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

C

CaviarMeths

Member
OrangeGrayBlue said:
Isn't that how it went worldwide? I feel like 2011 and 2012 were very slow for the Wii.
Click to expand...

The Wii entered its 6th year on market in 2011. The other two consoles would have died by then too, but the 360 had Kinect and the PS3 had very strong late gen software support and a ton of cheap collections and bundles for late adopters. The Wii died because Nintendo had shifted most of their development teams to 3DS and Wii U by then.

No, it had a period of about 4-5 years of extraordinarily strong sales. Its reputation as a flash in the pan is pretty revisionist.
 
1

13ruce

Banned
Jaded Alyx said:
Correction, 5000 people lined up for a CHANCE TO WIN A LOTTERY to buy a Switch.
Click to expand...

Pretty insane tbh.
How much are there available to win? A few hundred or thousand? Still pretty crazy tho a 5k lineup for a lottery to buy a product.

Switch is obviously pretty big in Japan.
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
OrangeGrayBlue said:
Ah, ok. I remember following the sales threads around that time but didn't recall when it slowed down for the Wii. If anyone has a chart handy I'd appreciate taking a look. I'm curious to see how the Switch is faring in comparison so far.
Click to expand...

We need an updated version of this:
q8bv2st.png


EDIT: Better/clearer:

HGS01NV.png
 
ranmafan

ranmafan

Member
Exile20 said:
This is pretty insane. Did Nintendo hit another Wii success?
Click to expand...

I think it's much much much bigger. You could easily get a wii in japan just a few months after its launch. Switch is impossible to get without insane luck and it's been out far longer than wii was when it was easy to get. It's been that way lately with a lot of hot products. Psvr has been the same way as well but that seems to finally getting easier to find (you can actually buy that in stores now in my area finally after months and months of lotteries for it). Switch on the other hand I've only seen once in a store and it's been nothing but lotteries ever since. At this pace I don't expect things to change until next year.
 
S

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
ranmafan said:
I think it's much much much bigger. You could easily get a wii in japan just a few months after its launch. Switch it's basically impossible and it's been far longer than that was. It's been that way lately with a lot of hot products. Psvr has been the same way as well but that seems to finally getting easier to find (you can actually buy that in stores now in my area finally after months and months of lotteries for it). Switch on the other hand I've only seen once in a store and it's been nothing but lotteries ever since. At this pace I don't expect things to change until next year.
Click to expand...

Wii supply was a lot better though. That said, IIRC Wii hit a pretty big wall in early September and demand finally waned.
 
D

Dreamwriter

Member
A 1 in 10 chance to buy one doesn’t sound that bad to me, and you get to have fun in line with other fellow gamers while you wait. Amazing that those stores each got 500 Switches in stock - I wonder if they had been stockpiling them.
 
N

Neonep

Member
Dreamwriter said:
A 1 in 10 chance to buy one doesn't sound that bad to me, and you get to have fun in line with other fellow gamers while you wait. Amazing that those stores each got 500 Switches in stock - I wonder if they had been stockpiling them.
Click to expand...

That's actually quite horrible. 1 out of every 10 people get one, that's trash. 90% of the people are wasting their time. Waiting in line for how ever long and your reward is disappointment.
 
ranmafan

ranmafan

Member
schuelma said:
Wii supply was a lot better though. That said, IIRC Wii hit a pretty big wall in early September and demand finally waned.
Click to expand...

Yeah wii was in much better supply. I walked into a store in Japan in February after its launch and had no issues picking one up. That was only like three months after launch. This is far different and it's frustrating people. Starting to see tv stories about people being frustrated at the lotteries and being ripped off by people on auction sites and Line. Considering how many people got angry at Sony over the psvr supply issues here, I can image how much worse Nintendo is feeling the frustration from customers
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
Dreamwriter said:
A 1 in 10 chance to buy one doesn’t sound that bad to me, and you get to have fun in line with other fellow gamers while you wait. Amazing that those stores each got 500 Switches in stock - I wonder if they had been stockpiling them.
Click to expand...
More like be jealous of your fellow gamers. If I need to win a raffle to buy one I ain't gonna make any friends.
 
M

meppi

Member
Prototype Viktor said:
Sony should be out there giving away free Vita's
Click to expand...

