concept invented by Nintendo.
Click to expand...

and PS4 didn't even launch in all major territories in 2013
 
K

Kieli

Member
TheLegendOfCap said:
Nintendo should just look for the European commenters saying "Are they really that hard to find? I see X amount at my local store all the time" and cut off supply to the country they're from
Click to expand...

They should also look fro Canadian commenters as well, 'cuz I can stroll into my local electronics shop and easily get a couple....
 
B

BronzeWolf

Banned
AmFreak said:
Japan is basically the only market that is it's own.
You can be successful in Japan, but not anywhere else (and vice versa).
In contrast us-americans buy the same stuff french people, germans, australians, etc. do.
Click to expand...

This is not so true. French, German and UK are completely different markets for example.
 
1

13ruce

Banned
Mass import from Europe they overstocked us:p
Only we strangely have a higher price tag in some places/countries than the supposed 299€ wich is dumb....
 
K

KratosEnergyDrink

Member
PSFan said:
Yeah, laugh and skoff as usual. I've been buying Nintendo stuff since before the NES. I remember the Nintendo Power editiorials, whenever a new console was set to launch, would be talking about how limited the product would be at launch. It happened with SNES, N64, and GameCube.

Why do they always seem to have some sort of supply problem with all of their product launches? The NES came out over 30 years ago, you would think by now they could keep any of these supply issues under control, but they appear to be as inept as ever.

So yeah, I believe there's at least some truth to those scarcity accusations.
Click to expand...

Perhaps in an alternate reality. In the real World you could always get all Nintendo systems shortly after launch easily, with the exception of the Wii and some limited 3DS editions.

That a new electronic gadget is scarce short after launch is normal, look at iPhones or other mobiles, all consoles, etc.
 
Laieon

Laieon

Member
Feels weird knowing I'm in a country where the switch isn't officially available (Korea) and yet I know where I could get one immediately without any wait.
 
1

13ruce

Banned
KratosEnergyDrink said:
If that were true, I know many people who want a Switch since march. Some of them got one, but many are still Switchless.
Click to expand...

Well not all of Europe ofcourse but here in the Netherlands you can easily order one online for example.

Edit: ah after some quick searches it's sold out again lol nvm it was available for a while. Only the splatoon bundle is. Anyway i think it depends on wich country here.
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
KJRS_1993 said:
I'm quite baffled to be honest.
People from the US and obviously Japan are really struggling, but in the UK they don't seem particularly hard to get hold of at all -
Anecdotally of course.

I get it's two big countries versus one relatively small one, but nonetheless..
Click to expand...

Why ? Japan and the US are Nintendos strongest markets while the UK in general doesnt care about Nintendo.
13ruce said:
Mass import from Europe they overstocked us:p
Only we strangely have a higher price tag in some places/countries than the supposed 299€ wich is dumb....
Click to expand...

Being able to order a system doesnt mean its overstocked. Thats the status quo how its supposed to be. I mean its July....you should have issues ordering any system.
 
SirNinja

SirNinja

Member
Nintendo seems to be perpetually unable to manufacture units to meet demand.

Good luck to those looking to get an SNES mini later this year...
 
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