Nintendo Aims To Reduce Scalping Of "New Hardware"

I appreciate the optimism, but I don’t see how any company can effectively stop scalping.

Cool, one please. Sometime in my damn lifetime. Hardware in the switch is closer to 10 years old than 5 years old if you catch my cold.

They sure are talking more about the next gen Nintendo.

I have noticed that they’ve really made strides in making sure that special edition systems are readily available. The Zelda and Pokémon SwOLED would easily be big targets for scalpers, but Nintendo has been consistently keeping them stocked.

I doubt I’ll have the issue with getting whatever the next Nintendo system is because I usually preorder day one, but I do remember when nobody could find Switches for the first year or so after they released.

They’re going to literally scalp scalpers aren’t they. WATA certified gamer scalps for sale.

I’m not to sure how, but I do appreciate any effort in doing so!

The only way they could reduce scalping for their next-gen consoles is to open their own stores and set limit to customer orders otherwise nothing will change as retailers doesn't care about setting limits on orders as they are too greedy to do so. Just do like what Valve did, sell via their online store and set order limit to two unit per person per household per account or something.

I predicted here several times that once TOTK was out we'd start to slowly hear news to prepare us for the release of new hardware, probably Q3/4 2024. I still predict this will be the case, and these slow acknowledgements that they are "working on something" and buying/stockpiling hardware will be a thing more and more over the following few months, but no big anouncement until after Christmas as they don't want to canibalise sales with parents waitign for teh next system.

However, the fact that so many first party games are currently anounced for Switch in 2024, with surely more to come, makes me confident that whatever the new hardware is will be backwards compatible. After such a huge success, they'd be crazy for it not to be.

I know the "Nintendo thing to do" would be to release some insane hardware with a crazy gimmick and entirely new method of play and 5 hollographic screens and a VR helmet you strap to your desk whilst waving your arms like a duck... but they have no separate handheld device anymore, and that was always their biggest market and supported their experiments with the home system.

They'd be insane to release anything but a more powerful backwards compatible Switch while the market is still so strong and the userbase is so enormous. If it improves the performance of some of the recent games that chugged a lot, they'll instantly sell about £500 worth of games to me, as I've been putting off getting them lol. I'd assume that rather than simply a "Switch Pro" there will be new software that will only run on the new hardware - presumably the first big exclusive release will be Mario Kart 9, the fist new game in a decade. I've a strong feeling they've had that one ready to go for a long time but are holding it back to use to push the new hardware when it eventually drops. Maybe Odyssey 2 as well?

@Serpenterror that would be a problem because Nintendo isn’t fully present in a lot of countries… like Mexico. Everything is sold through 3rd parties and even the online store doesn’t reach here.

There’s an easy fix to launch scalping, do what Sony did, sell direct to your subscribers. Allow them to place orders that you fill in demand.

Open up pre-ordering to NSO subscribers for direct ordering and fill them on demand, limit one per customer and customer must be a currently paying NSO subscriber.

Sony went a step further a emailed current and past subscribers (that had subbed for more than a year) and guaranteed a placement in Ps5 ordering. Granted this didn’t happen immediately at launch, but like 6ish months later when customers were complaining.

Scalping and issues making purchases due to sell outs was one of the main reasons I ended up with a Series X and not a Ps5. Series X met demand in my area long enough that I could finally get one. Ps5s weren’t readily available here until like last year. By the time Sony rolled out the direct purchase option / wait list, I’d already gotten my X.

This is technically the first time they have discussed new hardware!

Scalping is an issue with free commerce not gaming. It affects every sector. If they can solve this issue (and it's not illegal) then that would be something but I don't see how they can without ensuring it doesn't sell out...which is kinda the opposite place companies prefer to be lol.

Scalpers can only be thwarted with common sense (and/or financial constraints) on the customer side at the end of the day, but it figures that Nintendo would be eager to stock up on safe numbers of new hardware anyway. Switch's mass appeal caught even them off guard, and no one in the industry wants a PS5 launch experience on their hands either.

