Coronavirus In South Korea: 1,000 People Line Up For Chance To Go Home With New Nintendo Switch

In South Korea, more than 1,000 people lined up for the chance to bring home a Nintendo Switch, despite the ongoing social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Nintendo Switch remains hugely popular in the country, despite stock shortages due to shipping delays.

The Suwon lottery put up gaming device as a major tempting South Koreans to come home with the prized Nintendo Switch, Game Rant reported. The lottery released only 300 tickets with a chance to win 45 consoles. That, however, did not stop the line from growing into more than a thousand people. A similar incident was also reported in Daegu, with people hoping to spend the remainder of the quarantine days playing with a Switch.

The recent release of the increasingly-popular “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” has been cited as one of the reasons behind Switch’s popularity. Even though the game is time-consuming in nature, the coronavirus-imposed lockdowns have left a lot of people with a surplus of time on their hands, making them desperate for activities and other probable past time.

Another reason that might be behind the popularity of the Switch is the recent endorsement of Korean industry idols. According to Yahoo! News, popular K-Pop idols like Lalisa “Lisa” Manoban of the group Blackpink and Jeon “Somi” So-Mi, formerly of the group I.O.I, were pictured together playing “Animal Crossing: New Horizons" in the Black Label headquarters in Seoul.

Somi was currently shooting the fifth episode of her reality TV show, “I am Somi,” and Lisa visited the studio during post-work hours. She had her Switch with her, and she decided to bring it out to play, showing Somi her character in the popular simulation game.

The Switch has suffered from an artificial shortage ever since its factories were closed due to coronavirus fears. To make matters worse, the shortage of supplies have sent prices skyrocketing. Even the standard SRPs have risen, but to add to the problems, people are buying Nintendo Switches by the bulk, and then re-selling them for unreal prices.