Huge lines form once again in Japan for Switch and Splatoon 2
Last week, lines in Japan were pretty crazy as consumers waited just for a chance to purchase a Switch unit. Now that Splatoon 2 has launched, consumers were back in full force. Kotaku shows us a look at what happened for the big release.
First up, below are some shots from Tokyo, where the lines became increasingly longer as the morning went on:
〈スプラトゥーン2発売〉秋葉原、早朝のようす
・ヨドバシAkiba – 8:00頃、販売開始で約60人が店内に案内開始
・ビックカメラAKIBA – 8:30頃、ニンテンドースイッチ同梱セット抽選受付開始で約200人が長い列をつくる pic.twitter.com/0Irbn0dnsD— ﾂﾙﾐﾛﾎﾞ (@kaztsu) July 20, 2017
Another look at the long lines as people lined up for raffle tickets and hoped that they would be able to purchase a Switch:
トイザらス岩槻店のスプラトゥーン2抽選販売、中級アーティストのライブぐらい並んでる…
当たるわけなくないかこれ pic.twitter.com/VpmuaPnxxA— プロチンコポテト (@FtheWK) July 21, 2017
Tons of consumers even showed up in the suburbs and small towns:
https://twitter.com/yokusinki/status/888202704547233792
Toys “R” Us was a hot area for Switch and Splatoon 2 today. Four hundred people were at one location in Ehime Prefecture:
https://twitter.com/tdn_osumasi/status/888196340873703424
Another Toys “R” Us had just 25 Splatoon 2 Switch bundles and ten individual Switch consoles. Roughly 500 people lined up in hopes of buying a system of their own, but many left disappointed:
トイザらスにて、スプラ2+キャリングケース受け取りをしてたら
switch+スプラ2セット 25個
switch(ネオン？) 5個
switch(もう片方の色) 5個の、抽選してた。店の人に聞いたら、なかなか入荷できず初のこと…500人くらい集まって、 やってたらしいです。 pic.twitter.com/3oL2uTPN7u
— Zakuro@低浮上 (@zakuro_kohaku) July 21, 2017
The situation wasn’t much better at a store in Ibaraki Prefecture. They had just 35 Splatoon 2 Switch bundles and 20 individual consoles for 500 people:
こちらのトイザらスは55個よ( *˙ω˙*)و
分母は500人程です…〣( ºΔº )〣 pic.twitter.com/23RgkBpF1M— サンディ(ฅ✧ω✧ฅ)DQX (@nuko_nuko_days) July 21, 2017
This Toys “R” Us also had 400 people in line:
https://twitter.com/nyaaa_style/status/888230549399011328
The disappointment continues with another shop that had 30 Splatoon 2 Switch bundles and 20 individual Switch consoles for over 1,000 people:
https://twitter.com/hiroomi_unibase/status/888198289329332224
45 Switch consoles here:
https://twitter.com/eemooooon/status/888212309826387970
So… you get the point. Switch and Splatoon 2 have massive demand. Unfortunately, Nintendo is having trouble keeping up with it all.
