NINTENDO Co. will release the Switch 2, its first new gaming system in eight years, in a global launch Thursday that’s expected to produce lines at stores from Hong Kong to Houston and frantic visits to online shopping sites.
Nintendo plans to sell 15 million Switch 2 units by next March, while Bloomberg News has reported it could be as many as 20 million. The company is looking to continue the momentum of the first Switch, which has sold more than 152 million units since its March 2017 release. The Japanese gaming giant generates almost all of its revenue from the Switch and related software.
The Switch 2 will retail for $450 in the US, a 50% increase over its predecessor, which costs about $300. Nintendo will also sell some games, such as Mario Kart World, for $80, and has not ruled out a hardware price hike in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Fans have bristled at the high prices, but demand appears to be strong for the new console. In April, gamers lined up at GameStop Corp. stores across the country to place preorders, which sold out almost immediately on retailers’ websites. Ahead of the launch, Target Corp., Best Buy Co. and GameStop notified customers they will have the devices in their stores, although supplies will be limited.
Nintendo held a lottery for the consoles at its retail locations in New York and San Francisco. Customers who won were assigned pickup times through June 16. There’s a limit of one Switch 2 per buyer. Other store events are planned. A lottery for preorders in Japan drew 2.2 million applications, more than the company could fill.
Best Buy and GameStop will both be open for a midnight release on the evening of June 4. Best Buy plans to host events in its parking lots, with trucks full of games for fans to play on Saturdays throughout the summer.
Target stores will open at regular hours, but won’t sell the consoles online until the following day, June 6, giving in-person buyers a one-day advantage.
“We’re turning our stores into a celebration of play,” Cassandra Jones, senior vice president of merchandising at Target, said in a statement.
Margins on consumer electronics are generally lower than other products. That’s especially true with the Switch 2 — Nintendo’s wholesale price allows for slim markups. Retailers still want to sell the product, betting customers will return to buy higher-margin items like game software and accessories.
“To drive demand in consumer electronics right now you really need new product,” said Lindsay Dutch, a Bloomberg Intelligence retail analyst. “The consumer electronics industry has a very high penetration of online sales, so a midnight store opening for a launch like this is a key way to draw shoppers that might typically be shopping e-tailers like Amazon.”
Journalists got extended hands-on time with the Switch 2 and some of its games at events in New York and London last week. Some reporters raved about the new Mario Kart game and were impressed by Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, a $10 game that Game File’s Stephen Totilo described as “pure, distilled gameplay and vintage Nintendo weirdness.”
Game websites warned readers not to expect extensive early reviews of the hardware, as Nintendo was not sending out units before launch because of a required system update.
The company has been promoting the console’s new features in advertising on ESPN, IGN and YouTube, according to researcher MediaRadar. Actor Paul Rudd re-created his role from a 1990s Nintendo commercial for a Switch 2 spot, right down to his “long black duster, indie-rock hair and beaded necklace.” The ad emphasizes the console’s “GameChat” feature, which lets up to 12 users share their screens and talk with each other.
“Why are you dressed like you’re in a boy band?” one player teases Rudd in the ad. “You Boomers are cute, but you’re going to lose,” says another. –BLOOMBERG
The post Switch 2 arrives with stores expecting long lines, busy websites appeared first on The Malaysian Reserve.
