The Nintendo Switch has been well-liked since its release, but it's had a recent surge driving its popularity even higher due to the COVID-19 lockdowns impacting people everywhere. The Switch and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, in particular, are being seen as a great way to get away from being cooped up in one's own home. But plenty of potential players have been unable to get their hands on a Switch, and that's apparently due in part to botting.
The Switch's recent boom has driven Nintendo's shares to a new 52 week high, and the company is scrambling to produce and ship more consoles. However, every time a restock occurs they sell out just as quickly.
A new report coming from Motherboard reveals that part of this shortage is being driven by Switch resellers using a particular bot called the Bird Bot. The bot effectively scrapes Walmart and Best Buy's sites, scouring them regularly for when the Switch is back in stock. When the bot detects that it's currently available, it automatically puts as many as it can in the shopping cart and checks out. This can lead even a large stock of Switches to selling out in just minutes.
The Switch isn't the only system that's being scooped up with the Bird Bot. The bot can be customized to work with just about any product sold online, and users are evidently chasing after the standalone Oculus Quest VR headset as well, which has seen similar shortages and regularly sells out in minutes.
While those who just want to buy a single Switch to keep can certainly use the bot, it does require some trial and error to set up. The current batch of users doesn't seem to be primarily using it for this purpose, either, as the Discord channel set up for the bot has plenty of users coming forward with success stories of how many Switches they've scored in order to mark up at high prices on eBay.
Needless to say, those who just want a console for themselves won't be happy about this, as this just adds insult to injury after seeing the ridiculous prices the Switch is being resold for. It's become such a desperate situation that one person actually built their own Nintendo Switch after failing to find one in stores.
Source: Vice/Motherboard