That's a pretty good idea. They are hardly selling anymore anyway.

Code: 
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System |  This Week |  Last Week |  Last Year |     YTD    |  Last YTD  |     LTD     |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| 3DS # |    126.790 |     28.831 |     25.259 |  1.099.969 |    778.013 |  23.011.382 |
|  NSW  |    105.697 |    102.581 |            |  1.310.784 |            |   1.310.784 |
| PS4 # |     93.954 |     27.530 |     21.030 |  1.084.963 |    822.984 |   5.006.579 |
| PSV # |      4.364 |      4.417 |     11.340 |    283.156 |    588.842 |   5.530.575 |
|  WIU  |        207 |        214 |      6.048 |     19.925 |    258.034 |   3.299.663 |
|  PS3  |        103 |        142 |        713 |     15.461 |     36.977 |  10.273.180 |
| XB1 # |         83 |        102 |         39 |      5.463 |      3.486 |      78.411 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  ALL  |    331.198 |    163.817 |     64.429 |  3.819.721 |  2.488.336 |  48.510.574 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| XB1 S |         83 |        102 |            |        681 |            |       6.409 |
|PS4 Pro|      9.381 |      6.303 |            |    191.685 |            |     308.735 |
|  PS4  |     84.573 |     21.227 |     21.030 |    893.278 |    822.984 |   4.697.844 |
|  PSV  |      4.364 |      4.417 |     11.340 |    283.156 |    588.842 |   5.530.575 |
|n-2DSLL|     98.611 |     17.281 |            |    152.752 |            |     152.752 |
|  2DS  |      2.980 |      1.922 |            |    226.579 |            |     523.726 |
| n-3DS |     25.199 |      9.628 |     24.603 |    720.638 |    732.476 |   5.414.627 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
 
B

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
MrCarter said:
Nintendo need to hurry their ass up with production. It's only a matter of time before people grow tired of waiting for a product and move onto something else. Especially in this day and age where completion is very high.
Click to expand...

Citation needed.

This isnt some fad of the month which people will get over. Its a product with a 5 year lifecycle. Demand will only increase as more games release and more people see it in public. It took me almost a month to find a Switch and that only made me want it more.
 
S

ScaryShark

Banned
Bronetta said:
Citation needed.

This isnt some fad of the month which people will get over. Its a product with a 5 year lifecycle. Demand will only increase as more games release and more people see it in public. It took me almost a month to find a Switch and that only made me want it more.
Click to expand...
Eh, this was quickly becoming the case for me. It was kind of easy to wait when there wasn't much else going on but when it becomes the fall and there are massive games dropping, that aren't on the Switch, it's going to become that much easier for people not to care about searching for one.

I don't think it would make any discernible impact on Nintendo but those people do exist. Those dollars could very easily move from Nintendo to other platforms this holiday.
 
V

Vinnk

Member
ScaryShark said:
Eh, this was quickly becoming the case for me. It was kind of easy to wait when there wasn't much else going on but when it becomes the fall and there are massive games dropping, that aren't on the Switch, it's going to become that much easier for people not to care about searching for one.

I don't think it would make any discernible impact on Nintendo but those people do exist. Those dollars could very easily move from Nintendo to other platforms this holiday.
Click to expand...

Unless one of those massive games is Splatoon I think people in Japan will continue lining up for the Switch. If you don't live here in Japan you might not realize how big this game is here. Is is on the level of cultural phenomenon.
 
E

Earthbound64

Banned
Here's an clearer version of the "Nintendo Wii has shipped more consoles than any other near-launch home console ever" graph:

HGS01NV.png


So, yeah, someone plot the Switch onto that.


Vinnk said:
Unless one of those massive games is Splatoon I think people in Japan will continue lining up for the Switch. If you don't live here in Japan you might not realize how big this game is here. Is is on the level of cultural phenomenon.
Click to expand...

We need a return of Vinnk's Village.
 
R

Renekton

Member
CaviarMeths said:
The Wii entered its 6th year on market in 2011. The other two consoles would have died by then too, but the 360 had Kinect and the PS3 had very strong late gen software support and a ton of cheap collections and bundles for late adopters. The Wii died because Nintendo had shifted most of their development teams to 3DS and Wii U by then.

