Nintendo Wants to Flood Stores With the Switch 2 Console to Stop Scalpers [CNET]

The gaming giant hopes to avoid the same issues plaguing the launch of the original Nintendo Switch.

The Nintendo Switch was massively popular when it launched back in 2017, and it was hard to find for a while. When the COVID-19 pandemic came around and the subsequent chip shortage happened, stock of the popular console was once again tough to find, with resellers flooding the market with overpriced consoles. Nintendo says it’s putting forward plans to avoid the same issues with the Nintendo Switch 2. 

During a Q&A with investors — translated by Google Translate and reported earlier Monday by IGN — an investor asked if Nintendo had made any progress on its plans to avoid resellers. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa responded by saying that the goal was to essentially produce enough Nintendo Switch 2 units that resellers won’t be able to corner the market like they once did.

“As a measure against resale, we believe that the most important thing is to produce a sufficient number of units to meet customer demand, and this approach has not changed since last year,” Furukawa said. “In addition, we are considering whether we can take any measures within the scope of legal restrictions, taking into account circumstances of each region.”

Furukawa went on to explain that some of the shortages were due to the semiconductor shortage that caused issues in multiple industries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: “Last year and the year before, we were unable to produce a sufficient amount of Nintendo Switch hardware due to a shortage of semiconductor parts, but this situation has now been resolved. We do not believe that the shortage of parts will have a significant impact on production of the successor model at this time.”

The Nintendo Switch 2 could be announced at any time

Furukawa confirmed that the next iteration of the Nintendo Switch would be announced within the next fiscal year. The original Nintendo Switch was announced in 2015 and launched in 2017, so even if Nintendo announces it this year, it may not come out until next year or even the year after. 

The next generation console didn’t make an appearance at this year’s Nintendo Direct, but Furukawa said that it wouldn’t prior to the event.

However, there have been multiple reports that the Nintendo Switch 2 has been delayed until 2025, so we wouldn’t hold our collective breaths for a 2024 launch. It’s possible, but it’s not likely. 

The announcement and release of the Nintendo Switch 2 was also asked about during the investor Q&A, since the release and sale of a new console would greatly affect Nintendo’s earnings forecast for the next year. Furukawa responded by saying “in our business, we value surprising our customers in a positive way, but sharing specific product information or sales strategies in advance would diminish the surprise.” 

In short, Nintendo didn’t include the Switch 2 in its sales forecasts so that if it did come out this year, it would be a surprise for everyone. The surprise drop of the OLED Switch in 2021 is evidence that Nintendo consistently plays it close to the vest and that surprise product launches are a common occurrence.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to improve the first one in almost every way. Developers already have the hardware to make 4K Switch games, so at the very least, the upgraded processor should offer a significant boost over its predecessor.