Excited gamers line up for hours as Nintendo Switch 2 launches with global shortfall expected
Gaming fans queued up for the launch of Nintendo's Switch 2 on Thursday, which is widely expected to be in short supply globally amid pent-up demand for the more powerful next-generation gaming device.
'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.
9 New Yorkers lined up hours before the Nintendo Switch 2 release on June 4.
REUTERS
'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.'
9 Customers in a suburb of Miami set up lawn chairs outside of a Best Buy as they waited to buy the item.
Getty Images
9 Andres Gomez celebrated as he entered a Best Buy store near Miami at midnight to purchase the console.
Getty Images
'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 US President Donald Trump's trade war.
9 First customer Koji Takahashi showed off his number one ticket before purchasing the new Nintendo Switch 2 gaming console at an electronics retailer in Tokyo, Japan.
FRANCK ROBICHON/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
9 Customers browsed the aisles of a store in Tokyo as they shopped for Nintendo Switch 2 accessories.
AFP via Getty Images
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.
'Given it's a special occasion, I wanted to buy [the Switch 2] right away on its release date,' said Shinichi Sekiguchi, a hotel receptionist in his thirties.
9 Gamers packed stores in Tokyo to purchase their new gaming device.
AP
9 Nintendo released the Switch 2 on June 5.
AFP via Getty Images
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.
'You are looking at weeks or months until you can walk into a store and buy a Switch 2,' said Toto of Kantan Games.
9 Nintendo received 2.2 million applications for its Switch 2 sales lottery on its My Nintendo Store in Japan.
REUTERS
Investor expectations for the new device are similarly lofty.
Nintendo's shares are trading near highs and have gained almost 30% this year.
Concerns include whether momentum for the Switch 2 will be sustained after hardcore gamers have upgraded.
'The volume of first-party games on offer at launch isn't as strong as it could be, so some more casual users may wait and see how the games available build over the next one to two years before making the leap,' said Ampere's Harding-Rolls.
9 A happy Nintendo Switch 2 customer showed off his new game console in Tokyo, Japan.
REUTERS
Ampere forecasts Switch 2 sales to exceed 100 million units in 2030.
'Mario Kart World' has a US sticker price of $79.99, generating debate over the price of games.
Nintendo is also attracting third-party titles to the system.
'I've been around since the era of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and games from (that period) were expensive too so I think it's somewhat within the acceptable range,' said Akitomo Takahashi, a salesman in his forties.
Takahashi said he was keen to play action role-playing game 'Elden Ring' on his Switch 2.
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