If you want to pre-order Switch 2 right at launch, you’ll have to prove that you’re a true Nintendo fan. And this is no exaggeration.
The company decided to make life difficult for speculators who buy consoles and resell them at inflated prices. Nintendo is introducing electronic queues, a priority system, and all of this requires you to be an active player of the first console.
The main condition for pre-ordering on the official website is at least 50 hours of play on the original Switch as of April 2, 2025. This means that casual buyers who just want to cash in on the shortage won’t be able to pre-order easily. Or those who wanted to join the Nintendo ecosystem for the first time — will have to wait.
But that’s not all. To get priority access to your order, you need to have an active Switch Online subscription for at least 12 months. Nintendo will also check whether the user has agreed to share their game time statistics — without this, the system simply won’t be able to take into account your hours.
How the pre-order system will work
It seems that Nintendo is using a two-stage approach to pre-orders. On April 8 in Europe and April 9 in North America, pre-orders will open to everyone through retailers.
However, the May 8 stage through My Nintendo Store is more exclusive and focused on loyal customers. For example, those who have an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription and some play time will be given priority. Nintendo warns that once you receive the invitation email, you will have only 72 hours to complete the purchase. If you don’t, the console will go to the next person in line, and you’ll have to start from scratch. It is not allowed to stand in line for someone else or give your own invitation.
The official price of Switch 2 is €469. The updated console will have a 7.9-inch (20 cm) LCD screen with 1080p resolution, 256 GB of internal storage, and an additional USB-C port at the top of the device. A new C button for voice chat in games will also be added. More for details on the main characteristics, follow the link.
We can conclude that Nintendo really wants to prevent resales and give priority to those who actually use the company’s consoles. However, this does not guarantee that everyone will get a Switch 2 at launch.
Source: IGN
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