Today Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei published an article on the state of Nintendo Switch hardware shortage in Japan.

The paper looked back at things that happened in the past year. Nikkei says the shortage started the day the Switch launched in Japan (March 3, 2017), and from December 2017 it started becoming easier to purchase a Nintendo Switch in stores.

At its peak, retailers such as Bic Camera organized lotteries to determine who gets a chance to buy the system. These lotteries had a 1 out of 10 to 1 out of 100 chance of winning. During the same period of time, when the Nintendo Switch was restocked online, it vanished within minutes.

To find out more Nikkei spoke to GEO, a Japanese video game retailer which has 1200 stores nationwide. A representative of GEO told the paper customers can now instantly purchase the Switch at close to 600 of its stores, as shipments of Switch hardware in December 2017 are 5 times of what was delivered between July and October 2017.

The number of used Nintendo Switch systems sold to GEO has also increased by 5 times, and the company is considering to reduce the amount of money paid out to people who sell used Nintendo Switch sets as well as the price of used Switch systems.