link
Cheesemeister on Twitter also spotted 130+ people queued up at Yodobashi Kyoto.
Did gaf misjudge Japan's taste? Or was it always obviously going to be big in Japan anyway? Is it that some of the harsh response from places like Gaf is due to the fact that Nintendo is a Japan first country whereas Sony is more globalised as a company?
edit:
Some conflicting reports:
I'll update the OP with better sources as I'm able
Cheesemeister on Twitter also spotted 130+ people queued up at Yodobashi Kyoto.
Did gaf misjudge Japan's taste? Or was it always obviously going to be big in Japan anyway? Is it that some of the harsh response from places like Gaf is due to the fact that Nintendo is a Japan first country whereas Sony is more globalised as a company?
edit:
Some conflicting reports:
Oh god someone actually made a thread about this article....
I am very curious how NextGenGaming got this information. I doubt they have someone in Japan or someone speaking Japanese in their team. They don't mention any news source at all.
(Citation needed)
I seriously doubt there were lots of people waiting outside all night because it's too freaking cold, and secondly, what store? How big was the stock allocation? How do they know it was gone within 15 minutes and people couldn't get a pre-order? This article is sketching some insane scenarios.
Now, if I go on twitter right now and search for Switch 予約 I still see multiple tweets popping up every minute of people saying they pre-ordered the Switch just fine. And for example this one: "Pre-ordered Switch at Geo. It was gone within seconds online, but seems to be still readily available at brick and mortar stores", or "Pre-ordered Switch, it was easier than I thought!", "Managed to pre-order Switch online normally at Yodabashi", "Seems like Switch is still readily available at retail" and lots more.
Going by my own (anecdotal) experience: I thought it was gonna be pretty bad because Geo only got like 20 units per store (10 of each color). I was there at 7 AM with a friend and the store would open at 10 AM. In those three hours, a total of 7 people lined up. After we got it, they just put the pre-order slips on a table in the store so people can just walk in and pre-order it. This was in Mitaka, Tokyo.
Yes, the Switch was gone in seconds at amazon but that seems to be always be the case. I hear it's still available to pre-order at Yodabashi, just the site seems to be broken.
Tldr: This article is highly speculative and probably based on nothing but a few tweets about the line at Yodobashi Akiba. I'm sure they're glad their clickbait story worked and someone linked it here, though! Of course pre-orders will sell out, but that doesn't say anything. In reality, I see more Japanese people being surprised there isn't more demand for the Switch instead of the opposite, as is implied in this story.
I'll update the OP with better sources as I'm able