@samuelvictor as has been discussed ad nauseaum, there are two main arguments to back up the possibility of straightforward succession: Nintendo generally sticking to the experiments that proved to print money (like the motion and touch controls of Gen 7) and Switch's form factor allowing enough room for more tweaks and "gimmicks" as it is (even this very generation's pseudoVR touches courtesy of Labo). Heck, 3DS's forays into augmented reality were arguably fancier than its titular wowser, and they were basically a followup to what had already been attempted on NDSi, with no need to overhaul the form factor or tech involved. The modular nature should open up a wide range of possibilities, too.

....Yeah, right, good luck with that.

"Have you had any issues securing a Switch or perhaps a limited edition one over the past few years?"

Not particularly, I held off on buying a Switch due to how hard it was to get one at the time (I was fine with my 3DS) until I preordered the Super Mario Odyssey bundle and when that one started to lose its luster I picked up an ACNH Switch when they started to restock after an initial period of scalper madness.

And while I'd LIKE to get one of the fancy "limited edition" Switch OLED models I don't really see a point in doing so when my current Switch still works well and there's a chance of the next Nintendo console showing up in the near future.

@Dm9982 Agreed, I know the US My Nintendo Store already has a system like that in place for some of their exclusive products like the NSO-exclusive controllers being limited to 4 units per account so the possibility of adding more safeguards isn't out of the question.

Some ideas to inhibit scalping:
1- write the RRP on the box.
2- sell directly to customers online, using an account.
3- have enough stock
4- don't let people buy large numbers at the same address/credit card.
5- give a free game download to people who access the online shop using the same credit card used to purchase the console.

gd N64 controller. Missed the last two drops during work hours 🤦🏻🤦🏻

Aside from scalpers, large high street retailers need to stop "bundling" desirable consoles with undesirable shovelware (1-2 switch for instance lol) to hike up the price during a shortage and get rid of unsellable games.

@nhSnork Calling 3D its "titular wowser" is wonderful, made me smile, thank you. I agree we might get all kinds of unusual gimmicks in a simialr form factor. As long as I can still play the games both portably and on my TV, and its fully backwards compatible with Switch carts, eshop downloads, and NSO tranfers over with all games intact, I'm 100% happy for them to get as weird as they want. I agree the AR stuff with the 3DS was really cool btw. Went very underused, but definitely impressed me at the time.

@Moistnado "give a free game download to people who access the online shop using the same credit card used to purchase the console."
Thats a good idea. Not considered that one. Similarly linking your nintendo online account to the credit card that bought the system would be a good idea.

@shatts35 Yes I was thinking of pointing that out to people saying Nintendo have improved their ability to keep stock levels high. I'd love one but I'm not stayign up all night waiting in a queue, nor am I paying waaaay over the odds to a scalper. It took me years to finally get my NSO SNES pad. Its amazing though, love it. Incredible build quality.

@GrailUK Second, I think. They were discussing how NSO accounts would transfer over to new hardware. But that may have been in the same shareholder meeting, I'm not sure, I just remember reading it on this website a few days ago.

@samuelvictor Ah, no you are right. Good recall!

@ZebZed Yeah, and it doesn’t have to be exclusive access. Sony’s wasn’t and still worked for everyone. General masses could try to get one at stores, scalpers could too, etc etc. Same stuff as always. But direct sales to PS subs in addition to that guaranteed profits for the company and being able to meet fans demands. I still get emails saying I can order whenever I want now for Ps5, and I’d love to get one, but money…. Lol

@GrailUK Thanks. As I said above, now that TOTK is released I'm sure we'll start to hear more little stealth acknowledgements like this over time to start preparing us for the idea, and also to stop the worrying from shareholders etc. I'd be very surprised if theres any full official announcement until after Christmas though, they don't want to delay sales, especially with 2 big Mario titles releasing in Q4.

I think what also compounds the issue is that relatively limited units are produced as demand could suddenly waver (like the Wii U), or more so, to not be overwhelmed with warrranty service requests in case of any early widespread hardware failures.

Not possible especially if they're planning on using any higher end chipsets. Still good odds China takes Taiwan and throws a wrench into everybodies electronic gizmo plans.

