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5,000 people line up to grab a switch in japan

Zedark

Member
I think that was the key everywhere.

Most tech devices are moving towards portability. The hybrid nature of the Switch probably fills in a huge need/want in the gaming market.
Yup, this and of course Splatoon, Mario Kart, Super Mario, Zelda, Pokémon and Dragon Quest all being announced/released makes for a huge demand for the system.
 

zelas

Member
Glad we don't have to deal with anything like that for a single product in America. Nintendo really shouldn't have launched in so many territories at once after realizing they could only produce so many units.
 

Terrell

Member
Nope, they're targeting families now too.

I know because I work and live here.

Agh, that sounds unfortunate.

While I agree with you about the situation Nintendo is in and that they will eventually iron out the supply issues and all, the big problem that's really causing lots of the frustration lately in Japan with the switch situation as well as other recent launches, psvr most visibly, has been that a large amount of systems are going not to regular people who want these items but those just to put them on yahoo auctions and such. There's a well known issue of people being paid in line by scalpers just so they can get their hands on numerous ones just to scalp. And many have stated the yakuza are a part of it. There's also been issues with how these lotteries have been taking place with some stories showing some rather strange mistakes being made.

Many have suggested that Japanese stores and companies stop doing these lotteries and find a bettter way of handling it but so far there is no real good answer. And there will indeed be people that get fed up over it. Many did with psvr earlier this year, which is a shame for Sony as psvr is a very in demand product here and even now it's still hard to find and people are angry. The anger over that situation was quite large online then and now, and I expect it will happen to Nintendo too if this lasts well into the year. The one good thing however is that units are getting out there. But when you have to wait in line just for a lottery, it's just very frustrating for many people. Especially when they just released a sequel for it to one of the biggest gaming phenomenons in Japan this past decade. So many people want to play and most can't at all.

The only solution I can see is retailers asking their customers to break the seal on the box, so they cannot be resold as "new" online and get the high resale value on them, but even that won't stop some of them.

Once Apple gets their iPhone launch stockpile of NAND, things should hopefully cool on the NAND supply, and Samsung will potentially have their NAND crisis settled once they balance out all the NAND they ran through due to the Note 7 exchanges weakening Samsung's smartphone supply. All that said, the rest of 2017 is probably going to be ugly.
 
I think his/her point was that you won't see 5000 people in line in North America for a CHANCE to leave with one product....and i agree, you never will.

I mean, that's still wrong.

Waiting in a line that doesn't do place numbers, and it just being "the first X people to get to Product Y get to buy it" means that people are just waiting on a chance (of them getting there first).
Hence the always-fun videos of stampedes and people being trampled and such.
 
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