During its investor conference, Nintendo unveiled its ambitious strategy to counter scalpers and ensure sufficient availability of its new console when it is released. It’s ultimately quite a simple approach: the Japanese firm plans to produce a large number of consoles in order to meet demand, which will mechanically reduce the completely unnecessary inflated price resale market.
Lessons from the past
When the original Nintendo Switch launched in 2017, demand far outstripped supply, creating fertile ground for scalpers. Soon after, Sony suffered from this situation as well, with PS5s selling for double their retail price as frustrated gamers sacrificed their savings to a few well-organized people, who bought consoles in bulk and sold them at exorbitant prices, frustrating many fans in the process.
However, Nintendo seems determined not to repeat this mistake with the Switch 2 and is doing everything it can to limit the risks.
Component supplies are stabilizing
Key to this new strategy is resolving component supply issues, a major difficulty that has impacted Switch production in recent years.
With supply chains stabilizing and semiconductor shortages ending, Nintendo is now able to produce enough consoles to meet demand by running its manufacturing lines at full capacity.
Shuntaro Furukawa’s Statements
In a recent Q&A with investors, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa stressed the importance of producing enough consoles to meet customer demand and avoid abusive resales.
He stated :
As a measure against reselling, we believe that the most important thing is to produce enough numbers to meet customer demand, and this idea has not changed since last year.
Furukawa also mentioned that Nintendo is exploring other possible measures, within the limits of laws and regulations, to protect consumers in each region. This is wishful thinking for all manufacturers: in the event of a market boom for its console, Nintendo will hardly be able to fight against scalpers and while its initiative is welcomed, we will not be definitively informed until the release of the machine.
It is difficult to say today whether this approach will be sufficient. Several elements will play in favor of Nintendo in this difficult balance between supply and demand: it will be necessary to start by launching the console at a favorable time of year, such as spring, which will allow early fans to equip themselves and factories to run at full capacity to restock the shelves a few months later as Christmas approaches.
While we wait for official confirmation from Nintendo regarding its Switch 2 launch schedule – and there’s no guarantee that this is the name – we have to be patient, and sensitive to any information like this statement from Nintendo Japan’s Q&A session.
Source: Nintendo Japan (in Japanese) via IGN
