With the Nintendo Switch, the company has made a fair few unusual decisions in marketing its new console- whether it is the late reveal, the shorter hype cycle, or even the March release date – traditionally, new systems launch in the last quarter of a calendar year, to capitalize on the Holiday shopping frenzy – there has been a lot that’s been off beat in terms of how Nintendo has handled the new system.
But it seems to be working out for them in general. The Switch is largely sold out worldwide, and GameStop director Eric Bright believes that the March launch was a very smart move on Nintendo’s part. “The Q1 launch is one of the smartest moves Nintendo could have done,” he said. “Instead of pushing units out during the heaviest time of the year (in Q4), this allows them to build a base. So by holiday, we can focus on games. There will be millions of people who will be hungry for content, creating a richer development cycle for game publishers who will have an install base to support titles. This also will take some of the brunt off of Christmas and enable Switch to be better stocked at stores.”
So how has the Switch been doing at GameStop so far? “We’ve seen tremendous demand for Switch and of the initial allocation of pre-orders we took, the majority of them were done by PowerUp Reward customers. They’re definitely looking for this device. We have a ways to go before we satisfy all the demand that’s out there. The response has been amazing.”
Could the Switch be on the cusp of some great success? We are less than two weeks from finding out, when the Switch launches worldwide on March 3.
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