Japan: Consumers Starting To Lose Interest In Nintendo Switch Due To Persistent Shortages

Japanese consumers who have always wanted to purchase a Nintendo Switch are starting to get tired of the long Switch lottery lines and persistent shortages that have lasted for more than 5 months.

[FallenAngel1984]

The shortage issue won't improve anytime soon

[JaguarEvolved]

I guess the lack of games didn't matter

[Neonridr]

plenty of 1st party games. If you haven't noticed they still outsell newer titles on the PS4.

[naruga]

i say is the lack of games ......with only Zelda and Splatoon cannt go anywhere ...even Zelda was not that popular in Japan , but exploded in sales from the lack of any other AAA game

[Erik7357]

What does matter is the highest rated game

[GamingIVfun]

That's funny, the Switch is still selling out very quickly every time they are available.

[Genuine-User]

Nintendo should import back some from the UK, plenty of stock down here.

[Kosic]

I agree. Can go out and buy multiple switches within walking distance. Many new and tons of used ones going about in stores like cex, game etc.

[-Foxtrot]

I like how people make out it's just the shortages...I think it's because that could be turned into a good thing by people going "well obviously it's sooooo popular and people want to buy it so bad that Nintendo can't keep up"

What? You're telling me months and months on they still haven't fixed this problem? Yeah....sure...

I still see them when I go into places on my trips to town, they are all over.

[iDadio]

Don't stoke the flames, Nintendo fan girls have always been the most precious.

[babadivad]

I'm already there. I don't want a switch anymore.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

They saying that now but once Holiday come around and Nintendo manage to have a least 1 million stock they will regret giving up.

Giving up so early. Well I guess they can wait til Pokemon drop but that going to be even worst.

[Cmv38]

You realize we are the consumers. Its up to Nintendo to keep that interest by in this case keeping stock.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

I understand that which why I said they can wait til Pokemon drop. or wait til everyone who still want one and aren't giving up get one.
That way it won't be too hard to get but again. Giving up so early just mean you don't have any confidence yourself to be able to get one eventually or any faith in Nintendo to up the stock to a large amount.

In the end the people are giving up now are probably going to regret it soon.

[freshslicepizza]

You really think Nintendo is going to meet demand over the holidays? Nintendo loves this, the hype keeps going and going. I don't honestly believe they are purposely holding back production becausethat doesn't make any sense. I just think they are incompetant at distribution. We have seen it time and again from this company.

[TripleCs]

I agree. If Nintendo can't meet demand now then they definitely won't be able to during the busiest time of the year. You would think that a company that has been producing consoles for the last 34 years would be a little more competent and reliable at getting these things on shelves but then again this is Nintendo we're talking about. It's a new console and new consoles are typically hard to find for the first month or so. I get that but this is getting ridiculous now. Even with the PS4 selling out as fast as it was when it first came out there was still a consistent supply of consoles and the supply constraint was nowhere near as bad as this. Nintendo really needs to step it up and ramp up production. They are moving at a snails pace when it comes to supplying these things.

[iofhua]

Remember when people were getting arrested fighting over tickle me elmo back when that was a new holiday item?

I'm predicting murder this holiday season over the Nintendo Switch. Not fighting, murder.

[Shuckylad]

I remember when consoles launched via region with Japan usually the first to get shipments. Perhaps Nintendo needed to use that approach with the Switch because clearly they're struggling to produce the units required for their own region.

[spartan112g]

No. That was stupid having to wait months for a console to launch in your region. Worldwide launches should never go away.

[Gh05t]

Or they could have put more investment upfront to secure more parts and manufacturing time to meet the demand better. It really feels like they didnt believe in their own product and by the time it showed it was strong parts were hard to get.

[TallonIV]

Hopefully Nintendo is able to sort this out before the holidays. The Switch is by far my favourite console since the Gamecube.

[Exvalos]

Favorite console since the GameCube? Lol there is like 2 games on the thing that are Good. Your telling me 2 games blow the water out of 2 console generations

[TallonIV]

2 games? Lol not according to my Switch library.

[C_Ali88]

I have around 15 myself...lol

[Neonridr]

lol, just because they are starting to get tired doesn't mean that the majority of them still won't line up for the next chance. Sure it's frustrating, but Nintendo will eventually be able to meet demand. These people aren't going anywhere..