Make more units and let us pre order special edition versions earlier so they can keep up with demand. I don't have a problem with scalpers because it's an easy way to make money, it's the idiots that buy them because they have more money than sense. I've bought every Switch version within a week of release with zero problems just by going into Argos but if a new one was hard to get, I'd just wait. I don't get people that are happy to spend twice the amount just to have it a few months sooner.

Countering scalpers is easy in theory. Make more units so that they are always available through official channels then scalpers will have no demand, lower their prices and eventually move on to something else.

Looks like they're Switching things up! I appreciate the positivity, but I'm certain scalpers will always find a way. Scalpers gonna scalp.

N64 controller is just a farce, sells out so quickly because people are buying more than one and selling the extras.
They need to stop selling exclusives through the UK Nintendo Store as the company behind it is AWFUL

It's not impossible if they don't want to exclusively sell Systems through their own Services, which I would absolutely bloody hate.

Hope it's like Jay and Silent Bob were they go round the scalpers houses and beat them up.

was thinking do it through the nintendo account, but that wouldn't work for retailers? or maybe it would, stock is usually bought up through bots right? maybe a timed initial release through their site before other retailers

Well, I'd just like to say that Nintendo are doing a grand job of preventing scalping of the new console...

...By staying with current Switch for who knows how much longer.

@blindsquarel,

Only retailers having robust measures to prevent scalping bots, and sites like e-bay making it impossible to sell consoles over retail, for a certain amount of time during launch, would make any difference at all.

Of course making sure there is lots of stock in both retail stores and online would help matters a little.

Just keep the restock coming so people can buy this "new hardware" when it's available

@blindsquarel The way I see it, they could just do a simple queue. Go on Nintendo's site and order a console, maybe put some money down, and they give you an estimated ship date that could be months or years away. Then they simply go down the list as soon as supply is available.

@sd7232 agree although they never really fixed the drift issues.

I don't even understand how I'm supposed to know when N64 controllers are available other than refreshing its page on nintendo.com

If anyone knows how to get notified in Canada (like by e-mail or some kind of alert), please let me know.

All they have to do is release another Wii U-like flop, where there was plenty of stock 1 week later. That’ll show the scalpers!

@MontyCircus I’d suggest following/receiving notifications from Wario64 on Twitter. Easily the fastest alerts for restocks and sales. But considering the amount of tweets the account sends and how sparse the N64 Controller restocks are, 90% of the alerts will be not of your interest.

Frankly, one of the biggest things they can do is not have their preorders be online-only. That's how I missed out on a lot of games, accessories, or consoles. Because scalpers use bots to purchase these products for them at speeds faster than a human can type, they are able to scoop up these items faster than legitimate buyers can.

As it is, the only way I was able to get my hands on the Tears of the Kingdom-themed OLED Switch was because the preorders were in-store only, not online. But according to GameStop, Nintendo required that preorders of the Collector's Editions of their games, including TOTK, were online-only, and they sold out within minutes of going live.

Also, Nintendo needs to lobby governments to pass laws that expand the definition of scalping to include consoles, games (especially Limited or Collector's Editions), and accessories. Also pass laws that require online resellers, like eBay, to delist scalped items or pay a fine.

They should do more stuff like they did with the Ambassador Edition New 3DS in Europe. Not necessarily exclusive models but allocate an amount of the next hardware as offers to hardcore fans who regularly register games etc.

It’s not the fairest thing since you’re essentially rewarding folk with the most money to spend but it would at least allow a section of genuine fans who are less likely to scalp them to get a unit. They could also track how much time people spend on Switch and reward loyalty that way instead. There’s just not much that can really be done unfortunately, would be interested to see what Nintendo do

I wonder if bot users can be detected so the pesky bot users will not hoarding the same item in large quantity.

Let us actually pre order and make enough to fulfill that demand.

@ZeldaFan83
Well they said they weren’t going to release any new hardware this year, they never said they weren’t going to talk about new hardware this year.

