Nintendo of America cancelling online preorders of all new Switch games

https://mynintendonews.com/2024/05/17/nintendo-apparently-not-allowing-retailers-to-sell-physical-versions-of-new-games-online/

It's unknown why they are doing this (though the comments on article believe it may be an anti-scalper measure), but if you want something like Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door physically, you have to actually go to a store to buy it now.

They're probably trying to curb leaks and piracy. Literally every major Switch game ended up getting leaked online and available on devices with custom firmware days and sometimes weeks in advance due to online retailers shipping orders earlier than expected.

Bat178 posted...

https://mynintendonews.com/2024/05/17/nintendo-apparently-not-allowing-retailers-to-sell-physical-versions-of-new-games-online/

It's unknown why they are doing this (though the comments on article believe it may be an anti-scalper measure), but if you want something like Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door physically, you have to actually go to a store to buy it now.

I buy physical copies of games I don't play on Steam because I don't want companies to lock me out of shit I already bought.

Can't delist a cartridge I already own.

CRON posted...

They're probably trying to curb leaks and piracy. Literally every major Switch game ended up getting leaked online and available on devices with custom firmware days and sometimes weeks in advance due to online retailers shipping orders earlier than expected.

I thought early leaks happened via brick and mortar stores that handed over the games ahead of release dates. At least thats how it was in the DS era

Rika_Furude posted...

I thought early leaks happened via brick and mortar stores that handed over the games ahead of release dates

That was a big deal too. But this has been consistent throughout the Switch's entire lifespan. Like I can't think of a single first-party game that didn't get leaked online and downloaded onto hacked Switches.

Gotta love my Yuzu!

Cemith posted...

Can't delist a cartridge I already own.

Ubisoft: Hold my beer

Also don't preorder anything anyway.

What if you pre-ordered from Best Buy? I have not heard them cancelling pre-orders yet

Can you still buy them online after the game releases?

CRON posted...

They're probably trying to curb leaks and piracy. Literally every major Switch game ended up getting leaked online and available on devices with custom firmware days and sometimes weeks in advance due to online retailers shipping orders earlier than expected.

Sigh

You got a tag now

Does anyone hate anything more than nintendo hates their customers

Is this why Switch 2 might be digital only?

ExtremeLuchador posted...

Is this why Switch 2 might be digital only?

yes.

it's not the best option as it leaves less choice for users who like physical discs (at times one is cheaper than the other).
ie phsycial or digital.

Maybe they didn't realize there would be as much demand for a couple of remasters that aren't mainline Mario and Zelda so they didn't make enough copies. It wouldn't be even close to the first time that Nintendo didn't realize how much demand there would be for their products.

There goes that success arrogance every company experiences when they are doing well seeping out again.

ExtremeLuchador posted...

Is this why Switch 2 might be digital only?

Oh hell no. Nintendo are already the worst, so them joining Sony and Microsoft in doing online, DLC, and digital combined with their "no sales no bundles" policy thing just ended up fucking over gamers more.

If they take a leaf out of Sony's book and do the digital only route... good god. The worst part is we'll be screwed while the mainstream at large won't even care and happily rebuy all the stuff they already own, again.

Sucks for those still in the stone age I guess, but I haven't bought physical games in years. Digital is so much more convenient.

voldothegr8 posted...

Sucks for those still in the stone age I guess, but I haven't bought physical games in years. Digital is so much more convenient.

Except if you have kids and multiple Switches. Much easier to share a cart than a digital game.

voldothegr8 posted...

Sucks for those still in the stone age I guess, but I haven't bought physical games in years. Digital is so much more convenient.

Yeaaaa Ive adopted digital only as well, but I buy only like 4 games a year now. Were all stuck in a closed ecosystem of the console makers digital storefront, which keeps
the retail price higher than physical stores.

So now I buy less.

imagine if they dont allow pre orders for the switch 2 and its first come first serve to whoever camps outside stores

voldothegr8 posted...

Sucks for those still in the stone age I guess, but I haven't bought physical games in years. Digital is so much more convenient.

Eh. I mostly agree, but I did buy the PS5 collectors edition of Unicorn Overlord as its not coming out on PC and I wanted the card game that comes with it. 8 also got a steelbook copy of an indie game on Kickstarter in edition to the Steam version (it was a bundle) because I wanted a physical copy of the soundtrack (literally no other reason).

One thing Ill point out Switch wise is that whether you buy physical or digital, you have to dump updates and DLCs separately, and they have the same file extension as dumps of digital games. But dumps of physical games have a different file extension I think, and that would bug the hell out of me.

Letsago posted...