[EddieNX]

Look at all the people jumping on this article it's pathetic!!! The Switch sold 70K this week in Japan and that means people are losing interest? Ermmmm it clearly means that there is still HUGE demand for Switch. The console being permanently sold out is a GOOD thing for Nintendo. And they've sold MILLIONS in the first 6 months
Like 5-6 Million (massive success)

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Same thing happened, briefly, with PS4, but interest returned once stock improved.
I don't expect that to be any different here.

[C_Ali88]

Sad you get down voted for speaking the truth, Especially since ps4 launched solely in America 2 weeks before any other territory.

[bluefox755]

Imagine my shock.

[Lynx0207]

"Due To Persistent Shortages of new high quality games" Fixed.

[spartan112g]

Mario + Rabbids says, "hi".

[Prince_TFK]

Zelda, Mario Kart, Arms, Splatoon, and Mario+Rabbid say Hello.

[ShadowWolf712]

The fact that people are pushing Mario + Rabbids as a "quality game" speaks volumes.

[Sirk7x]

It's reviewing very well, and also won best strategy game at Games on.

[C_Ali88]

Quality is inherently evident by not only the joy that those playing it are exhibiting but it's review scores, hopefully it's sales reflect its quality also.

Have you played the game?? If not then your attempt at discrediting it as a quality title is what really speaks volumes.

[Nodoze]

It does, as it IS a quality game. Perhaps it does not contain enough dude bro for you? The 1X is launching soon enough...with a massive amount of exclusives.....err wait.

[ShadowWolf712]

lol

Son, you don't know squat about what I play.

[rainslacker]

That game looks like tons of fun though.

[ShadowWolf712]

If you're into really-watered-down XCOM, sure.

[chris235]

thank god there is no game i would want to play that's exclusive for the switch. otherwise i would have to jump into that pool of frustration, too.

[spartan112g]

Not if you live in the US or EU. US has been getting stock everywhere like crazy and they have stock spikes whenever a new AAA game releases.

[Neonridr]

nah.. NA has been getting a good supply. People are starting to see them in stores and online now.

[DEEHULK88]

Clickbait article because there is no proof that this is true....typical N4G

[EddieNX]

This week the Switch destroyed everything in sales in Japan. This is probably the most BS article of all time. Like they're speaking first everyone one in Japan lol.

SPOILER Switch is the future of Japan and will sell for the next 6 years or so

[WeAreLegion]

Strange. They're sitting on shelves now in NA.

[Neonridr]

starting to.. and only in small batches. You might see 3 or 4 on a shelf in a Walmart somewhere.. and then not see any more for several weeks.

They aren't readily available worldwide is the point.

[C_Ali88]

I have seen them in Walmart, Kona HI.... But only 2 and they were very scarce until this sighting.

[sk8ofmnd]

Ive said all along, i want to see how well the switch sells when anyone can freely walk into any electronics store and buy one.

In all reality, probably wont be until spring or summer of next year. Usually, new consoles launch in the fall so its understandable why stock is low until that next summer. But, to launch in march and 6 months later still not have enough units? We knew about the "nx" what 2-2.5 years before it actually launched?

Was it nintendos faith in their product not ordering enough "screens" when they were readilly available, or the other excuse... "Its really not our fault apple bought up all the screens to make their new phone." If its really that easy to cripple the sales of the switch whats stopping someone else from buying these screens up to further induce these problems... Im just asking here

The real ? Is how much would have the NS actually sold had they not had supply/demand issues... But its easy to ask that ? as almost EVERY console ive ever witnessed has sold out. But just maybe, the NS would (could) have SMASHED all previous sales records selling 7-14 million in its first 1-3 months on the shelf. Making the 14 million wiiu's sold in 5 years look like but a bad dream.

To me (and i used to be the biggest nintentdo fanboy out there) there has **always** been (since the n64) one Achilles Heal to a Nintendo platform that stopped it from being greater than it actually was (excluding the wii of course).

N64: carts vs cd
Gamecube: mini cd vs cd
Wii: the only fault i can think of is what it made nintendo think its consumers actually wanted.
Wiiu: the name, the price, the marketing, the weak innards, the gamepad, the weak hardware sales, no zelda until the console was d.o.a., no metroid, ect... Holy F if anyone needed a lesson on how not to make a home console the wiiu was the textbook manual (until the 2013 xb1).

What will be the switch's undoing when looking back 4 years from now?

[C_Ali88]

I'd say the decisions involved in manufacturing and procurement on Nintendo's part was very cautious, given the fact that Wii U was a failure and releasing in a non holiday period factored heavily into the reduced capacity or limited initial stock.

Knowing about a product doesn't inherently mean it was completely manufacturable or finished, by all accounts production started well into 2016. This was not a full scale production either.

