Japanese gamers love Pokémon, this is not a mystery, but how fast can a Pokémon 3DS bundle sell out at a big retailer like Amazon Japan? Very, very fast.
Yesterday the embargo for preorders of Pokémon X and Y was lifted, and Japanese gamers almost literally rushed the barricades, as communicated by Amazon itself via Twitter.
【ポケモン祭り】十万個級の在庫で8/10 朝10時：予約解禁→11時：ポケセン限定3DS完売→19時：同梱版完売→現在：ソフト単品だけ持ちこたえています [商品一覧] http://t.co/AAJRyi8fHK ※完売の商品もキャンセルが出ると予約できます
— Amazon.co.jp (@AmazonJP) August 10, 2013
What the tweet says is pretty simple: the retailer had an allowance of about 100,000 units (it’s not specified if the number refers only to the bundles or to the whole stock). The embargo on preorders was lifted at 10 in the morning. One hour later (11 AM), the Pokemon Center (PokeSen) bundle with a limited edition golden 3DS was sold out. At 19:00 (7 PM) the standard 3DS bundle was sold out as well. At the moment they only have the game by itself in stock.
That’s what you call “flying off the shelves” even if in this case the shelves are entirely virtual.
