Nintendo seems to have confirmed that the Switch 2 is guaranteed to be a success, with the kind of ‘problem you want to have’ that goes with it.
Dr. Serkan Toto shared commentary on a tweet the Japanese Nintendo account just posted:
“1) Nintendo president Furukawa says they received applications to buy a Switch 2 from 2.2 million (!) people in Japan alone.
He says this is much more they expected and that this will lead to supply problems.”
Shuntaro Furukawa’s statement makes it clear that he is only referring to Japanese customers who pre-ordered via MyNintendo. This does not include potential customers who will buy or have pre-ordered in Japanese retail stores like Bic Camera, Yodobashi, Mandarake, Super Potato, etc. He goes on to explain what mitigations Nintendo will take for the sake of their loyal MyNintendo users in Japan.
So, like in America, there will be a lottery to pick which MyNintendo users get the chance to pre-order the Switch 2 first. After the first lottery is finished on April 24, a day from now, everyone who didn’t qualify will automatically be added to the second round of lottery. But, in what looks like a genuine desperate attempt to meet supply, Nintendo will allow retailers to open up pre-orders for themselves on April 24 as well. Furukawa also promises that Nintendo will make sure that MyNintendo will constantly have a supply of Switch 2 consoles that customers can order.
Now, one may wonder if 2.2 million is some kind of record for pre-orders of game consoles in Japan. While we don’t have the resources to check these facts and figures, we can make one immediately comparison. In January 2017, Japanese video game industry sales tracker Media Create revealed that Japanese fans pre-ordered 80 % of the initial shipment of the original Nintendo Switch. Subsequently, Japanese video game press magazine Famitsu revealed that the Switch sold 313,700 units in its first week in Japan. We did the math on this and figured out that the Switch 2 received eight to nine times as many pre-orders as the original Switch.
Nintendo has particular reasons to prioritize the Japanese market for the Switch 2. In particular, domestic sales will not have to factor in any exchange rates, so they will immediately take any direct profits. But this news suggests that Nintendo didn’t know that the ceiling for their potential domestic success was that high.
As of now, it isn’t clear what Nintendo will plan to do next. Will they prioritize Japan for the Switch 2 for the rest of the year, just to make sure they get the most out of that demand? Will other regions or countries experience delays in getting to buy and play the Switch 2? And no, we won’t pretend to have the insider information or specialization to speculate what this means for the Switch 2 in the US. But this seems to be a clear sign that, regardless of the doom and gloom and the firestorm of criticism Nintendo has faced for their prices, the Switch 2 is already guaranteed to have a successful launch.
For those interested, native Japanese language speaker Cheesemeister3K has made a full translation of Furukawa’s comments on Bluesky. You can read his translation below.
“This is Furukawa. In order to deliver the Nintendo Switch 2 to everyone, we’ve made advance preparations for parts procurement and for manufacturing.
As we announced alongside details of the Nintendo Switch 2 on April 2nd, we took applications for a pre-order drawing on the My Nintendo Store and as it turned out, we received applications from in excess of 2.2 million people in Japan alone.
This has greatly exceeded our expectations, and it far surpasses the number of Nintendo Switch 2 consoles we’ll be able to deliver from the My Nintendo Store on June 5th.
As a result, I’m very sorry to say we expect that many customers will not have their names selected in the pre-order drawing tomorrow, April 24th.
In order to save those whose names aren’t drawn the trouble of reapplying, we will automatically enter those not selected in the 1st drawing for the 2nd.
Even so, we will not be able to accommodate everyone who’s entered even with the quantity of systems in the 2nd pre-order drawing. Even though we had made preparations in advance, we deeply apologize for not being able to meet everyone’s expectations.
In response to the demand, we are currently strengthening our manufacturing capacity. Also, as for shipping products, pre-order drawings for the Nintendo Switch 2 will start beginning tomorrow, April 24th, at stores and online shops across the country (for details , please refer to each retailer).
We will also continue selling the Nintendo Switch 2 even after launch (we will post further details at a later date). We will continue to make every effort to ship systems to retailers and get as many Nintendo Switch 2 systems into customers’ hands as possible.
We are planning to further manufacture and ship a considerable number of Nintendo Switch 2 systems. We are sorry that it will take some time until we are able to meet everyone’s expectations. We humbly ask for your understanding.”
