Report: U.S. retailers cancel some Nintendo Switch 2 preorders ahead of launch day

If you were one of the lucky few to secure a Nintendo Switch 2 preorder when they went live, it might be a good idea to manage your excitement, because you may not be so lucky anymore.

First spotted by Vice, some Nintendo Switch 2 hopefuls are reporting on Reddit that their preorders are randomly being canceled just one week out from release. The highly anticipated handheld gaming console is set to launch on June 5, but preordering the console has been extremely difficult for many gamers.

Retailers like Walmart, GameStop, and Target seem to be the main culprits so far, with some gamers speculating that the stores oversold their Switch 2 stock and are now having to backtrack. Other rumors point to issues with certain payment methods like Affirm, but without confirmation from retailers, we aren't completely sure why this is happening.

Those same Reddit posters are also claiming that they didn't receive any official notification of these cancellations. Instead, they had to manually check their preorders' status to find out if they had been affected. So, if you happened to lock down a preorder a few weeks ago, you may want to quickly check on it and confirm your payment information is up to date.

While this development is shocking in a way, it's not entirely unexpected — the entire lead-up to the Switch 2 release has been shaky at best, and many have voiced concerns about whether the new consoles will be able to roll out as planned. A similar situation occurred during the PlayStation 5's launch back in 2020. Nintendo has also been dealing with similar Switch 2 supply issues in Japan, and the company expects to sell 20 million Switch 2 consoles in the next year.

While the seemingly never-ending preorder chaos continues, physical Nintendo Switch 2 units are reportedly being spotted at select U.S. retailers. VGC reported that a Reddit user claiming to be a Target employee posted a now-deleted photo of their store's initial Switch 2 stock to the site. The photo has since been reposted by X users, and shows a modest amount of Switch 2s — around 40 consoles — locked up ahead of the launch date.

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This story is still developing, and we'll be updating this article if and when we learn any new information ahead of the Nintendo Switch 2's June 5 launch date.