@Serpenterror Not so easy. If they limit to their online stores, the will limit themselves to the countries where the stores are.
I buy my stuff from Amazon and send them to a courier that sends them to my country, but Nintendo doesn't allow it. They detect the courier address and then won't ship the product. Best Buy does the same

@Dm9982 yeah that didn’t work all that well for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 collector’s edition… their servers could not handle the traffic and crashed the page and even when you could get on other issues came about. The site actually prevented me from being able to order at all. It glitched saying that I had over the allowed quantity in my cart. I had one in my cart but it would not let me check out. What’s worse is this was the first time they put them up when they went up again I tried again and still was blocked. It’s as if the website thought I already successfully ordered it even though I hadn’t.

@Darthmoogle Sony did it through an invite only link emailed to you, initially, when they rolled out the direct purchase for ps5. It was a private secure link to a separate shop server. Not a general public “first come first serve” website. What’s more, even if I couldn’t afford it at the time I could save my cart and be guaranteed a ps5 if I could order within 30 days. It truly was a great way to combat scalpers. When I say “pre-order” for this, I didn’t mean before it launched. The system had already launched, and such. This was a way of pre-ordering, aka SECURING, your system as it was coming off the manufacturing line. You could lock in retail price, and the system would be delivered within 4 days of purchase.

Edit - They had a second phase that also combatted scalping and servers getting hammered. When they opened it up to order on their store without private links (that only worked with your login credentials for verification) and anyone could order, they still kept it a reserve based process so you were still guaranteed a system right off factory line at retail cost. This is how Nintendo should do it, and maintain it, even years after launch, like Sony is still doing. They should do the same for the collectors stuff too.

Manufacturing more doesn't necessarily stop scalpers. They'll just scalp more consoles when it comes out. Even with 130 million units manufactured and sold all at the same time, it will be scalped.

@NinjaWaddleDee this right here. I don’t understand why these companies don’t understand this. Ok with collector’s editions those are intended to be made in lower numbers as they are made to be limited. But with the consoles they should give like a two hour window for preorders and work to fulfill those, even if you can’t fulfill all preorders for day one at least those that preordered in that time would be guaranteed on subsequent waves

@Dm9982 yeah not necessarily a fan of that either simply because you are essentially put into a lottery. If you are not granted an invite you are just out of luck. Unless Nintendo can ensure that anybody that’s subscribed to NSO is guaranteed an invite, and even then I’m on a family account so i no longer have my own NSO. I like the idea of trying to beat the scalpers but not if my ability to get one falls entirely to a chance lottery

@ModdedInkling This is why the reserve your copy/system process works better. Regardless of how many orders scalpers buy from the site or store, you’re still getting your purchase at retail cost. And scalpers get stuck with purchases they can’t easily sell for double or more…. If they keep the reserves open 24/7 then the choice comes down to the consumer. Guaranteed system at retail, but may need to wait for it to be made, or pay extra from a scalper.

When systems and collectors stuff launch and it’s first come first serve, then scalper bots will always win.

Give a guarantee priority to those with active subscriptions however, and it nearly eliminates the scalper bot issue. Make it account verification with an active membership - one that’s being not only paid for, but has activity on the account, gaming hours recorded.

Scalpers can’t compete with that.

@Darthmoogle it wasn’t a chance lottery, they just went down the list. Those that had the longest subscriptions without a registered ps5 went first in line with the emails. I wasn’t even subscribed at the time, but I was a psn subscriber for 90% of the PS4 lifetime.

no chance PS5 was one of the most scalped consoles of all time and when Nintendo finally goes next gen holiday 2024 people will be ready to move on, the demand will be high and scalpers will be ready to bulk scalp the Switch 2

To be honest, if a scalper buys 20 systems and sells them at a higher price, that's still 20 sales for Nintendo and I don't think, at least financially, it makes ANY difference one way or another. A sale is a sale.

Probably the best way to stop scalpers is to make your product so expensive that people aren't willing to spend more than the MSRP on it.

