Ok, so imagine this: Nintendo’s big boss, Shuntaro Furukawa, decided to say sorry (publicly, no less) at their fancy annual shareholder meet-up — picture a room full of suits and ties, right? Anyway, turns out, everyone wants the new Switch 2 like it’s the hottest toy on Christmas morning. It hit stores in June and just obliterated previous records. In the U.S. and U.K., things were pretty smooth, but Japan? Not so much. Some folks there are still twiddling their thumbs, waiting for theirs.
Now, word on the street from Nintendo Life was that some shareholder asked Furukawa what’s up with the shortage. And Furukawa was like, “We thought we had enough, but nope!” Seriously, they had 2.2 million folks entering lotteries just for a chance to buy one. He even said so with a public apology. Imagine having to do that in front of everyone — yikes!
They’ve had a bunch of these lottery rounds. Five, to be exact. And it’s still not enough. But hey, at least they’re starting to hit the stores for in-person purchases. Furukawa swears they’re cranking up production, though — like, everyone is going full tilt to get consoles into as many hands as possible. Apologies galore, because who saw this coming?
Oh, and the focus on sales went heavy on the U.S. and Europe. Makes sense, kinda. Japan’s only third in revenue, according to Statista. Nothing personal, just business. Yet, some consoles there had issues — staples through screens, tampering nonsense — go figure.
Despite all that, the launch is one for the books. Sure, there were hiccups in some spots, but remember Nvidia’s RTX 40 and the PlayStation 5 chaos? At least if you’re in the U.S. or U.K., you’re in luck. Just know where to look, and voilà, Switch 2 in hand!
Hey, while you’re here, if you’re into tech stuff, Tom’s Hardware is the way to go. Stay ahead, you know?
