Nintendo Switch 2 comes out everywhere, but there may not be enough to go around because of high demand

Nintendo’s (7974.T), opens new tab Switch 2 came out on Thursday, and the more powerful next-generation gaming device is likely to be in high demand around the world.

CEO of Kantan Games, Serkan Toto, said, “The demand seems to be through the roof.”

The Switch came out in 2017 and came after the Wii U, which didn’t do very well. Games like two “The Legend of Zelda” games and the COVID-19 smash hit “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” made the home-portable device a huge hit.

Many things about the Switch 2 are the same as the first one, but it has a bigger screen, better images, and games like “Mario Kart World” when it comes out.

Piers Harding-Rolls, an expert at Ampere Analysis, said, “The much larger group of Switch users should lead to stronger adoption in the early stages of its lifecycle.”

He told them that Nintendo was better ready this time to handle the high demand.

The launch of the $499.99 Switch 2 will show how well Nintendo can handle its supply chain during the trade war between the US and China.

Nintendo said last month that it expected to sell 15 million Switch 2 units this fiscal year.

President Shuntaro Furukawa said that Nintendo will increase production to meet high demand and focus on sales marketing to try to beat expectations.

The company is known for making low-budget predictions, and they also think they will sell 4.5 million Switch units.

Nintendo said that 2.2 million people in Japan applied for the Switch 2 sales draw on its My Nintendo Store. Target (TGT.N) pre-orders were sold out in less than two hours.

Toto from Kantan Games said, “It will be weeks or months before you can walk into a store and buy a Switch 2.”

Investors also have very high hopes for the new gadget.

Shares of Nintendo are close to all-time highs and have gone up almost 30% so far this year.

One worry is whether the Switch 2 will still be popular after the most dedicated gamers have updated.

“The volume of first-party games on offer at launch isn’t as strong as it could be, so some more casual users may wait and see how the games available build over the next one to two years before making the leap,” Harding-Rolls said.

Ampere thinks that more than 100 million Switch 2s will be sold by 2030. The Switch has been bought by 152 million people.