Zelda Switch 2 sold out: Nintendo admits misjudging demand, promises restocks
The special edition for Zelda’s 40th anniversary sold out as soon as pre-orders opened. A Nintendo executive apologised – but restocks will take a while.
Symbolic image · Photo: Crisco 1492 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Nintendo underestimated demand for the special edition Switch 2 marking the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda. That is according to Bill van Zyll, vice president and general manager of Nintendo of Latin America, in an interview with the YouTube channel Coelho no Japão. “We underestimated how well it would be received,” van Zyll said, according to Nintendo Life, adding that some markets stood out, including North America. He called it a global phenomenon and apologised for the shortages.
According to industry reports, the gold-accented console sold out as soon as pre-orders opened, with resellers asking more than $850. The edition is also only sporadically available at European retailers. It is due on 29 October, with the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Switch 2 following on 5 November.
Nintendo is working on restocks of both the special hardware and the software, van Zyll said – but it will take “a little bit of time”. He did not give specific dates.