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Quarantine and chill has video game connoisseurs going nuts, and the console that’s scratching their itch is the Nintendo Switch … something you’ll have to pay big bucks for nowadays.
It’s true … Nintendo Switches are the go-to video game carrier right now during the outbreak, and it seems like folks who figured that out too late are now having to pony up and pay a premium price if they wanna get their hands on one. We’re talking $200-$300 markups, maybe more.
We’ve spoken to big box and electronic retailers like Best Buy and Target out here in the L.A. area, as well as some locations in NYC … they all tell us the same thing — they’re completely out of Switches. No locations within 250 miles of L.A. are shipping them either.
That’s not to say you can’t still get a hold of one — we’ve heard of some lucky gamers in L.A. snagging one off of GameStop about a week ago out of sheer luck … it just got delivered this weekend. GameStop’s site says they’re out and on backorder ’til April 30, but we know one person who recently checked and found they had a few in stock online for a brief time, and they jumped on it at the regular $299 price, too. That’s a steal these days.
Fact is … if you head on over to Amazon right now, you’ll see they still have them available for purchase. You’ll just have to pay upwards of $400 to $500 or more to get one, which is overpriced … but also how the market works. Supply and demand, baby!
While tons of people who have a Nintendo Switch right now are resorting to classic Mario games — like Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario Party, etc. — and playing online with their friends … the true hot ticket Switch item at the moment in Animal Crossing, which just came out with a new edition, “New Horizons,” this past week to incredibly high fanfare.
We’ve heard of lines out the door — even with quarantine regulations and social distancing in place — over the past few days at places like Walmart, Best Buy and others, so people could pick up their pre-ordered copy. It’s a simulation-type video game … escapism at its finest.
At this point though … good luck finding a Switch or AC. Sounds like they’re both flying off the shelves and virtually gone.