Switch 2 pre orders are kind of crazy right now
After years of waiting for a new Switch successor to be announced, earlier this week Nintendo finally dropped the update we were all waiting for. However, whilst many have declared the Nintendo Switch 2 the biggest console launch for Nintendo, it has fallen flat for many users.
With the price of the new Nintendo console being pretty high and the cost of the games being astronomical, many have been noticeably put off buying a Switch 2 at launch and that is before you take into account the lack of variety in games that was shown off during the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct.
However, there’s one big factor which has been added into all of this which has put many people off from buying a Switch 2 at all and that is the state of pre-orders around the world. So, let’s talk about what the heck is going on with Nintendo pre-orders and see if there’s any light at the end of the tunnel which could save the Nintendo Switch 2 from having an even more difficult launch.
When are pre-orders open for Nintendo Switch 2?
After the Switch 2 Direct, Nintendo announced that the pre-order dates would open for most of the world on 8th April 2025, but would open for America on 9th April 2025. However, since this original announcement, the UK has seen already seen pre-orders go live with various retailers selling out reasonably quickly, and Nintendo made a surprise announcement about the U.S. pre-order launch which threw a lot of people off.
Nintendo announced yesterday that it was going to delay Switch 2 pre-orders in America and they would no longer be going live as of 9th April 2025. The reason given was the current situation in America with additional tariffs being brought in.
Whilst we don’t know anything more just yet, this could well mean that the prices in America for a Nintendo Switch 2 console could be higher than the $449/$499 prices that have been seen both for the console on its own and the one bundled with Mario Kart World.
What are Nintendo doing to stop scalpers?
Then there’s another problem with Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders for those who are looking to purchase a console directly from Nintendo and that is in who qualifies for a pre-order.
Whilst no pre-order dates or information on who could order a console were shared until after the Direct, it is clear that Nintendo are trying to stop scalpers from buying one through their website and giving more of an opportunity for genuine customers to get their hands on one instead.
Credit: Nintendo
In order to purchase a pre-order through Nintendo’s website, you have to be invited to purchase one when they open up for you. The criteria for who gets prioritised for Swtich 2 pre-orders is dependent several different factors.
The first of the criteria is that you need to be a Nintendo Switch Online membership holder for at least two years continuously by 31st March 2025 and you need an active membership on the day that the pre-order is placed. For those of you who have a family membership, only the person who purchased the membership will be able to be eligible for the invite, everyone else won’t be able to get an invite for the pre-orders.
From there, Nintendo is then prioritising those who have spent longer playing their Nintendo Switch games. There’s no specific required play time given, but I would anticipate there is a minimum from the last year which you would have to have put into your Switch.
Both of these criteria, I don’t see an issue with. If you are paying for a Nintendo Switch Online membership, then the chances are that you are locked into playing for a longer period of time on a Nintendo console. However, for those of you who don’t have a Nintendo Switch Online membership, this may be a kick in the teeth, but I wouldn’t say this will lock you out of pre-ordering directly from Nintendo themselves, it may mean instead that you would be in an open pool and would get invited in after everyone else has has an opportunity to pre-order.
What does concern me is the last of the criteria which Nintendo is using to define who gets the priority for buying a pre-order through them. You have to be sharing usage data win Nintendo and you have to be opted in to share usage data with Nintendo for the purpose of customising offers and recommendations.
Now, I’m not a fan of any company using your data to personalise the experience you have on their platforms, unless it genuinely makes it better. In most cases, what companies like Nintendo would do is use that data to form models of what players like you do on their systems to then make sure you spend as long as possible playing their games and are more likely to spend more money with them.
Nintendo making the decision to do this feels really icky to me because no company should be telling you that you have to hand over your data in return for being able to potentially buy a console at launch. Sadly, that is the way the world is going, but it’s something that you need to be aware of if you are planning to pre-order a Switch 2 from Nintendo before the pre-order invites are sent out.
The one good thing in Nintendo doing it like this and requiring data is that the scalpers don’t stand a chance of getting through Nintendo’s systems without Nintendo spotting malicious activity so I think the decision to hand out the invites like this is a smart move from Nintendo to allow more people to get a hold of a Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order easily.
Switch 2 pre-orders in UK are easy to get
As I mentioned earlier, it’s not all doom and gloom in terms of the pre-orders. In some regions, like the UK, pre-orders are already available from retailers way earlier than the original date of 8th April given by Nintendo.
The first retailer to go was Smyths Toys and they put their pre-orders live a few hours after the Switch 2 Direct finished and, as they were the first to put pre-orders out online, they sold out very quickly. But since then, more have gone live and the pre-order situation has been really interesting in terms of how easy it has been to get hold of a Switch 2.
The day after the Direct, I had seen another creator say on Twitter that they had managed to get a pre-order of a Nintendo Switch 2 bundled with Mario Kart World at about 11:30am. When I saw this at 3:10pm, I thought there was no way there was still stock left of Switch 2 and yet, to my surprise, when I looked at the retailer they had purchased the Nintendo Switch 2 from, they still had stock so I went to order one to check it would work, and it did, but I wasn’t guaranteed to get it delivered on 5th June when Switch 2 launches.
That evening, I got an email from Smyths Toys to say they were doing pre-orders in store and the next morning I went to try my luck and see if I could get one on launch day from the store, and I got an email inviting me to the Amazon pre-order, so I checked and there was stock so I placed an order.
Then I went into the store and was able to purchase a third pre-order of a Switch 2 to pick up on launch day. Somehow, within a 15 hour period, I had managed to pre-order three Nintendo Switch 2 consoles. I have since cancelled two of the pre-orders because I only need and want one console for right now, but I have never had it that easy to pre-order a console before!
Scalpers aren’t going to win
After this had happened, I had to sit and ask myself honestly, are people really that put off buying a console from the prices alone? And, I don’t think it’s a case of the price of the console and games alone is what’s driving this.
Yes, inflation is going up, and more people are put off purchasing games and consoles to play those games because they are considered luxury items when players like yourself may be struggling to buy food for the week, but I think there’s more to it than just the prices.
Credit: Nintendo
Nintendo’s practices around the whole Switch 2 launch so far have not been the best and I would argue that their lack of transparency is not helping give consumers confidence in buying their next generation console.
Not only did Nintendo keep the prices quiet, they also held back important information like physical copies of games being more expensive than digital games, and when you do buy a physical game it may end up being a game key card which will make you download a digital version of the game from inserting the cartridge into your Nintendo Switch 2.
I honestly believe this is going to be a continuous trend for Nintendo unless they really do something to fix the issues consumers have right now with the pricing and lack of transparency they have provided, but there’s one thing which we can say from all of this, I don’t see the scalpers winning at all when it comes to reselling Nintendo Switch 2’s.
I did see some listings from scalpers go up after the pre-orders started in the UK and they were listing pre-sale pre-orders, not even guarantees of getting a console, just the possibility that you could get into a pre-sale queue to get a Switch 2 for around £600 ($773 USD/€705). With how easy Nintendo Switch 2 has been to pre-order over here, I don’t see scalpers making any money this time, and I’m glad about that.
What do you think about the pre-order situation with Nintendo Switch 2? Are you going to be going out and getting one or are you just waiting to see what happens? Let’s talk about it in the comments below, and I’ll see you in the next one.