Also as much as people don't wish to admit being sold out early helps with publicity, it being on the news and or every news aggregate online is a testament to that. It being popular makes other people want it. I'm not saying Nintendo isn't trying hard to play catch up currently but it being out of stock isn't immediately hurting Nintendo either. Even within the investor meetings Kimishima stated "Planning to ship 10 million units means that we actually plan to produce more than that including units in our warehouse and in-transit product. We are not currently producing this full amount all at once. We expect that the number of consumers who want to buy the hardware will increase as we release titles such as ARMS, Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey, so our current production model takes that into account."

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/n...

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

That happened with PSVR!

(not that they are similar products)

[C_Ali88]

VR has sold what 500,000 units in a year??

That was slow ass production on Sony's part.

[rainslacker]

I kind of lost my hype for PSVR because it was hard to get early on. Since it's become readily available, I actually haven't jumped in despite actually wanting one. Got too many other games that made my backlog explode to think about spending another $400.

Switch I'll buy this holiday probably. I wasn't ready to just jump in day one after WiiU failed to really impress me for the long term. But Switch I have higher expectations from since it's likely to take over Nintendo's portable console and 3DS was always well supported.

[Outlawzz]

There is no validity to this article at all. They just point out a couple of frustrated tweets of people that couldn't get one.

[Prince_TFK]

Don't tell that to people here. They love any bad Nintendo news they can get their hands on.

[C_Ali88]

LOL yeah but its the biggest Switch article n N4G, go figure!

[meka2611]

Nintendo is notorious for doing this with everything they make, even accessories. Now switch is a little different since they said it's hard to get the parts, but most of the time it's nintendo just making things short, they could have stock but this makes it look like it's so popular you cannot get anything. It's BS and nintendo needs to stop this.

[Neonridr]

yeah Nintendo is actively trying to prevent sales of its own hardware. Let's just take a step back and think about that for a second...

[meka2611]

Trust me they do. I worked for gamestop for two years, I don't think we ever got enough nintendo products even for reserves. And this was even for the pro controller that came out for wii u. Nintendo always does this nowadays and it sucks. Like I said not sure about the switch since they said it's hard to find parts, but that's the problem, it's hard to tell with nintendo.

[Wolf873]

You have snes and nes debacle as prime example of their stupidity.

[Neonridr]

@Wolfl873 - those are niche products that are one and dones. The Switch is their bread and butter for the next 5 years. They want as many of those out in the wild as they can get.

[Wolf873]

I had to give up my pre-order to a friend who wanted it more, I figured I'll just buy another one few months later down the road since I was tight on money, these shortages haven't helped. I hope this and SNES situation deals a serious blow to Nintendo so they revamp their business strategies and actually meet the demand.

[KillZallthebeast]

Interest may die down now, but I think we all know when the first pokemon rpg ever to be made on a relatively powerful system launches interest will skyrocket again. I don't have a switch yet but will pick one up when it launches.

[KillZallthebeast]

Lol you people are delusional if you think pokemon won't set fire to the sales of the switch in Japan

[InTheZoneAC]

Nintendon't understand or choose to be largely ignorant when it comes to lost potential sales by people being unable to buy something they want now and giving up after months of trying. Who knows how many more nes and SNES classics they could sell if they weren't so limited. I think some are now waiting for a switch revision and/or price drop like myself.

[CrimsonWing69]

Give it another 2 years and you'll see a plateau in interest.

[FancyMudkip]

Clickbait

[corroios]

this means the shortages will end immediately

[Adnanilyas21]

I think this proves your article wrong, Switch sales went up this week compared to last week.

http://nintendoeverything.c...

[GamePeace]

:O

[Bjorn-c-blocker]

This whole article is based on some tweets that could be trolls.. This week the switch sold 70k compared to the ps4s 20K.... sure looks like Japan is losing interest!

[StormSailor]

This is because the Switch is an exclusive gaming machine from Nintendo and you don't have a lot of multiplatform platform games (similar to Wii U). Over time the lack of interest will be even greater, it will not be just the low stock

[Nodoze]

Nintendo needs to wake the F up. So ridiculously short sighted. Is it the same component shortage that is impacting the SNES classic? The Amiibo? The NES classic? Oh wait, this is just how NIntendo does business.

[Benjaminkno]

I don't understand how you can gauge when people lose interest if there's still a shortage.
If the shortage evened out and suddenly supply was meeting demand without an increase in production then I could see it.
Seems like people just want to get enthusiasm for not liking the Switch.