No, it had a period of about 4-5 years of extraordinarily strong sales. Its reputation as a flash in the pan is pretty revisionist.
Click to expand...
Might as well address another accusation while you are at it, was the attach ratio as bad as people said?
 
ranmafan

ranmafan

Member
Vinnk said:
Unless one of those massive games is Splatoon I think people in Japan will continue lining up for the Switch. If you don't live here in Japan you might not realize how big this game is here. Is is on the level of cultural phenomenon.
Click to expand...

This completely. Kids especially are so into Splatoon and all they want right now is that and a Switch. Combine that with the fact that it's summer vacation time here and you can see why so many people are lining up for one. And it's not going to stop. At least Nintendo has gotten stock out there every week but it's just not going to be enough for a very long time. It's sucks for everyone that wants a switch. For me it's a big reason why im waiting as I don't want to go through the hassle for one right now. Getting one next year will be better. Plus thankfully dragon quest is out now on other systems which is making a lot of Japanese gamers happy like me, and making the wait for switch a little easier
 
C

Crowh

Neo Member
To think that here (Chile) you can find switches pretty much everywhere in every format lol quite funny the diference.
 
S

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
ranmafan said:
This completely. Kids especially are so into Splatoon and all they want right now is that and a Switch. Combine that with the fact that it's summer vacation time here and you can see why so many people are lining up for one. And it's not going to stop. At least Nintendo has gotten stock out there every week but it's just not going to be enough for a very long time. It's sucks for everyone that wants a switch. For me it's a big reason why im waiting as I don't want to go through the hassle for one right now. Getting one next year will be better. Plus thankfully dragon quest is out which is making a lot of Japanese gamers happy like me, and making the wait for switch a little easier
Click to expand...

One question I have is what do those kids do next- just play Splatoon forever or buy Monster Hunter or Mario?
 
ranmafan

ranmafan

Member
schuelma said:
One question I have is what do those kids do next- just play Splatoon forever or buy Monster Hunter or Mario?
Click to expand...

Many want to play Zelda, and yes Mario too. Don't forget Mario Kart 8 is a big hit too. And sure many older gamers will probably pick up monster hunter as well. And whenever dragon quest comes out for it that will be huge too considering it's prestige here in Japan.

But yeah even without those splatoon is really a phenomenon I haven't seen the likes of in Japan in video games in quite a while. Kids are very excited about it unlike any other game, as well as with older players. It's hard to go anywhere and not see the characters. For example while the local convenience stores have already taken down most of their dragon quest banners and such, the splatoon ones are still up. Even one 7/11 was saleing splatoon amiibo which was a shock. It's the big thing here now and as we have seen this year with big things, there going to be lines and lotteries. And it really sucks, I hate these lotteries. Makes it a pain for everyone involved. I know personally from my trying to get a psvr back in January. And I ain't going through that again with switch. Hopefully Nintendo gets things in order sooner than later.
 
SinCityAssassin

SinCityAssassin

Member
ScaryShark said:
Eh, this was quickly becoming the case for me. It was kind of easy to wait when there wasn't much else going on but when it becomes the fall and there are massive games dropping, that aren't on the Switch, it's going to become that much easier for people not to care about searching for one.

I don't think it would make any discernible impact on Nintendo but those people do exist. Those dollars could very easily move from Nintendo to other platforms this holiday.
Click to expand...

The thing here is that this is a very reasonable problem that does need to be addressed in a worldwide scenario in a situation where Nintendo is absolutely doing nothing to fix the situation (they already said they are doing something). But that's not Japan. Many of these big end of the year games do not really EXIST in time for Japan's winter season. But Splatoon does, Mario does, Xenoblade likely does. Dragon Quest XI is a maybe whenever we hear more about that port. And people's interest won't let up on that.

ARMS can join too if it's wants, it's fine.
 
V

Vinnk

Member
ranmafan said:
Many want to play Zelda, and yes Mario too. Don't forget Mario Kart 8 is a big hit too. And sure many older gamers will probably pick up monster hunter as well. And whenever dragon quest comes out for it that will be huge too considering it's prestige here in Japan.

