Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa has apologized prematurely for the corporate’s failure to satisfy demand for the Swap 2 in Japan after 2.2 million individuals utilized for the My Nintendo Retailer pre-order lottery alone.
In a publish on X (translated by VGC), Furukawa mentioned that this “astonishing” quantity “far exceeded our prior expectations and drastically surpasses the variety of Nintendo Swap 2 items we will ship from the My Nintendo Retailer on June 5.” In consequence, “a major quantity” of consumers would miss out, he mentioned.
“We deeply apologize for failing to satisfy your expectations regardless of our preparations,” Furukawa mentioned. He added that unselected candidates could be carried over mechanically to a second lottery, however cautioned that there would nonetheless not be sufficient Swap 2 items on this second batch to satisfy preliminary demand. He additionally famous that different Japanese retailers would open pre-orders quickly, and promised to extend manufacturing after launch.
“In response to this demand, we’re at the moment taking steps to additional strengthen our manufacturing system,” Furukawa mentioned. “We’re planning to supply and ship a considerable variety of Nintendo Swap 2 items transferring ahead. We sincerely apologize for the time it should take to completely meet your expectations and kindly ask to your understanding.”
With Swap 2 pre-orders on account of open within the U.S. on Thursday, April 24, Furukawa’s assertion to Japanese followers comes as a stark warning (or humblebrag, maybe) of how excessive demand for the brand new console is, and the way tough these pre-orders could also be to safe. Nevertheless, it’s additionally value noting that, at 49,980 yen (roughly $343), the Japan-only version of the Swap 2 is extra attractively priced than the $449.99 U.S. “multi-language” model.
Forward of the announcement of the Swap 2, Nikkei reported that Nintendo had delayed the discharge of the system partly to safe sufficient inventory to make sure a easy launch. After the announcement, Furukawa promised that Nintendo was “taking all doable measures” to fight “scalpers and the like.” And in his assertion on Wednesday, Furukawa as soon as once more underlined that “to ship Nintendo Swap 2 to all of you, now we have been procuring numerous parts prematurely and continuing with manufacturing.”
However Nintendo has now been pressured to confess that these efforts have fallen quick within the face of intense demand for the brand new console. If Japan’s Nintendo Retailer pre-orders are something to go by, it is going to be a fortunate few followers who get their arms on a Swap 2 on June 5.
