SEGA has confirmed to technology publication Ars Technica that the SEGA Mega Drive Mini 2 will be only be produced in small numbers for the west due to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage. Those of you hoping to get one of the devices later this year in North America should be made aware that it is only available to order via Amazon.com and that the consoles this time are shipped from Japan, which could possibly cause potential customs issues. The Mega Drive Mini 2 hasn’t been announced at all for Europe, presumably due to the shortages, and is rumoured to be arriving here in February 2023, if at all. This is a massive setback compared to the original SEGA Mega Drive Mini which was readily available to pre-order from all retailers at launch and shortly after. The SEGA Mega Drive Mini 2 includes games which were not included in the original, along with SEGA Mega CD games. The first mini console was excellent, so it seems if you want to get your hands on one you will need to pre-order.
“My questions about Genesis Mini 2 shipments were forwarded to Sega of Japan’s corporate office, which eventually confirmed that the new miniaturized console was a “Japan-only project” for the company. “The Sega Genesis Mini 2 could only be produced in small numbers due to the global semiconductor shortage,” reads a letter from the Sega president’s office, so the company opted to produce a small Western batch of Genesis Mini 2s alongside its order of Mega Drive Mini 2s. “The number of units for this project makes up around one-tenth of the total for the previous Genesis Mini,” the letter states.
Ars Technica
Funny, they didn’t mention the severe supply shortages and ultra-limited release when they hyped up the Western announcement on Twitter. Good ol’ Sega
They had plenty, problem was scalpers buying up as many as they could so they could “feed their family”. Heck even the SNES mini was the same and guess what? Scalpers were the reason for scarcity.
On to the subject: the semiconductor shortage plus scalpers will mean it will take 666yrs to find one compared to pre-shortage, even in that era it wasn’t that hard to find, i mean it was but nowhere near as bad as current. I’ll try and preorder one.
Yup, I certainly suggest pre-ordering.
Amazon has them for pre order still
Also when the news originally broke about the Mega Drive Mini 2 coming west I checked SEGA Europe’s Twitter to find out what was happening with the European release and lo and behold they have closed their European account.
More like “We want to create an artificial demand”