Nintendo halts Switch shipments in Japan as orders surge
Console sells for twice its usual price via online vendors
asia.nikkei.com
Sorry if Old.
Last edited:
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Nintendo halts Switch shipments in Japan as orders surge
- Thread starter Sqrt
- Start date
asia.nikkei.com
Sorry if Old.
They seriously fucked up by not having more units in storage ahead of AC's release.
Edit: I appreciate how this came off, but this comment wasn't meant as "They should've anticipated this uniquely unpredictable event," but instead as "This could've been enormous for them if they had bigger reserves, but wasn't."
Edit: I appreciate how this came off, but this comment wasn't meant as "They should've anticipated this uniquely unpredictable event," but instead as "This could've been enormous for them if they had bigger reserves, but wasn't."
Won't make what worse? They don't have units left to sell. This isn't a choice.
Last edited:
They had more units in storage ahead of AC's release.
But they all sold out when AC released.
I'm pretty sure Nintendo, nor any other major game company, thought the C-Virus situation would get THIS bad.
They couldn't because their production lines were shut down from the virus.
They sold out. It's not like they can have unlimited units in storage
Yeah - it says "as", not "because", which threw me for a second too. I don't think one is a result of the other.
They sold like 600k+ units in the space of three weeks, in March.
The numbers Animal Crossing is shifting are pretty much unprecedented.
So they aren't manufacturing any right now? Do we know when this will change? Or are they beginning to get manufacturing back but need time? I was under the impression manufacturing in places like China was coming back online.
Nintendo really should be diverting units away from the US and EU and into Japan. The demand there is just off the charts.
The Covid19 pandemic probably not only heavily constrained supply due to most manufacturing shutting down, it also significantly increased demand due to people - especially young people - being stuck at home with not enough to do to occupy themselves.
Really can't blame Nintendo, or any company, for being unable to deal with this. They'd rather not feed the scalpers.
Really can't blame Nintendo, or any company, for being unable to deal with this. They'd rather not feed the scalpers.
They halted shipments in Japan, it doesn't say anything about manufacturing.
the production is increasing, but due to SHITLOADS of AC sales and previous production issues due to Covid, they are suspending the shipment in order to avoid lines/crowds/lotteries that would be dangerous in Japan right now?
Until the production will be sufficient to cover demand and/or COVID situation in japan won't be as dangerous as it is now for lines/crowds/lotteries
Did they ever end up shipping the Animal Crossing special edition consoles in Japan? Not a surprise that this is happening, I'm sure we'll hear of similar issues from the other consoles soon. It will take a long time for supply chains to get back to normal
stupid Nintendo, should've KNOWN that society would collapse
but in all seriousness, I don't think anybody expected Animal Crossing to be such an astronomical success. it's been an insane performer
You risk ruining retailer relationships if you can't deliver - or you prioritize obviously one over others... that's a problem for the organization.
Additionally, they may be trying to reserve units as best they can for a Q3-Q4 holiday push.
I wonder how feasible it would be to offset demand for hardware like this with streaming. I know the Internet infrastructure would have to be up to the task for that to be a reality, but I can't help but wonder if this sort of situation pushes streaming services into the spotlight.
They had a ton available at launch. The effects of the corona virus were already being felt too as manufacturing had already began to be limited before launch...
This sucks but based on Ltd shipments Japan is about 25% of their sales so it makes sense to serve the international markets first. Japa n also has less competition from PS4 and I assume the US bound stock are primarily made in Vietnam and they are still waiting on China stock to supply Japan
I would love for them to start manufacturing in Japan again
I would love for them to start manufacturing in Japan again
They had plenty in store; its just AC is literally breaking sales records. This sort of sellout of a system + software is unprecedented (Its selling like this was a 2nd launch) . That, combined with coronavirus, meant demand just wasn't gonna be met. Plus shutting down production like this is probably better for Japan's coronavirus defense, as the long lines associated with Switch and Animal Crossing obvious aren't compatible with social distancing.
Last edited:
You've been piled on already, but I just wanted to emphasize that nobody expected the hardware sales to be this high for this long. This is like a second launch for the Switch. We knew Animal Crossing would be huge but that boost is unprecedented.
Do you know people who wanted a Switch and AC, before COVID affected supply chain, having issue buying one?
Just to show much demand there is for Switch right now
Switch YTD Hardware Sales Comparison
It's selling more than it did at launch. There was as much inventory as they could manufacture given COVID-19.
To put in perspective the huge spike in sales Switch had in Japan along side the release of ACNH:
Switch sold during a slow month as March roughly 940K units.
That's more than what it sold in the launch month (March 2017) in US.
In the past 5 holiday weeks (December 2019) Switch sold a total of 1235K consoles in Japan that is this past March Switch has sold around 76% of what it did during the previous Christmas period.
Switch sold during a slow month as March roughly 940K units.
That's more than what it sold in the launch month (March 2017) in US.
In the past 5 holiday weeks (December 2019) Switch sold a total of 1235K consoles in Japan that is this past March Switch has sold around 76% of what it did during the previous Christmas period.
Last edited:
They likely did have plans at least, which had to be drastically changed as production lines in China were halted because of the pandemic. They couldn't have predicted the lockdown far enough in advance to increase production even further, and yet they still managed to have enough units to sell just under a million consoles in Japan in March(!) alone so no, this isn't a 'fuck up' at all - just a combination of unprecedented demand and a worldwide pandemic.
In distribution centers where it's sent to retailers based on their stock/demands
nintendo sold within a few years more switchconsoles than any other console ever in japan.
this is unbelievable what kind of monster the switch is over there.
sort of bummed to see here in germany, how many friends of mine enjoyed playing switch at my house, but disliked the concept for purchasing it for them.
on the other hand, my friends overseas went crazy for the switch, so maybe the demand for it in other countries is completely different.
this is unbelievable what kind of monster the switch is over there.
sort of bummed to see here in germany, how many friends of mine enjoyed playing switch at my house, but disliked the concept for purchasing it for them.
on the other hand, my friends overseas went crazy for the switch, so maybe the demand for it in other countries is completely different.
This was the worst possible time for them to start seeing Wii/DS-like demand with Animal Crossing.
North America is constantly getting stock, it's just not nearly enough to meet demand. Their Vietnam production facilities weren't impacted by COVID-19 as far as I'm aware.
North America is constantly getting stock, it's just not nearly enough to meet demand. Their Vietnam production facilities weren't impacted by COVID-19 as far as I'm aware.
Yeah, trickling just a couple units of each SKU to each store at a time isn't ideal. You just disappoint people again and again.
Waiting to get a decent supply and releasing it on a pre-announced date is better all around. It limits people's exposures to lines.
Yes. Nintendo has been having issues with Switch supplies in Japan since before Pokémon hit last year.