Switch 2 preorders are different in Hong Kong
I've bought game consoles the same way for decades, and it's never failed me... yet.
As gamers around the world scramble to figure out how to preorder the Nintendo Switch 2, my quest for what will certainly be the year’s hottest device began with a WhatsApp message.
I probably didn’t even need to send the message, to be honest. You see, I know a guy who runs a game store here in Hong Kong. I’ve been going to that store for decades, and I’ve bought every major console from there since the Nintendo DS. At this point, we both know the routine: if a new gaming system is launching soon, I want it as soon as possible, and I’m going to get it from his shop.
Just before the Switch 2 launches, I expect to get a message back. He’ll probably tell me that the Switch 2 will be available a day or so early, and he’ll quote me a price that will be above — surely well above — the suggested retail price. It probably won’t be a local model, so there’s no warranty. If I want a local model or if I want to pay the standard price, I’ll have to wait a few weeks or even months. But I don’t want to wait — I never want to wait — so I’ll WhatsApp him back to say I’ll take it, then I’ll race over there to pick it up as soon as possible.
This might make Hong Kong sound a little backwards, maybe a bit lawless, but that’s not really true. The same preorder system that’s in place for most countries, one tied to your Nintendo Account, is also in place here. There’s also a bunch of branded Nintendo stores in major malls which will sell official Hong Kong versions of the Switch 2 at the standard retail price.
But I still like to buy my consoles the way I’ve always bought them, at a shopping center that I’ve been going to since I was five years old — a place that I worry won’t be around too much longer.
Golden Computer Arcade in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po district is probably my favorite place in the world. It’s a cramped warren of small shops almost entirely dedicated to video games, with a few computer parts and peripheral stores. (A parallel shopping center on a different floor, Golden Computer Centre, is focused on PCs.)
Shops there are really closer to stalls, because few actually allow you to step inside. Floor space is so limited that many are just counters facing the main corridor, with games piled high behind the (usually lone) shopkeeper.
I started going there with my parents and various uncles in the early 1980s, because it was one of the only places in Hong Kong where you could buy computer parts and video games. As both grew popular and became more widely available across the city, I kept going back to Golden by myself in the 1990s because it was the best place to buy games. With dozens of stores clustered together, you're guaranteed to find what you want. (It was also the best place to go for pirated games and PC software, but that's a story for another time.)
With online shopping and digital downloads, there aren't too many reasons to visit physical retail stores anymore. But I still go back to Golden for one key reason: their stores do not stick to a scheduled release date.
Where a traditional retailer will receive stock early but refuse to sell it until a release date set by the manufacturer, at Golden, they’ll sell it as soon as they’ve got it. This is how I got the original Switch two days early; it’s how I got the Wii three days early. And it’s how I got the PlayStation 5 a day late… but in the middle of a pandemic, when visitors were subject to mandatory two-week quarantine. I genuinely have no idea how they managed to get a Japanese PS5 console into Hong Kong that fast.
The downside to this is that there is no set price. Yes, sometimes this can work in your favor; space is so limited here that it’s not unusual to see things priced surprisingly low to clear out stock. Mostly, though, it means that if something is popular, if supply is low and demand is high, expect to pay more for it.
I have long made my peace with this tradeoff, because it means I’ll always get a console right at launch with a minimum of fuss. There’s no battle to refresh a website and hope to get your order in before it crashes, no stress about being home for delivery, no worries about whether the courier will steal the package. I know I’ll get Switch 2. My guy always comes through.
I used to visit Golden for more than just console launches; I made a point to stop by every week, sometimes even every day. New games would appear all the time, and even if I wasn’t buying, it was the perfect place to see and sometimes even play them if a friendly shop was willing to hand over a controller.
Golden used to be so jam-packed on weekends that you could barely move through the cramped corridors. At times it felt a bit like being at a crowded bar: pushing your way to the front to try and claim a bit of counter space, so you can try to catch the shopkeeper’s eye so they’ll know to come to you when they’re done with the many other customers they’re already juggling.
Now, it’s pretty empty. I’ve seen many familiar faces, so many favorite old shops, disappear. The floor that was almost entirely dedicated to video games now has discount stores with bins full of cheap USB-C cables. The other day I even spotted that harbinger of the retail apocalypse: a smartphone repair shop.
It’s a sad sight for me, because Golden is actually where my journalism career began. I always loved games and always liked telling stories, but I never put the two of them together until I realized that, without sticking to release dates, I could play new video games at Golden and write about them before anyone else. It gave me a valuable edge in the early days and put me on a path to where I am today.
Maybe that’s why I’m still so drawn to Golden; I am no stranger to finding myself retracing old steps for nostalgia. But that might be overthinking it, because I think I just enjoy the sights and sounds of it all. I enjoy being in a place where I’m physically immersed by games. I like scanning row after row of games. I enjoy talking to the shopkeepers, seeing what’s new, what people are buying, what products are placed prominently at the front and what’s hidden in the back.
I don’t go to Golden as often as I used to. But I’ll be there, hopefully a few days before June 5, to pick up my Switch 2. I just hope I’ll be back to pick up the console after that.
Ravi Hiranand