What if you pre-ordered from Best Buy? I have not heard them cancelling pre-orders yet

None of my pre-orders are canceled either and Best Buy is still letting you pre-order Paper Mario right now. I'm guessing this is another time when a news site is pretending that one person receiving a customer service response from an agent is an official announcement from the company, when the agents are usually clueless as to what is going on and have access to very little info. Then everyone collectively decides to shut their brains off and forget that fact too and everyone loses their minds.

Mad-Dogg posted...

There goes that success arrogance every company experiences when they are doing well seeping out again.

You shouldn't be impacted by this because you shouldn't be preordering in the first place.

Why the fuck would anyone need to preorder a DIGITAL game

HylianFox posted...

Why the fuck would anyone need to preorder a DIGITAL game

Aside from pre-order bonuses, they wouldnt. I dont do it, but when I pre-ordered physical games it was always so I could make sure I got a copy, last game I did that for was StarCraft 2.

HylianFox posted...

Why the fuck would anyone need to preorder a DIGITAL game

This concerns physical games being preordered through online retailer shops.

Tyranthraxus posted...

You shouldn't be impacted by this because you shouldn't be preordering in the first place.

And waste my gas and my time hunting for that whopping all of 2 copies my county in south carolina probably got for niche physicals I am actually interested in like star ocean 2 r or even more "well known" stuff like super mario rpg would be lucky to get like 6 total to go around? Fuck all that.

I never did get this anti-pre-order mentality that some on the internet try to push for all video games. Look, I get it....pre-ordering games from the usual suspects like EA, bethesda, ubisoft, activision-blizzard, cd project red etc. is usually always a gamble. This kind of thing is normally not a thing you worry about with nintendo, and more niche games are almost always smaller in scope to not suffer with being busted on release. (Only one I can think of that was legit trash was river city girls 2).

Unfortunately we can't all be so lucky to be living in some urban environment with a variety of stores to chose from that may have a generous amount of stock to go around. I don't pre-order that tales of *insert title here* if I was interested in the disc then I won't be getting that disc loose.

ExtremeLuchador posted...

Is this why Switch 2 might be digital only?

If the Switch 2 is digital only I'm not gonna buy it

Mad-Dogg posted...

And waste my gas and my time hunting for that whopping all of 2 copies my county in south carolina

Or just have it shipped directly to you and waste no time at all.

Or if you live in a bizarre place where packages are always being stolen use Amazon and have it shipped to a locker or whole foods.

Or order best buy or target to ship one from someplace else to one of their other locations near you.

Or just fucking call the store before you go there and ask is it's in stock.

WTF. That sounds dumb as hell. Leave it to Nintendo to make the absolute dumbest decisions every time.

TheGoldenEel posted...

Does anyone hate anything more than nintendo hates their customers

Gamers hate themselves more

Hypnospace posted...

Here comes Baha05 to defend literally everything Nintendo does.

Here comes Hypno to start shit even though I didnt even defend Nintendo here.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Or just fucking call the store before you go there and ask is it's in stock.

Why the fuck would I annoy the shit out of the employees when both they know and I know there is no stock and a small release like whatever I am looking for had no chance to last long with all the other fellow nerds in my area? A small print release game long gone isn't going to magically appear in a shelf. You can check if something is in stock on the website already genius.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Or just have it shipped directly to you and waste no time at all.

Amazon takes like a week or more to get new games out (if you knew what you are talking about then you would know just how long dudes who pre-ordered mega man battle network collection had to actually wait to get their copy), and best buy in-person has cleared out a lot of their video game space and online shipping wise also takes awhile compared to just getting my ass to the store in-person. Believe it or not, some of us still like to go to stores.....in-person. This leads back to the "clearing out video game space part" Wal-mart and target down my way are only really stocking the usual AAA or constant selling stuff, a.k.a. super mario 64 for the DS.....still.

You know whats convenient though? Like, reaaaally convenient? Swinging by the local gamestop (main reason I opt for this gamestop because its roughly 5 minutes away from my house and in the same strip mall as the wal-mart I normally go to for groceries), going "hey man wassup? Can I put 5 down on stellar blade real quick? No crippling social anxiety to slow this transaction down thats for sure.

He asks "want to put insurance on it"?. I say "nah I'm good". Boom. Done. Not even longer than 3 minutes.

When release day comes the store opens at 12 pm most days, 10 am fridays and saturdays....either way, its during a time when I am doing grocery shopping. Swing by when I am done picking up stuff in local food lion or wal-mart, pick up physical game that I wanted since I pre-ordered and don't have to drive around town on a damn where's waldo hunt for loose one piece pirate warriors 4 copy since I was smart enough to put 5 on it and ensure my copy, and I go home. All done in no longer than what, 15ish minutes total?