So everyone should remember this article if the Switch 2 price seems particularly high. Which considering the 7 year old Switch launched at $299 and now can be bought for $349 I'm guessing Switch 2 is $399 at least.🤑

Unless they sell direct for the first 2 years, I don’t see that happening.

You can preorder at different retailers.

They won’t keep systems sales from their retail partners if they want a retail partner.

I'm surprised NL didn't bring up how the Wii was the Nintendo's highest scalped console for Nintendo. Early on, you really couldn't get one anywhere and had to call around to find it. The Switch did suffer some scalping, but Nintendo has been down this road where consumers can't buy your products on the shelf and how it hurts game development overall.

I can't see Nintendo stopping the scalping of the first wave of new devices, but if in six months to a year you can find one on the shelf, then they beat the scalpers.

This message is for the next console not the current one. As well as another subtle jab at the competition. The rhetoric is ramping up for the successor. Just 8 months to go before the news drops - unless a manufacturer or wholesaler leaks it first.

I think a big reason for the Switch's success is the fact you could get one during the pandemic. $1000 PS5 scalper prices left a permanent bad taste in the mouth of the average consumer.

@JohnnyMind I don't think Nintendo would ever sell exclusively online. Why would you? You get a giant, in-store advertisement of your brand that 100s of people pass by everyday. Nintendo lives and die by it's casual audience who buy the machine solely because their kids want it. Retail is key in that regard.

My nearby Target has entire row dedicated to Nintendo while the other two get about a 1/3 of the shelf space. It makes the Switch look better right off the bat,

Using Nintendo’s store would be a terrible idea. I love Nintendo but their online store is terrible when it comes to in demand content. I never want to go through the Tears of the Kingdom collector’s edition pain again.

This is good news! Can’t wait for this new console to launch. I absolutely love my OLED Switch, but my body is ready for Switch 2! 🔥🔥🔥

Scalpers: "Challenge accepted."

Wouldn't it be great if they took such measures against scalpers for things like the N64 controller? I don't know how they would do that, except maybe you know stocking the product more frequently... Crazy idea, I know.

@YoshiF2 ironically, México haven't had any issues with scalpers and/or stock, sure there are some here and there but nothing major and there was enough switches, PS5's and Xbox's at their respective launch windows

@KayFiOS that would be great. But there is opportunity cost involved there. With supply only recently reaching where it can meet demand choices have to be made. Most people probably don't even know that controller exists.

Chinese factory: So should we make regular controllers or your N64 ones on this batch run?
Nintendo: the Switch is our mission critical product. The Switch controllers please.

@Cashews Then they absolutely have no business not allowing for button mapping within the N64 app on a per game basis rather than system wide. I don't think the N64 controller is absolutely necessary for a lot of the games, but I dread to think of what horrible button configuration joy-con/pro controllers would need to use to play Donkey Kong 64 should it ever release on the platform. I was able to come up with my own control scheme that worked with the Wii U gamepad when it launched on the Virtual Console service there, and I don't think Nintendo would put that much thought and effort into it, if their configurations for other games are anything to go by.

@SwitchVogel
That might hamper sales though.

Zelda TOTK pro controller.

@blindsquarel I would like the opportunity to get first dibs on new console via Nintendo eShop. There is ways to get around the *****.

@KayFiOS they do. However they don't make enough N64 controllers.

@Danrenfroe2016
That would be nice, but that would also limit sales to previous customers. That would be an option though.

@EriXz that’s true. Then the measures should be country specific. We can’t get things from their online store at the moment.
Also, another problem is that everything that is video games goes almost double or triple the price from the MSRP of the US, so sometimes the best option is to import.

Also, we had scalping issues with NES and SNES classic though, and the switch during the launch days.

@samuelvictor on cue, the N64 controllers are in stock!!!! Hurry up!!! I just got 2!!!!!!

@shatts35 Argh I'm currently travelling! lol. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can nab one! Thanks for letting me know.

I happened to check the nintendo.com website today and actually got an N64 controller order to go through today! Finally! After all these months!

Thanks for the advice but glad I no longer need it!

@blindsquarel places like eBay could stop scalping.

@Crono1973
They could, but to a limited extent. What are they going to do, not allow people to sell the new system?

