Most companies spend millions on flashy launch campaigns filled with impossible promises and celebrity endorsements. Nintendo just sent stores cardboard signs admitting they can’t make enough consoles. While gaming forums explode with pre-order anxiety and TikTok creators document their quest for launch day units, Nintendo’s response cuts through the noise with refreshing honesty—a surprisingly grounded move for a company facing sky-high expectations tied to the Switch 2 sales outlook.
Two days before the Switch 2 hits shelves on June 5, Nintendo distributed official “Out of Stock” signs to major US retailers including Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Costco, and Staples. It’s the kind of brutal honesty that would make other companies’ marketing teams break out in hives.
The Cardboard Truth Campaign
These aren’t hastily scribbled “SOLD OUT” notes taped to empty shelves. Nintendo designed proper branded signage that looks more professional than most product displays. As Kotaku noted in their report, “It’s certainly easier to mass-produce vast stacks of cardboard than consoles… the sizeable cardboard signs Nintendo appears to be shipping not only look far more professional, but also perform the handy task of also being giant reminders that the Switch 2 is a thing that exists.”
Nintendo anticipates stock issues, especially given official warnings about limited availability in Japan versus overwhelming customer demand. The company learned from previous launches where generic “sorry, we’re out” signs did nothing to maintain brand presence during sellouts, marking a rare example of foresight in a legacy shaped by some of the worst decisions Nintendo made.
This strategy transforms disappointment into advertising, more calculated than a Succession power play. Every empty shelf becomes a billboard reminding customers what they couldn’t buy and should desperately want.
When Scarcity Becomes Strategy
Nintendo has a documented history of product shortages dating back to the Wii launch day chaos and original Switch, similar to industry-wide shortages seen with the PS5 and Xbox Series X during the pandemic. But this is the first time they’ve turned inventory limitations into a coordinated messaging campaign.
Reddit users captured the retail reality perfectly. “Got these signs in from Nintendo, they got jokes,” posted one retail worker who shared photos of the branded signage. Another user predicted the inevitable: “Every retail worker knows they’ll have 10 people a week, maybe more, stand in front of that sign and yell at them about going to get the extra consoles from ‘the back’ like the stock room is Narnia for electronics.”
The psychology runs deeper than simple FOMO in marketing. Nintendo isn’t just creating scarcity—they’re making it visible, turning every retail location into a monument to unattainable desire.
If you’re planning to grab a Switch 2 on launch day, these signs are Nintendo’s way of saying good luck with that. The company isn’t just managing expectations—they’re weaponizing them.
The message lands with surgical precision: demand will crush supply, empty shelves are inevitable, and Nintendo would rather own that narrative than let frustrated customers create it for them. In a world of overpromised launches and under-delivered hype, sometimes the most effective marketing is just telling people the truth.
