(Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co. fans from Tokyo to Manhattan stood in line for hours to be among the first to get a Switch 2, fueling one of the biggest global gadget debuts since the iPhone launches of yesteryear.
Almost 20 hours before the console’s sale, customers lined up at 4:30 a.m. outside GameStop Corp.’s Union Square location in New York City, while another queue snaked in front of the Nintendo store uptown. In Tokyo, businessmen cleared their schedules to await the launch of the $450 game machine.
At the front of the line to the Nintendo New York outpost was Christopher Evangelista, 22, known online as Chickendog. He’d made pilgrimages to the location since April to secure its first Switch 2. Evangelista cheered on his fellow gamers while livestreaming the occasion. “I never got to experience a console launch. I never got to camp out,” he said, describing months subsisting on pizza and excitement.
Inside, Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang chatted with Nintendo of America Inc. President Doug Bowser while waiting for the midnight launch. Yang, who’d spent 165 hours playing the latest Zelda game on the original Switch, said, “I’m going to mainline Mario Kart.”
Behind the celebratory mood is a watershed moment for the industry, as the Switch 2 may steer business decisions by partners and competitors for years to come. At a time of thinning margins and exploding budgets for new game productions, a popular new console may provide a counterbalance to the increasing dominance of a handful of live-service games.
Nintendo’s shares slipped 2.4% in Tokyo Thursday. That’s despite high demand, with Japanese retailers asking Nintendo to ship as many units as possible, while in the US, GameStop and Best Buy Co. said they expect the Switch 2 to sell out on launch day.
The long-awaited Switch 2 succeeds an eight-year-old global hit in the original Switch, which pioneered a hybrid design that allows play both at home on a TV and on the move.
In Tokyo, Koji Takahashi said he’d queued for four hours to be first in line at a Bi Camera Inc. store in the Ikebukuro district. “It was worth it,” the 54-year-old said. Having grown up with Nintendo’s hanafuda playing cards and the Game & Watch handheld device, Takahashi had entered pre-sale lotteries at ten stores to secure a Switch 2. “I want to play Mario Kart with my family,” he said.
Nintendo needs a strong debut to generate momentum and confidence in the product’s future — something that the pre-order demand suggests is a given. A splashy first-day in-store debut around the world is a central prong of that strategy.
“The Switch 2 is all that Nintendo has, so failure is not an option,” industry consultancy Kantan Games Inc. Chief Executive Officer Serkan Toto said.
The Kyoto-based company is entering uncharted waters with the higher $450 price tag. President Shuntaro Furukawa has said the company may have to raise that even higher, as tariffs from Washington roil trade and logistics this year, and that may pose a challenge to its long-term sales potential. The push for a sparkling debut will get a boost in Japan from Nintendo’s decision to offer a country-specific edition of the Switch 2 priced at ¥49,980 ($350).
At the time of its release in 2017, the first Switch had virtually no competition in the high-powered handheld gaming arena. Its success has bred a litter of new rivals, from Valve Corp.’s Steam Deck to Asustek Computer Inc. and Lenovo Group Ltd. products. Nintendo nemesis Sony Group Corp. is working on a return to the segment with an upcoming portable capable of playing PlayStation 5 games, Bloomberg News has reported.
The Switch 2’s more powerful architecture makes it easier to run high-end PC games as well as mobile games, helping Nintendo expand beyond its traditional demographic, according to Hirokazu Hamamura, a deputy director at Zen University’s Center for Industrial History.
But ultimately, the console’s success hinges on Nintendo’s ability to continue to design compelling games of its own while also accommodating titles from outside publishers, such as the Call of Duty franchise.
In development since 2019, the Switch 2 will retain compatibility with existing Switch games, giving it an enviable library of titles on launch day. The new console will also be the first in Nintendo’s stable to welcome $80 games, with the upcoming Mario Kart World being the first major title on any console priced that high.
The Switch 2’s new game-key card system — where a memory cartridge serves only to unlock a download of the game from the internet — has been welcomed by software makers. It makes distribution simpler and cheaper, helping with profitability.
“Software publishers are thanking Nintendo as they face rising costs to make games,” said Naoko Kino, who runs Kyos Co., a consultancy that offers support services to developers.
The rise of titles like Fortnite and Minecraft has corralled playing time into fewer franchises, often sending players away from consoles to PC and mobile platforms. Street Fighter creator Capcom Co. shifted its development resources to focus on PC gaming platform Steam, seeing it as a better way to connect to young players in more than 200 countries and regions. Following the Osaka-based company’s success, many other Japanese publishers such as Final Fantasy developer Square Enix Holdings Co. are trying to follow suit.
“If the Switch 2 underwhelms, the migration by publishers to the PC world is only likely to accelerate,” Kino said.
--With assistance from Ville Heiskanen.
(Updates with consumer responses. An earlier version corrected the first Switch photo caption.)
