GameStop expects the Switch to be hard to find through 2017

(credit: JeepersMedia)

The successful launch of the Nintendo Switch earlier this month is already creating retail shortages and steep markups on the secondary market. Now, major retailer GameStop says it expects those kinds of shortages and nearly instant sell-through of shipments to last throughout 2017 in its more than 7,000 retail stores.

"The demand is incredibly strong for this [Switch] column," GameStop COO Tony Bartel said in an earnings call yesterday evening. "As soon as we get into our stores, it's out within hours. We anticipate that we're going to be chasing supply this entire year."

CEO Paul Raines said elsewhere in the call that the retailer's initial shipment of Switch systems sold out in two days and that "multiple replenishments since the launch... have sold out in hours." Bartel added that "there is tremendous demand for this, and we just don't know how high it is because every time we get it out in our stores it's literally gone."

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