Nintendo Announces There Won’t Be Enough Nintendo Switch 2 Consoles To Meet Demand at Launch in Japan

On the eve of Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders, Nintendo announced that millions of players in Japan have signed up for a lottery to get a chance to buy the console. However, the company later revealed that demand is so high, they won’t be able to deliver enough units for launch. Did you think $80 games would stop people? Apparently, consumers don’t care about rising console prices!

Nintendo Says Switch 2 Won’t have Enough COnsoles at launch

In a lengthy social media post on April 23, Nintendo revealed that over 2.2 million people in Japan had entered their official pre-order lottery. What’s particularly interesting is that the company then admitted demand had “far exceeded” their expectations—and that they wouldn’t be able to deliver enough consoles for everyone trying to get one. Could this give us a hint at what to expect for U.S. pre-orders? God, I hope not.

Here’s the full excerpt: “We received an extremely large number of applications—approximately 2.2 million people in Japan alone. However, this number far exceeds our expectations, and far exceeds the number of Nintendo Switch 2 consoles that can be delivered from the My Nintendo Store on June 5th. Therefore, unfortunately, we expect that a significant number of customers will not be selected when the winners are announced tomorrow, April 24th.”

It’s not all doom and gloom for Japanese fans, though, as Nintendo confirmed that those who aren’t selected in the lottery will automatically be chosen once more consoles are in stock. It’s also worth noting that Japanese retailers will have units available as well. Still, the explosion in demand is concerning—especially in a region that traditionally doesn’t see massive launch sales. If Japan is this desperate for the Nintendo Switch 2, it really makes you wonder how things will go worldwide.

U.S. Pre-order Times

Nintendo Switch 2 U.S. pre-orders officially go live tonight, April 23, 2025 (or April 24, depending on your region). Thankfully, retailers have shown us some mercy and provided the exact times pre-orders will go live on their websites.

Retailer	Pre-Order Start Time
Best Buy	April 24 at 12:00 AM ET / 9:00 PM PST
Walmart	April 24 at 12:00 AM ET / 9:00 PM PST
Target	April 24 at 12:00 AM ET / 9:00 PM PST
GameStop	April 24 at 11:00 AM ET / 8:00 AM PST
Amazon	N/A (Currently not taking)

It’s kind of funny because during the Mario Kart World Direct, players crashed the livestream to spam “Drop the price” in the chat. And in online circles, there’s been a lot of anger over Nintendo charging $80 for their games. But if the Japanese pre-order registrations are anything to go by, it seems like most consumers don’t care about the price. Literally—they just want their next-gen Zelda device. Which, to be fair, I totally get. I’m buying the Nintendo Switch 2 on day one purely for Pokémon Legends Z-A.

Another thing to point out is that Nintendo has shipped a lot more units to regions like the U.S. and EU. So, regardless of the unprecedented demand in Japan, international customers actually have more units available to buy. Still, as someone who really wants a Nintendo Switch 2, it’s hard not to feel a little sense of dread. Heck, we even recently saw Stellar Blade figurines sell out in minutes—and they cost over three thousand dollars! I hope everyone who wants the new console gets one, but we should probably prepare for the worst.