But yeah even without those splatoon is really a phenomenon I haven't seen the likes of in Japan in video games in quite a while. Kids are very excited about it unlike any other game, as well as with older players. It's hard to go anywhere and not see the characters. For example while the local convenience stores have already taken down most of their dragon quest banners and such, the splatoon ones are still up. Even one 7/11 was saleing splatoon amiibo which was a shock. It's the big thing here now and as we have seen this year with big things, there going to be lines and lotteries. And it really sucks, I hate these lotteries. Makes it a pain for everyone involved. I know personally from my trying to get a psvr back in January. And I ain't going through that again with switch. Hopefully Nintendo gets things in order sooner than later.
Click to expand...

Agree. I will also add that when there is a physical copy of Minecraft available that will do very well (the download version is topping the charts but in general Japan is not on board with digital as much as the US/PAL).

I also agree with the ubiquitousness of Splatoon stuff. Toy stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, stationary shops, etc. Spalatoon is everywhere.

One example. There a s soft drink called Mets. It is a carbonated grapefruit juice. And they have Splatoon branded bottles. 5 different designs that link together. [I could try to post a photo if there is interest]. Anyway, at several stores I have gone to this week, Mets soda is sold out. I have never seen a soda sell out before (other than in vending machines). I didn't think it was even possible for the soda to sell out with how much back stock stores usually have.
 
V

Vilix

Unconfirmed Member
Vinnk said:
Agree. I will also add that when there is a physical copy of Minecraft available that will do very well (the download version is topping the charts but in general Japan is not on board with digital as much as the US/PAL).

I also agree with the ubiquitousness of Splatoon stuff. Toy stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, stationary shops, etc. Spalatoon is everywhere.

One example. There a s soft drink called Mets. It is a carbonated grapefruit juice. And they have Splatoon branded bottles. 5 different designs that link together. [I could try to post a photo if there is interest]. Anyway, at several stores I have gone to this week, Mets soda is sold out. I have never seen a soda sell out before (other than in vending machines). I didn't think it was even possible for the soda to sell out with how much back stock stores usually have.
Click to expand...

Splatoon-2-Kirin-Mets-Grapefruit.jpg


Cool.
 
D

Drain You

Member
Vilix said:
Splatoon-2-Kirin-Mets-Grapefruit.jpg


Cool.
Click to expand...

Thats actually really cool.

As someone else echoed, yea it sucks that only 10% of people in line got a Switch, but I bet they had some fun waiting in line as crazy as that sounds. I only waited in line overnight for the 360 and even though it rained and it was cold and miserable I still had a lot of fun. Plus I got a free leather recliner out of it.
 
T

tesqui

Member
This makes me happy that console gaming seems to be getting real big again in Japan. Although there probably buying it more for the portable factor. Still console AAA level games in a handheld form.
 
ranmafan

ranmafan

Member
Drain You said:
Thats actually really cool.

As someone else echoed, yea it sucks that only 10% of people in line got a Switch, but I bet they had some fun waiting in line as crazy as that sounds. I only waited in line overnight for the 360 and even though it rained and it was cold and miserable I still had a lot of fun. Plus I got a free leather recliner out of it.
Click to expand...

I wish it were fun. Right now its insanely hot as all Japanese summers tend to be, so waiting in line would be a pain. Also at least in my area you never even are given a clue when to go and wait. Its like almost you have to have a sixth sense just to know when the lotteries are. Still hopefully Nintendo can do something soon. Last time it was this bad for them stock wise I can remember here was the DS lite days
 
C

Colonel Mustard

Banned
I was told that the Switch had 'peaked' last month and we wouldn't be seeing lineups like this after last month and the launch of Splatoon.

I told that person they were insane and that Splatoon hype + smaller releases + Mario would only make these lines stay. Look who was right.
 
D.Lo

D.Lo

Member
Renekton said:
Might as well address another accusation while you are at it, was the attach ratio as bad as people said?
Click to expand...
If anyone said the Wii had a bad tie ratio (attach rate is a term for a single game, not games per console) they were lying.

Wii sold almost a billion games.
 
dano1

dano1

A Sheep
Colonel Mustard said:
I was told that the Switch had 'peaked' last month and we wouldn't be seeing lineups like this after last month and the launch of Splatoon.

I told that person they were insane and that Splatoon hype + smaller releases + Mario would only make these lines stay. Look who was right.
Click to expand...

You won't see a line like that in the USA.
 
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