Over the past few years Nintendo has managed to irritate just about every one of its followers with its “unconventional” approach to product launches. It all started with the Amiibo, which routinely suffered from stock shortages and as a result became targeted by scalpers, who inflated the price of the figurines on eBay and made a profit as a result of Nintendo’s thriftiness. Then came the NES Mini, which yet again saw Nintendo sending out incredibly low amounts of stock to retailers, making it nigh-on impossible to get your hands on one of the consoles in various regions.
The Nintendo Switch pre-orders will be taken following the company’s Nintendo Direct presentation later today / tomorrow depending which upon part of the world you’ll be watching it from, and as such there are concerns mounting that we may be forced to relive the same stock woes that have blighted the company’s products in recent years. This hasn’t been helped by Nintendo’s announcement that its New York store would take a “limited quantity of pre-orders” for the Switch on January 13, which suggests that prospective buyers will be forced to wait in line just for a chance to be able to order the console.
A limited quantity of pre-orders for the #NintendoSwitch will begin on 1/13 at 9AM while supplies last at #NintendoNYC.
— Nintendo NY (@NintendoNYC) January 11, 2017
Nintendo has to be well aware of the reputation it has garnered as a result of its haphazard product launches, with the company having been accused of generating demand by way of intentionally shipping low amounts of stock to retailers. Such actions inevitably leave people concerned that they’re going to be left out in the cold, as evidenced by the flurry of concern Nintendo NY’s tweet generated yesterday. Even the suggestion that the Switch could share similarities with the NES Mini launch saw many already predicting that the upcoming console would share a similar fate:
https://twitter.com/PCC12290/status/819306700868124672
— ?arlos ? (@heycarlosrossi) January 11, 2017
this again with the limited quantity. Do you guys not like money?
— Moises Baez (@MoisesBaezPhoto) January 11, 2017
The incredibly low stock of the NES Mini was unfathomable considering the high amount of interest for the console prior to its launch, and Nintendo’s continued failure to ship out ample amounts of stock strongly suggested that the company was deliberately withholding the console from the public, generating a greater level of interest as a result. This would also seemingly work in favor for the Switch, with it being inevitable that people will be much more inclined to pre-order the console at the earliest opportunity, in order to avoid any potential stock shortages that it may suffer.
If this sounds too much like a conspiracy theory, then it should be noted that Nintendo also faced these accusations around the launch of the Wii. As noted by a PC World article at the time, even in 2008 — two years after the Wii’s launch — the console was still in short supply across the US. At the time, industry analyst Michael Pachter stated that this was a result of Nintendo severely underestimating how popular the console was going to be, and that it limited stock in the US in order to ensure that it didn’t sell out in Europe and Japan. “It’s clear from the numbers that they’re starving the US,” he said. “And they’re not doing it to screw with us, they’re just doing it because as long as they’re going to be sold out, they’d just rather be sold out here.”
But even if Nintendo didn’t intentionally limit the stock of the NES Mini nor the Amiibo, the desired effect of such an action will still take place. Those who have been paying any amount of attention to Nintendo over the past few years will know of the company’s penchant for “underestimating” its demand, and if they are in the market for a Nintendo Switch, they will therefore be much more likely to commit to purchasing it sooner rather than later. Hopefully Nintendo won’t mimic the NES Mini and we’ll all be able to enjoy the Switch come its March launch.
