Gamers line up for Nintendo Switch 2 launch with global shortfall expected
"The level of demand seems to be sky-high," said Serkan Toto, founder of the Kantan Games consultancy.
In the Ikebukuro shopping district of Tokyo, dozens of successful applicants to a sales lottery by electronics retailer Bic Camera lined up before the store opened to collect their devices.
"I feel like I'm going to cry," Yumi Ohi, a 30 year-old delivery contractor, told Reuters.
Ohi had missed out in other lotteries and had come from Saitama prefecture, adjacent to Tokyo, to receive her Switch 2.
Nintendo has sold 152 million Switch home-portable devices since launching in 2017.
It became a games juggernaut with titles including two "The Legend of Zelda" titles and COVID-19 pandemic breakout hit "Animal Crossing: New Horizons".
The Switch 2 bears many similarities with its predecessor but offers a larger screen and improved graphics and debuts with titles including "Mario Kart World".
"The much larger audience of Switch users should translate to stronger adoption in the opening part of its lifecycle," said Piers Harding-Rolls, an analyst at Ampere Analysis.
"Nintendo is better prepared this time around" to deal with the high demand, he said.
The launch of the $499.99 Switch 2 is a test of Nintendo's supply chain management during U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war.
Nintendo last month forecast sales of 15 million Switch 2 units during the current financial year, as well as 4.5 million Switch units.
President Shuntaro Furukawa said Nintendo will strengthen production capacity to respond to strong demand and focus on sales promotion in an effort to exceed the forecast.
Nintendo said it received 2.2 million applications for its Switch 2 sales lottery on its My Nintendo Store in Japan. Pre-orders at Target sold out in less than two hours.
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