What's up everybody? So, I'm coming in after taking a break for a weekend. I was thinking about taking the Monday off. I didn't really have much to talk about and I didn't want to just force a video for the sake of forcing one out. Everybody's talking about Pokémon running at 60 frames per second and how amazing it looks. And it was just too easy of a tap in for me to just sit there and complain about that. Like, wow, this console is so amazing. It can finally play our terrible performing last gen games at an acceptable resolution and frame rate. Let's all sing the Nintendo praises for finally catching up to 201 I don't know 16 18. That's yeah I I wasn't really interested in making a video like that. But this actually kind of cracked me up. So I decided I'd get something out late in the evening. With only a few days remaining until the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, all of the usual pre-launch stuff is starting to make its way around. Leaked pictures of boxes at department stores. Nintendo Switch One displays being cleared out so they can set up the Nintendo Switch 2 displays. And of course, endless amount of people either getting giddy because their product is soon to be shipped, so their credit card was finally charged, or naturally more and more people facing cancellations. It's all of that usual pre-launch stuff. But I did see one thing today that made me kind of chuckle. a picture that was shared on Reddit by user Alternative Basket 19. A giant Nintendo branded display being sent out to the department stores that says out of stock Nintendo Switch 2. Now, on one hand, this seems like nothing, right? It's just a nice way to have a sign that says out of stock, making it easier for the store owners to put a sign out there and let people know that they indeed do not have any Nintendo Switch 2Os available. But on the other hand, this isn't very common. In most cases, specifically in previous console launches, the companies want you to know that there is generally something available, at least at first glance. They want people passing by the store to go in, ask about said item, find out that it's not in stock, figure out if they can pre-order it or when they can return to the store in order to purchase it. Part of the reason the hype of the PlayStation 5 was as extravagant as it was during the time of its release was because so many people knew that it was out of stock. It was hard to get. It was a rare item and you were accomplishing something by being able to purchase one. People started to feel like they were winning something despite the fact that they were paying for and purchasing something. But in the case of the launch of the PlayStation 5 and even with the Series X, a console that nobody looks at as being such a successful groundbreaking achievement during their launches due to the nature of COVID shipment delays, chip shortages, and just in general such a high demand for a product that was being released during a worldwide pandemic where everybody was bored. There was genuinely a shortage in stock. And this shortage in stock caused the hype and the buyin to these consoles just extend for an abnormal amount of time. There was no manufacturing of hype needed on the side of PlayStation and Xbox. It just came naturally due to the nature of the world. But in Nintendo's case, they're creating signs that say the Nintendo Switch 2 is out of stock from now. They're manufacturing the hype. This way, if they happen to sell out, they can put these signs out there. It creates a narrative that this extremely in- demand item is flying right off the shelves so you could inquire about it while at the same time promising people that they are going to have so many units available right at launch and continuing on after launch. Now, I don't need to tell anybody where I stand. I'm already basically a conspiracy theorist at this point when it comes to how well Nintendo is claiming they're doing at this launch. I've already played out my cards and said that I don't think the Switch 2 is moving as fast as they had expected it. And various statements made by Furukawa and even Doug Bowser have kind of convinced me that that is the case already. And I think them sending out these giant signs that have a big out of stock written on them on the top and a giant picture of the Nintendo Switch 2 on it all just adds on to my idea that they're actually probably not doing well over here. Now, of course, the alternative is it could be that they just did not produce nearly as many Nintendo Switch 2Os as they promised they would. Or, you know, maybe it is that the entire world out there, everybody that has ever been a gamer or will ever be a gamer has tried to pre-order the Nintendo Switch 2 and they just cannot keep up with that demand. And so Nintendo figured out of the goodness of our heart, let's send these signs out to the stores so people know that we're out of stock. Let's help out the little guy that works at Best Buy so he doesn't have to write it on a 8 by11 paper and stick it on the door. But no, I think this is just a very fun marketing tool that they use. Naturally, you know, Nintendo is not the first company to artificially create extra hype by creating less than they should have going into a launch. You know, they're the kings of time exclusives. They're the kings of drip feeding. They are the kings of spreading out all of their game releases in order to ensure that every month of the year you have something to buy and every month of the year you remain subscribed to their platform. They're not going to release everything all at once, even if it's already available because they don't want you to have to choose between two games. They want you to buy one and finish it and then buy the next one. It's all smart business at the end of the day. Which is why I, as somebody that appreciates the field of marketing, find this sign that they're shipping to the stores to be kind of hilarious. Think about it. This nice big red sign with the picture of the Switch 2 on it is going to be laid out in front of, I don't know, a Target or a Walmart or Best Buy. The photographer is going to snag a picture of this sign with the store in the background slightly blurred out. And then the Wall Street Journal is going to write a paper about how the Switch 2 is sold out everywhere and nobody can get their hands on it. The headlines will write themselves, but the hype will be generated by Nintendo. This is going to look very good for them after the first round of pre-orders and deliveries come in before they lift the lever and start their next round of pre-orders post the launch of their console because whether it's manufactured or not, in the beginning they will be out of stock. that's going to be inevitable. But it's also very confident, very arrogant, sky-high egos on Nintendo's end because they believe that they will automatically be out of stock. So, let's send everybody these signs from now so people know just how much everybody has bought into the Nintendo Switch, too. Because let's be real, on launch day, these signs are all going to be at the front of every store and maybe even for the first few months. And Nintendo wants to make sure they're marketing extra so that people know that they're sold out. Even if there are more and more pre-orders coming in, more units being shipped over in the same manner of which the Nintendo Switch was coming into shelves and very difficult to pick up in the beginning of its life cycle. In the same way that we struggled to get a Nintendo Wii U in the first few months of its life cycle because naturally these consoles are usually very difficult to buy into when they first come out. But that's the point. It was always a natural inability to keep up with demand. But this is how modern gaming works. This is specifically also how modern Nintendo works. And you know something, it's actually working on me right now. Because at this moment, more than any other moment, since my eyes have been open to how disturbing Nintendo has been going into the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, have I decided that I want to buy something from Nintendo more than I could possibly imagine. To the point where I am willing to pay more for it than I should be willing to pay. I want one of these signs so bad that I am legitimately going to go store to store to find them over the next few months in hopes that I can buy one off of those companies when the Nintendo Switch 2 sales eventually level off. That would be one of those fun souvenirs to have. I'll use it as a backdrop in one of my videos when Nintendo does a price drop. Because as much as I understand why Nintendo is so confident in the way they're doing things, and as much as I understand that the Nintendo Switch 2 is going to have a regular 2025 launch that is by nature record-breaking because of bots and scalpers and people just not being able to wait 5 minutes to buy something. I also think them making these signs is really tempting fate. I'm getting major Dewey Defeats Truman vibes out of this one. And I got a hunch that these signs will not have nearly as long as a shelf life that Nintendo expects. So when these inevitably get picked up and taken up to the dumpster, I want to be in the back of that store ready to pick it up and throw it in my truck so I can just bask in that sweet, sweet irony. But that's really all I got for today. It's a shorter video because I was not going to make a video, but then I saw this thing and I'm just like, man, I got to talk about this one. Nintendo wants the world to believe the Nintendo Switch 2 is out of stock, and they will do whatever they can to make sure the world knows that the Nintendo Switch 2 is out of stock, even if that shortage is entirely manufactured on their end, because that's what good companies do. So, thanks for listening, and I will catch you guys over on the next one. [Music]