Japanese Mum: Buying a Nintendo Switch Was An Unhappy Experience

There has been a huge shortage of Nintendo Switch systems worldwide, and in Japan, it’s on a completely different level.

With hit titles such as Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Nintendo Switch demand has been surging in Japan, and retailers have seen 1000 to 3000 people line up for a raffle to win a chance of buying the hot system.

Some customers, of course, either do not have the time to line up for these raffles or have been really unlucky in getting one at retail. One such customer is Yuki Noro, a 46 year old freelance consultant living in Tokyo.

As she made a promise to get a Nintendo Switch for her son, she had to buy it from resellers at a steep price because she couldn’t find it anywhere. “I wasn’t able to find it anywhere. But I had made a promise, so I had to pay extra. It’s truly an unhappy decision I want to forget immediately,” Noro said.

The retail price for the Nintendo Switch in Japan is 32,378 yen (USD289), but Noro paid 53,000 yen (USD472) to a reseller.

Naturally, the only way to solve the problem is for Nintendo to manufacture more units. Wall Street Journal claims some people involved in the supply chain said there are manufacturing issues with the Nintendo Switch. It doesn’t help when the company has to compete with Apple for components.

We hope Nintendo would be able to find a way to end the shortage soon.