Why are all new system launches always a clusterf$ck? We are in the digital age where are the registration queues, 1 per person?

Shadowstar39

Shadowstar39

Member
I write this as I , and assume many 1000s of others signed up for Nintendo switch 2 pre-order email, and never got one. Someone with nso since 2018 and has over 100 switch titles. No email, yet I signed up in the "interest" email campaign, which they made it sound like you would definetly get an email. Still no email. I know many have got them but I am sure I am not alone in not getting one.

Best buy has some "we have a few at each store come to the midnight launch to see if you can get one" promotion, right, stand in line for hours for a chance to get one of the 3 switch 2 they have in stock extra (if they have them as a employee will probably nab them) this only entices scalpers.

This stuff happened with the PS5, xbox series, etc.... why?
I didn't have issues getting a vita or ps4 at launch, but that was a different time.

The one company that I seen do this right is no longer in business, not because they weren't selling, but because they didn't like their partner n'vidia. I am talking about eVGA. They had a system where they would let you register for a graphics card, and you would be put on a list and you had a date and there was tracking on where you were in line and roughly when you would get the card. This was for new orders and their awesome step-up program that served me well in the 2020 pandemic to get a Ampre card when they were 5x over price online.

Why can't others do this? Why is it first come first serve which means bots and scalpers every time and then nothing.

Nintendo could of had us register 1 per person and sent them out guaranteed. Maybe you have to wait for it, but at least you would know. No waiting in lines. No dealing with scalpers, no frustration.
Why isn't this done or done on websites or retailers?

Thoughts? If eVGA could do it (rip), why don't others?
 
I asked this when the ps5 came out. Apple somehow releases a phone every year and sells like 40 million of them in three months and there is none of this nonsense.
 
Hollowpoint5557 said:
They won't do anything about it because they like it. The discourse is good for business.
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I am afraid you are probably right. It really sucks as the solution to this is the registration model that I mentioned, that I thought Nintendo was doing (but I guess they aren't honoring that as not everyone got an email or a reason why no email.

Actually steam did the registration system with the steam deck and it worked great. But steam is not a public company and have a gamer focused mandate. So unusual company for sure.
 
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diffusionx said:
I asked this when the ps5 came out. Apple somehow releases a phone every year and sells like 40 million of them in three months and there is none of this nonsense.
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Apple and the like have such a high margin, they pay the fabs for priority service. Fab scarcity is the issue.

Hopefully it becomes less of an issue once a few more of them are completed in USA/Japan and are up and running.
 
Yeah, it seems like Nintendo's email invite system is a huge bust, at least in the US. I'm in the same boat as you, OP: longtime NSO member, large Switch library with hundreds of hours of playtime, no email.

I'm really glad I managed to get a preorder in at my local GameStop, because if I had banked on Nintendo, I would be SOL.
 
I did get my mail for preorder but i'm from the Netherlands.
Is this not because of the Trump taxes?, they where announced and put a hold on US preorders.
Maybe the units that were allocated to the US were send elsewhere.
 
I got my Switch 2 pre-order via Nintendo's invite system in the US and via Walmart (who had the best queueing system of the major websites).
 
I am so happy I lined up and got a Switch 2 at my local Gamestop; I had an inescapable sense of dread at those May 8th invitations.
 
I haven't received an email from Nintendo yet. I didn't try to get a preorder anywhere else. I'm not too bothered. My plan is to just wait until I can get one if Nintendo doesn't invite me. I assume that Nintendo will continue to use the interest list post launch to feed invites to people as stock becomes available so there's not a mad rush on their website when they receive a shipment.
 
DeepEnigma said:
Apple and the like have such a high margin, they pay the fabs for priority service. Fab scarcity is the issue.

Hopefully it becomes less of an issue once a few more of them are completed in USA/Japan and are up and running.
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Yes, but it's also a question of scale. Apple sells almost 250 million phones a year. Nintendo sells 20-30 million consoles a year, max.

Realistically how hard is it to set up the processes so they deliver a console to everyone who wants one? Again, it's a fraction of what a big spender company like Apple does.
 
peoples goes craaaaaaaaazy

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One day you will realize that it does not matter. You will get it sooner than later even if not day one.
 
It's very clear it's intentional and desired by the manufacturers and retailers at this point. A half retarded gradeschooler could design better preorder, anti-bot, and anti-scalper systems than these companies are feigning.

And massive ROFL at EVGA being the standard bearer. Bro they stopped producing almost all their SKU's, rebranding them as new SKUs at higher prices, effectively erasing like 90% of their queue system, and happily let people buy 1 of every 3080 or 3090 SKU (i.e they gleefully sold the same guy like 10 different 3080s and 3090s). The company was dogshit and voluntarily suicided themselves cause they refused to sell an msrp 4090, and cause Nvidia price caps wouldn't let them charge $3000 for a 4090 Kingpin. EVGA can eat shit, I'm glad they're dead.
 
