Nintendo Is Ensuring Switch Owners Get First Crack of Pre-Ordering the Switch 2 and Not Scalpers
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Another day, another new hot piece of hardware that’s likely going to be scalped and sold for an insane amount of money. That’s been the case with many recent console and GPU launches, though with the Nintendo Switch 2, it looks like Nintendo is going to be leveling the playing field, as pre-orders directly from them will come with some restrictions.
Luckily, if you’ve been an active Switch player who has spent money on their shops, you’ll likely qualify for a pre-order.
Nintendo Allowing Direct Switch 2 Pre-Orders, But Only If You’ve Been Subscribed to NSO for a Certain Period of Time
Scalpers will have a lot of trouble scalping a Nintendo Switch 2 directly from Nintendo, as the company has revealed it will have strict restrictions on who can pre-order the console. This was revealed on Nintendo’s UK Shop (slightly different for North America), where they outlined the criteria of who can preorder off their storefront. They are as follows:
UK Instructions:
Nintendo Switch Online membership status
- Has been a Nintendo Switch Online member for at least two years continuously by 31/03/2025, with an active membership on the day that the pre-order is placed. For family memberships, the person who purchased the membership will be eligible. Other people in the family membership are not eligible. Nintendo Switch Online membership status
Play time
- Has spent a certain amount of time playing purchased/paid Nintendo Switch games, prioritising those with more playtime.
- Sharing usage information with Nintendo.
- Has opted in to share usage information with Nintendo to customise offers and recommendations.
Receive email messages from Nintendo
- Has opted in to receive promotional emails and messages from Nintendo and be opted in on the day the invitation email is sent.
North America Instructions:
- Open to Nintendo Account holders in the U.S. and Canada, who are at least 18 years old. If you are eligible, an invitation email will be sent to the email address associated with your Nintendo Account when it is your time to purchase. The invitation will be valid for 72 hours. Invitation emails will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis to registrants who have purchased a Nintendo Switch Online membership with a minimum of 12 months of paid membership and a minimum of 50 total gameplay hours, as of April 2, 2025. Once invitation emails have been sent to all registrants meeting the priority criteria, invitations will be sent to remaining eligible registrants on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Invitations are non-transferable and will be sent to the email address associated with the Nintendo Account that registered interest in purchasing Nintendo Switch 2. Optional accessories will be available to purchase alongside your system. For system and each accessory, limit one purchase per eligible Nintendo Account during the invitation period.
Seeing that it’s unlikely that a scalper has an active NSO for more than one to two years depending on the region, let alone in the bulk, and meets the rest of the criteria, we say there’s a good chance that many legit buyers will be able to get their hands on the console fairly.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t extend to other retailers such as Best Buy, Amazon, GameStop, Walmart, etc.. Still, it is a good move by the company, one we wished PlayStation had applied for when they started pre-orders for their 30th-anniversary consoles.
Hopefully these moves by Nintendo makes it so that actual fans get the console rather than someone who just wants to profit from it.
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