Seperate from my guesses, all this talk of the next console and I'm now thinking if there is a plan for a Switch 2 release next year sometime or not.

Although I don't think it's enough to confirm it, it's enough to make me wonder.

@blindsquarel They could not allow people to sell any system that has not launched yet. People literally pre-order and then sell the pre-order. Also, they could put a cap on how much a low stock system can sell for (buy it now). Maybe 10% over MSRP.

@MarioFan432 It's enough to make me Super Mario Bros. Wonder

*Thinks back to amiibo and Classic mini disasters *

Didn't have any problem finding a switch. Just walked right in and grabbed one.

It’s funny that I probably won’t get the n64 controller during the switch lifecycle 😅

After the big "successor" reveal, put up preorders "one per person" you can do that by connecting it to bank accounts to verify that its by one bank account.

With pre orders its also easier to know the demand from the start, like steamdeck did.

@Andee I don't normally but yeah you caught it, I did.

@hashkey

Well my country will be at war if that happens. And considering our current military recruitment readiness issues I wouldn’t be surprised if my 33 year old ass got drafted in to the US Navy as a replacement sailor since it would be primarily a naval war.

That’s the downside to being an American. Never know when that’s gonna happen since it’s still on the books but hasn’t been used since 1973.

I'll believe it when I see it.

@ZeldaFan83 Yeah, especially to not talking about it all...

@Scollurio but that means 20 legit customers don’t get a console. If 10 of them go “f this I will buy something else” that is 10 people lost from hardware and software sales as well as word of mouth to increase sales. If 5 go “ok I will wait” and it takes six months again that is lost time for software sales and word of mouth promotion. If 5 of them go “scalper time” and only 3 have enough disposable income to not care, then 2 will buy less games (and perhaps complain) and 3 could have bought more games or another system and Nintendo doesn’t get the money for those direct sales because at the end of the day 20 legit customers would have bought day one. Yeah scalping gets that initial purchase but it clogs up the sales pipeline that products rely on to keep selling. Companies don’t want that (or disgruntled customers). Not to mention companies don’t just pump out systems. They aren’t made in house, so if data is skewed they may slow manufacturing or increase it at times that they shouldn’t and that costs money. I know people like to joke that stuff costs a fraction of the cost to make but there are other factors at play. Sourcing materials, contracts, logistics. All that has a cost.

It’s like wiiu sales. It doesn’t matter if a system starts well and is scalped if sales flatline. Scalpers make that problem worse. Also like every thing else consoles report back user data which informs marketing. If Nintendo is looking at a sample size of 50 consoles and 20 of them are scalped and sitting in some jerks basement, they are in the wild but skew user data because they aren’t in the exosystem. Which means when marketing goes “hey we wanna make commercials based on this sample size” it won’t be accurate and they may market poorly. It isn’t a victimless action.

Yeah I get the feeling that Nintendo are now starting to filter in some discussion about a new system. I hope it'll be backwards compatible too, but if its not, well fair enough. It's not the be all and end all for me.
Now I do get the feeling if they're talking or hinting at a new system now, that next year will be the announcement, and I'm almost certain Metroid Prime 4 will be their launch title, possibly a new Mario 3D title too. They've proven that Metroid is a big seller. I wish it had made it onto Switch, but I've had Breath of the Wild, Metroid Dread, Metroid Prime Remaster and Tears of the Kingdom not to mention Mario Odyssey, Bowsers Fury, all the ports and Mario 8 DLC and Super Smash Ultimate.... the Switch has delivered more than enough imo. Quite happy to let the next system have Metroid Prime 4 etc.

@Ryu_Niiyama The follow-up purchasing of games is a good point. Otherwise I think if the scalpers wouldn't find enough customers, they wouldn't do it. So people still buy. Maybe delayed, maybe overpriced, but hardware still changes hands. But yes, if you blew all your money on a scalped system and have nothing left to buy games with... that is a problem. I didn't think of that initially!

Also most hardware manufacturers sell at a loss or close to it anyways. Hmmm. What to do about it?