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Haint said:
A half retarded gradeschooler could design better preorder, anti-bot, and anti-scalper systems than these companies are feigning.
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yup, they just dont care. shit's getting sold out regardless. they can blame it on scalpers, tariffs, glitches, doesnt matter.
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yet if you owed them money, you bet your ass is accurately getting an email, a text, a voicemail, and a certified-mail letter to you and your mom.
 
diffusionx said:
Yes, but it's also a question of scale. Apple sells almost 250 million phones a year. Nintendo sells 20-30 million consoles a year, max.

Realistically how hard is it to set up the processes so they deliver a console to everyone who wants one? Again, it's a fraction of what a big spender company like Apple does.
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You want that slave labor to work 28 hours a day instead of 20 while trying to keep margins in line? 🤭

It's a balance, you see. And it's not like the phones change drastically from year to year, so the R&D and fab process is more streamlined for quantity.
 
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DeepEnigma said:
You want that slave labor to work 28 hours a day instead of 20 while trying to keep margins in line? 🤭

It's a balance, you see. And it's not like the phones change drastically from year to year, so the R&D and fab process is more streamlined for quantity.
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Again, I don't think they are even close to that balance. How many people would buy a Switch 2 day one if it were easily available? 10 million? Apple sells like triple that on day one. They open preorders like 2 weeks before it is in the hands of customers. There is a middle zone between the totally smooth process operating at massive scale of Apple and the junky, garbage s ystem that works worse than getting a Saturn in 1995 even though it's only a small fraction of the total consoles Apple sells.

At the very least there should be a seamless system where as many people who want can buy a Switch 2 on the website and they will get an ETA when they do so.
 
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Have you checked your spam folder?

Seriously though, queues shouldn't be hard to do, yes. They don't because nobody gives a shit, they sell out anyway and you're just a number to them.
 
You would think after the complete clusterfuck of PS5's launch and the scalper hell and ridiculousness there, that Nintendo would've paid attention and learned their lesson.

I also signed up for the email to buy one from them and haven't heard anything, and from looking here on GAF in that other Switch 2 thread, it seems only a handful of GAF'ers got the email, and some of them didn't even sign up for it. The whole thing is a fucking joke, and it's obvious that Nintendo is sending them randomly, and after that first day on the 8th i haven't heard of any other emails going out. Like how do you fuck this up so badly?

The retailers aren't much better.....they blow their whole preorder inventory load in one day, two days max and now nothing else until after launch.

And don't give me that "We DiDnT tHiNk tHeRe wOuLd bE tHiS mAnY pReOrDeRs" bullshit either...
 
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diffusionx said:
Again, I don't think they are even close to that balance. How many people would buy a Switch 2 day one if it were easily available? 10 million? Apple sells like triple that on day one. They open preorders like 2 weeks before it is in the hands of customers. There is a middle zone between the totally smooth process operating at massive scale of Apple and the junky, garbage s ystem that works worse than getting a Saturn in 1995 even though it's only a small fraction of the total consoles Apple sells.

At the very least there should be a seamless system where as many people who want can buy a Switch 2 on the website and they will get an ETA when they do so.
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If only. What a beautiful world it would be.
 
Pre-ordering from my local EBgames store was breeze, I think this time pr-ordering from retail is much better than from online stores.
 
I have had zero issues with all console launches. In fact, I pre ordered my Switch 2 from EB games here in Australia no issues whatsoever.
 
Walmart's help page said that you could change your payment method after ordering but there's no option. So I called CS and they said they would escalate it and email me in under 24 hours. 2 days later nothing...do NOT order from Walmart without an ironclad CC. Make sure it's the one you want to use, won't expire, and don't expose it to potential loss, theft or fraud because you'll be screwed with no recourse.
 
ReBurn said:
I haven't received an email from Nintendo yet. I didn't try to get a preorder anywhere else. I'm not too bothered. My plan is to just wait until I can get one if Nintendo doesn't invite me. I assume that Nintendo will continue to use the interest list post launch to feed invites to people as stock becomes available so there's not a mad rush on their website when they receive a shipment.
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What i am going to do too. There isn't any major games I need.
I don't really like mario kart. I got the last one for my wife and we played 1 time. I really didn't care too much for it back in the snes days either (never had n64/gc) so not sure why it's so hyped.

A 3d mario game, fire emblem, Zelda, count me in. Metroid prime 4 is already coming to the switch, so i don't even need a switch 2 for that.

What I want to s2 is for the bigger screen, and performance upgrades on my huge library. I'm not expecting the world but the fact that 99% of everything will be backwards compatibile is great as my backlog on that system is so massive.

