Switch 2 Preorder Mayhem Prompts Sincere Apology By Nintendo President
Whatever preparations Nintendo made to bolster the number of Switch 2 consoles that will be available at launch, it's not enough to meet demand. In a post on X from the official Nintendo account, company president Shuntaro Furukawa issued a lengthy apology for an expected shortfall of available units to satiate all of the lottery applications for Nintendo's own preorder system in Japan, with the number of applications received being "far beyond our expectations."
He's referring to the preorder system that Nintendo implemented in its My Nintendo Store in Japan. To make things as fair as possible—and to keep scalpers at bay—interested buyers could submit an application for a lottery selection, and anyone lucky enough to be chosen would be able to preorder a Switch 2. However, Nintendo was somehow caught off guard by how many applications were submitted. According to Furukawa, around 2.2 million people in Japan alone have signed up for the lottery.
To atone for the shortfall, anyone not selected in the initial lottery will automatically carry over into a second lottery sale. The good news there is that non-selected participants don't have to deal with the hassle of reapplying, on top of the disappointment of not being selected. And the bad news?
"Even including the number of units for the second lottery sale, we cannot fulfill all of the applications we received. We deeply apologize for not being able to meet your expectations despite our advance preparations. In response to this demand, we are currently working on further strengthening our production system," Furukawa said (via X's translation tool).
古川です。みなさまのお手元に「Nintendo Switch 2」をお届けすべく、事前に多くの部材を調達し、生産を進めてきました。4月2日には「Nintendo Switch…
— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) April 23, 2025
Furukawa apologizes multiple times in the lengthy social media post, and it's hard to fault Nintendo for not being able to keep up with demand, even with the Switch 2 allegedly being delayed from an earlier release date. The gaming industry is a massive business, and especially in the current climate, anything new and capable on the hardware side is seeing rabid demand (try finding a GeForce RTX 5090 in stock at the baseline $1,999 MSRP).
The Switch in particular is super-popular, ranking as Nintendo's second-best selling console of all time at over 150 million units sold. That's nearly 50 million more than the Wii, and just a few million short of the Nintendo DS, the company's top-selling console of all time at 154.02 million units.
Nintendo's Switch 2 ups the ante with a bigger display, faster hardware, more storage, expanded capabilities, retooled Joy Controllers, an upgraded dock that supports 4K and 120 fps gaming, and more. Add in some level of backwards compatibility, and the Switch 2 was destined to attract a massive audience.
Time will tell if it's a worthy generational upgrade. In the meantime, anticipate the Switch 2 being another hard-to-obtain tech item, which is pretty much the norm for a new product launch these days. To give yourself the best shot, check out our Switch 2 preorder guide with tips and strategies for beating the bots and scalpers. We also posted an article how to preorder the Switch 2 at the stroke of midnight tonight, as several retailers are holding midnight preorder and launch events.
Both articles are filled with product links, but here's a few for reference...
- Switch 2 Landing Page at Walmart
- Switch 2 at Walmart
- Switch 2 + Mario Kart World at Walmart
- Switch 2 at Best Buy
- Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle at Best Buy
- Switch 2 at Target
- Switch 2 + Mario Kart World at Target
Keep in mind that at some retailers, preorders begin tonight at midnight. Good luck!
