Nintendo’s gaming consoles (the NES Classic Edition and Nintendo Switch) are so popular that supplies are never sufficient. Supplies of the NES Classic have been running short of demand ever since the November 2016 release, and now, the same is the case with the newly-launched Switch. So the news on Wednesday that the consoles were available at Best Buy surely excited game lovers (but not for long).
Prime membership could help
Zelda and Mario game lovers had the opportunity to buy a Nintendo Switch from Toys R Us stores last week. Those who were left disappointed last time, however, were expecting to buy the consoles from Best Buy. The consoles became available on Best Buy’s website at 1 p.m. Wednesday, and now on Thursday, they’re sold out.
If you missed out again, you could either wait for the next stock refill or try a few other retailers like Amazon. However, to buy one from Amazon, you will need a Prime membership. Amazon has limited stock of the new Nintendo Switch, so it is selling them to Prime members only, notes The Guardian. This might make more people sign up for a Prime membership, but you must hurry, as the stock is limited here also.
Will the Nintendo Switch outsell the Wii?
The NES Classic Edition retro console comes pre-loaded with several interesting and popular games and is at priced at $59.99. Resellers were able to charge pretty high prices for the console due to the short supply.
When interested buyers started complaining about the console’s unavailability, in January, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said the company underestimated demand. There was also an apology from Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima for the short supply.
By the end of March, the company hopes to ship 2 million units of the Nintendo Switch, and reports claim that the company has doubled production for the year ahead. GameStop expects the console to be supply-constrained for the rest of this year.
In its first week of sale, the Switch not only outsold the Wii U but even got ahead of the Wii, Nintendo’s most successful product. It will be interesting to see if in the long-term, the Nintendo Switch is able to outsell the Wii, of which more than 100 million units were sold over the course of its life.
