As with most hardware releases I'll bet most major chains get a handful units for people who didn't preorder. I would also bet good money on those places being sold out in an hour/hour and a half.

i think they will pull a wii and keep it out of stock to artificially (try to) build demand for it, so it will probably be hard to find for a good while.

Unless you live in a rural area or close to a rural area I don't see there being stocks of Switches in densely populated areas for very long in the first couple of waves of restocking.

Jim Sterling is reporting that he's already heard of a Target that was expecting 5 and got 3.

Given what happened with the NES Classic Edition and the fact that Nintendo definitely doesn't seem to have it together for this launch, and the lack of advertising of the launch, I'd be very surprised if there's enough stock.

I'm frankly a little bit worried about my pre-order.

wondering if there is a point in camping out somewhere around midnight or waltzing in a little later. circumstances unfortunately led to me not getting a prorder.

@bigsocrates: Yeah, that's the only thing I'm worried about. If they stock so little that it'll be hard to find, otherwise I imagine it'll be in a store near me. That would be really dumb on Nintendo's part.

While I don't expect it to be a Wii level phenomenon that console's launch contributed to attitude of being patient and wait. I don't want to do the preorder/early morning door camping thing again. I'm expecting these things to hard to find at launch, so I'll just bide my time, play Zelda on Wii U and get one by the time Mario comes out. Maybe there will be a new bundle in a few months.

Day one I think it will be pretty tough if not impossible to buy off the shelf. Give it two to four weeks and I am pretty confident you will be able to grab one fairly easily at retail where I live. I think this is just Nintendo trying to create more hype with the scarcity, and try to prevent a larger amount of negative Launch Day impressions (not saying the Switch will be bad but just that more units in customer hands means more possibility for more people complaining online).

I doubt it. NIntendo has a history of severely under-producing things they should be trying to meet demand for. Be it intentional or not, it's a thing they do all too often and I see no reason why the Switch would be any different.

I suspect it will be a scalper's paradise for quite some time.

In Switzerland? They probably won't sell out, but if they did it wouldn't surprise me. This is more Playstation territory. The PS4 Pro was out of stock for a long damn time.

Your point being...?

But seriously, it's not likely you'll just be able to waltz into a Gamestop and pick one up launch day. Unless you're one of the first 10 people in the door (and apparently even that's a generous approximation).

So I answered yes, but, I think you will only get one early on maybe a day or two at best, I'm guessing people will buy it, show it to their friends who will then more than Lilkely go and buy one. So I'd say if you want one act quick. My 3 closest EBG have all pre-sold all the neon and most of there grey.

I mean they're still available on Amazon UK and Game for preorder sooooooo, it wouldn't surprise me if you could waltz into a game console retailer and buy one. You might be turned down at a couple of stores but I think it'll be possible.

If you're in North America try a Toys R Us. Most people have forgotten they exist, let alone sell electronics.

@teddie: I wouldn't be going to a GameStop; there is other stores closer that would have it. I guess I'll see. I just have the feeling that it'll be there, and if not, I imagine it's due to a lack in stock rather than a bunch of people coming to get a bunch.

It depends on where you live. Personally I'm in a small town in the midwest that only has one store which would stock it, so for me the chances of getting it by walking in are slim. If you live in a larger town or city, I'm sure there will be some units that people didn't claim or were never assigned to pre-orders. The big question in that case is can you get to those before other people do.

Considering how much trouble Amazon has been having with it's Switch pre-orders (and knowing Nintendo's history of inventory issues) I think there is an incredibly high chance of low/no stock in the first couple months. We'll see how things go after that, but I have very little faith in Nintendo at this point to be able to fulfill expectations when it comes to stock.

@mezza: Yeah, that's true. I'm in the suburbs in WA, and there are several stores around, and I think they'd have a better chance of having some in stock than the nearest GameStop. GameStop's are good places to get games when other less game related stores don't have them, but when it comes to consoles, I imagine there's less chance of getting a console since that's where most probably flock to get one, or Walmart/Best Buy or something. I'm going to check Target and Fred Meyer first.

Nope. It's not releasing here (Korea) despite March 3rd being the "international" release date.

I bet it will be possible if you're dedicated and willing to go to a bunch of stores, but I don't think you'll be able to randomly walk into any store and get one. I've got the itch to buy one even though I keep reminding myself there are literally zero games I want to play that I can't already play on consoles I own. New technology is exciting I guess. I'll probably just wait until I can get one on Amazon or Best Buy's online store.

I never go into physical stores so I don't know how much stock of any consoles they ever had, let alone on launch. That said, acquiring an online pre-order for a Switch isn't that difficult in the UK at the moment, so maybe they might also be fairly evenly available in stores.

I don't think there will be any available, but mostly because I think they'll order very few in the first place.

I honestly think Nintendo just have no idea what they're doing and will ship fewer than demand wants. A lot of people talk about the artificial demand, but they came out and said they had no idea demand would be so high fro the NES classic.... It will be hard to find one for a while.

I'd just call as many stores as you can from launch day and every day just in case someone canceled a preorder or the store had some extras.

I pre-ordered in January, and I wonder how likely it is I'll get one on the day. If people have luck wandering into a store and getting one en masse, I will be surprised, but I'm sure some will be knocking around.

I work at a walmart in a rural area. The electronics lady said only one of like 5 was claimed so far.

Honestly I might be able to just walk in and get one

I very rarely preorder things, but I'm able to afford a new console right out of the gate for the first time in my life. So I've been looking to preorder one, but none of my nearby retailers have any preorders available. I have no idea when I'll be able to get my hands on one and I'm kinda bummed out about it.

I think it'll be incredibly hard to find here in Tokyo in the first 3 months. PS4 Pro is still impossible to find at retail, and it only pops up online for 5 minutes at a time. I think Nintendo will focus more of the launch inventory on the US, and let supply trickle out in Japan.