Resale of 'Nintendo Switch 2' Intensifies in Japan
Ahead of Official Release on June 5
It has been reported that the phenomenon of high-priced reselling of the console game device 'Nintendo Switch 2', which is scheduled for release in Japan on June 5, is intensifying online.
The 'Nintendo Switch 2' is the next-generation model in the Switch series, released by Nintendo for the first time in eight years, and is priced at 49,980 yen (approximately 480,000 KRW) in Japan.
However, a search for the product on the Japanese online shopping mall Rakuten that afternoon showed that all listed prices exceeded 100,000 yen (about 960,000 KRW), with some sellers setting prices as high as 128,000 yen (about 1,230,000 KRW), which is 2.6 times the official price.
Nintendo implemented a lottery-based sales system in Japan prior to the release, and it appears that some consumers who won the lottery have registered the console for resale online.
In response, Line Yahoo posted a warning on its platforms, including 'Yahoo Auction', stating, "Registering products before their official release is a prohibited act, and strong measures such as account suspension may be taken," as demand for reselling surged.
However, under current Japanese law, only certain items such as paid concert tickets are prohibited from resale, and electronic devices like game consoles are not included in these restrictions.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported that similar reselling phenomena occurred when the original 'Nintendo Switch' and Sony's 'PlayStation 5' were first released in the past.
The newspaper pointed out, "It is difficult to clearly distinguish between resale and secondhand transactions, and if blanket regulations are imposed, there are concerns that the entire secondary distribution market could be undermined."
Meanwhile, the 'Nintendo Switch 2' features a larger display and significantly improved storage capacity compared to the previous model. Nintendo has set a target of selling 15 million units of this device by March 2026.
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