USPS, fedex and UPS usually doing their rounds sometimes after 2:00 pm but most at or around 3 pm in my area, and if you are lucky that game will be on release....with gamestop's online shipping it's not (and you have a mandatory 6.99 shipping charge on orders under a 100 dollar something total) and will always be 1 day late, amazon is irrelevant for new games since they always without fail take days to release prime be damned, and best buy is too hit or miss.

Mad-Dogg posted...

with gamestop's online shipping it's not (and you have a mandatory 6.99 shipping charge on orders under a 100 dollar something total) and will always be 1 day late

this is true. i had video game orders and a ps5 arrive a day late but it showed up.

Mad-Dogg posted...

Why the fuck would I annoy the shit out of the employees when both they know and I know there is no stock and a small release like whatever I am looking for had no chance to last long with all the other fellow nerds in my area? A small print release game long gone isn't going to magically appear in a shelf. You can check if something is in stock on the website already genius.

Website stock isn't always accurate to the actual stock -- in fact, it's often wrong due to things like theft, returns, or if the online inventory doesn't update automatically every time a sale is made during the day.

Calling the store to ask if they have a game isn't "annoying the shit out of the employees", that's their job. They can also accurately tell you if a game is in stock by verifying it on the shelf, and in some cases they can hold it for you at the counter so you don't have to worry about somebody else showing up before you and snatching the last copy.

Ive never had a late game order through my local GameStop, but I like physically being in the store. Im friendly with their staff.

TMOG posted...

Website stock isn't always accurate to the actual stock -- in fact, it's often wrong due to things like theft, returns, or if the online inventory doesn't update automatically every time a sale is made during the day.

Calling the store to ask if they have a game isn't "annoying the shit out of the employees", that's their job. They can also accurately tell you if a game is in stock by verifying it on the shelf, and in some cases they can hold it for you at the counter so you don't have to worry about somebody else showing up before you and snatching the last copy.

Depending on the store it can easily be annoying though for workers.

TMOG posted...

Website stock isn't always accurate to the actual stock -- in fact, it's often wrong due to things like theft, returns, or if the online inventory doesn't update automatically every time a sale is made during the day.

Calling the store to ask if they have a game isn't "annoying the shit out of the employees", that's their job. They can also accurately tell you if a game is in stock by verifying it on the shelf, and in some cases they can hold it for you at the counter so you don't have to worry about somebody else showing up before you and snatching the last copy.

Bro I'll be lucky if the phone is even on it's hook, lol. They seriously just leave phones off the hook since its most of the time one single person working and most likely has a lot to deal with (its one of those not personal things but since higher ups have them busting their asses like that they do what they have to do to handle all the in-store people first). I personally never experienced them having a game if the website said its isn't in stock, but I don't doubt it since returns could have happened and nothing was updated yet

LonelyStoner posted...

Ive never had a late game order through my local GameStop, but I like physically being in the store. Im friendly with their staff.

Same. I've actually known one of the local store managers who bounces back and forth between the 2 main stores over here for going on 12 years or so at this point and he usually looks out during those times I forget to pick up some pre-order item, he wants to give me one of those promotional posters/pictures lying around, or getting me a pre-order code if I missed out on that. (When I picked up FF7 remake on PS4 version's release that chocobo chick code didn't go through. I think the reason is because those of us that pre-ordered this was picking it up a day early (it was during the covid pandemic and so the gamestop in my area managed to have curb-side pick-up going) Because the game wasn't technically out yet the chocobo chick wasn't showing up on our reciepts. My guy just texted me the code the next day which was cool of him).

When I went to pick up stellar blade (I don't order too many physicals these days. Last physical I picked up was the deluxe edition of rebirth. I do have that day one steelbook for shin megami tensei 5 pre-ordered) another one of the guys was just asking me what the hell I been up to and he didn't see me in awhile since the last time I was in-store was like.........way before rebirth's release anyway.

Trumpo posted...

Sigh

You got a tag now

I dont see what was so wrong about what he said o_O

ExtremeLuchador posted...

Is this why Switch 2 might be digital only?

They reaffirmed literally last week they'll continue supporting physical: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/05/nintendo-will-continue-to-support-physical-media-and-maximise-all-software-sales

Hypnospace posted...

To play it at midnight.

Any other questions?

A whopping 6 hours. Come on.

So am I gonna get my preordered copy of Nintendo World Championship or not?

Target says my preordered copy of TTYD is already shipped.

Phantom_Nook posted...

Target says my preordered copy of TTYD is already shipped.

Wonder whats going on with Walmart and Amazon

Baha05 posted...

Wonder whats going on with Walmart and Amazon

I pre-ordered from Amazon and I recieved an email last week saying it won't arrive until June 3rd.

Hypnospace posted...

it's more like a whopping 12+ hours because it's unlikely you would receive an ordered physical game in the morning.

this happened twice... though not for the switch games.