Buying and securing a Nintendo Switch 2 could be difficult, even if you have the money. But if you’re worried about your order being taken by a scalper, fear not, Nintendo’s got a contingency plan to deal with meddlers.
The age of technology comes with many drawbacks, one of which is scalpers and bots. Whenever there’s a huge demand for tickets or new hardware, expect online queues. Where there are online queues, there are bots. It can make buying and pre-ordering items almost impossible as humans can’t cope with the speed and efficiency of scalpers and their bots.
Nintendo has taken this nuisance to heart and challenges scalpers to get through a new three-part system designed to favor Switch 1 owners, making a Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order a possibility for those who can afford its price.
Nintendo is Giving Switch 1 Owners Priority For Nintendo Switch 2 Pre-Orders
As reported by Tom Warren, Nintendo is: “Limiting its own preorders to Switch 1 owners that have an active Switch Online membership and have spent a certain amount of time playing purchased / paid Nintendo Switch games, prioritizing those with more playtime.”
Their X message was accompanied by an interesting picture showing the criteria. There are three distinct areas of Nintendo ‘loyalty’ that consumers need to meet:
- Nintendo Switch Online Membership Status: Has been a Nintendo Switch Online member for at least two years continuously by 31/03/25, 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.
- Play time:
- Has spent a certain amount of time playing purchased / paid Nintendo Switch games, prioritizing 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 email invitation is sent.
We’re still not sure if you need to meet every point mentioned here. Even with over a hundred million units sold, this feels like a very specific set of Nintendo Switch owners.
Nintendo has a plan to challenge Switch 2 scalpers. It’s limiting its own preorders to Switch 1 owners that have an active Switch Online membership and have “spent a certain amount of time playing purchased / paid Nintendo Switch games, prioritizing those with more playtime.”
On one hand, it seems like the perfect way to deal with scalpers. However, many people (myself included) who’ve not committed to the Nintendo Switch Online membership but have spent lots of money on games could be unfairly punished.
We’ll look to see if Nintendo provides more clarity on this scalping measure. Give us your feedback on Nintendo’s plan in our Insider Gaming Forum. We also have a weekly newsletter, so you don’t miss out on the latest stories.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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i agree, i have around 20 first party titles, but during dry spells my sub has lapsed as they arent known for the best online experience. so hopefully fans who have a history of buying and playing their games wont be punished because they couldnt spy on us with our data.