My situation is unique though, outside of a select few Nintendo titles my switch is primarily 3rd party and indies.
 
BlackTron said:
Walmart's help page said that you could change your payment method after ordering but there's no option. So I called CS and they said they would escalate it and email me in under 24 hours. 2 days later nothing...do NOT order from Walmart without an ironclad CC. Make sure it's the one you want to use, won't expire, and don't expose it to potential loss, theft or fraud because you'll be screwed with no recourse.
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Walmart already charged both of my orders, despite saying they wouldn't until the consoles shipped. So watch out for that too, I guess.
 
BlackTron said:
Wow. You sure it wasn't just the preauthorization?
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Very sure. I paid with my debit card, and they withdrew the funds ($449 for one order of console only, and $528 for my other order that was console + physical Mario Kart game) on 4/24 (the day after I pre-ordered). This already lowered my bank balance by the $977 total, the money is in Walmarts hands, guess they wanted to draw interest on it or something until then.
 
Shadowstar39 said:
I don't really like mario kart. I got the last one for my wife and we played 1 time. I really didn't care too much for it back in the snes days either (never had n64/gc) so not sure why it's so hyped.
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One day when you have nothing better to do try Mario Kart again, but this time, use the R button a lot

Trust me
 
jshackles said:
Very sure. I paid with my debit card, and they withdrew the funds ($449 for one order of console only, and $528 for my other order that was console + physical Mario Kart game) on 4/24 (the day after I pre-ordered). This already lowered my bank balance by the $977 total, the money is in Walmarts hands, guess they wanted to draw interest on it or something until then.
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The preauth would lower your available balance anyway before shooting it back up. This happens by default. Surprising they just grabbed it like that, crazy. That's blindsided to the tune of a grand over gaming administrative errors.
 
BlackTron said:
The preauth would lower your available balance anyway before shooting it back up. This happens by default. Surprising they just grabbed it like that, crazy. That's blindsided to the tune of a grand over gaming administrative errors.
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It'll be three weeks tomorrow that it's been gone from my account. Thankfully, I had enough to cover it but yes it was quite a surprise.
 
I don't understand it either. I'll use Sony as I am a ps gamer. Sony should look at the psn list or registration of previous systems and say, 1) what is the history of the account. Think of it as the birthday of your account) oldest to newest.

"Hey, as you know, the PS6 will be coming out. We noticed you have been loyal with us since blah. Because of your loyalty over the years, we are going to give you the opportunity to have one at launch. Are you interested?"

There can be other factors as well like trophy score, frequency of play, etc. It gives the opportunity for a loyal customer to buy one at launch as a reward. Sure you will have scalpers for those who are in the top of the chain to feed the bottom of the chain. But you are still maintaining the ecosystem. Not Billy Bob Scalper who is just trying to make money on a flip.

I would also love to see if you buy one you need to have an account that is X years old and it remains linked to your psn account for say 1 year.
 
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Wandering Leopard said:
Where is the patience

Most of the time, systems are just not worth it at launch, waiting approx 12 months is always the best strategy
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I'd have patience this time if I knew it would not be more expensive., but who is to say the switch 2 won't be $600 next year. At that point I will say no way. Just like I would a ps5 pro, over 5 is more than I am willing to spend. I think $500 is still too much for switch 2.

Consoles have been too much for a few cycles now. They were the masses way into gaming (I will pay more for my pc than a console). Even the ps4 seemed to never go down in price. PS3 /360 were the last gen with good price drops. I miss the era of $99 consoles though... PS2 went down to $99 and GameCube was apparently at $49 at one point.

I remember during covid after ps5 launch ps4 going up in price. Shit a new ps4 1tb is $399 (on amazon couldn't find it anywhere else that wasn't refurbished) that is only 100 less than a base ps5.

Consoles used to be affordable as they ate the cost and made up in software sales. Now they are greedy out the gate and none of them will push compeition because unlike before, they all compete for the same damn chipsets (except Nintendo) which uses tsmc fab which has a absolute monopoly on them. Ever since they switched to AMD x86 (which was good for developers, bad for uniqueness). It's been high prices and no price cuts. It also means similar specs all around, and no unique quirks.
 
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Relax. Scalpers will eventually move on to something else. They used to be hardcore on Air Jordans, Tickle Me Elmo, Beanie Babies & Pokémon Car..... wait, never mind, they're still doing some of that crap.
 
diffusionx said:
I asked this when the ps5 came out. Apple somehow releases a phone every year and sells like 40 million of them in three months and there is none of this nonsense.
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Could you imagine 40 million WiiUs at launch? IPhone will sell in 1 year what Nintendo wishes it could do in a consoles lifetime
 
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