The wait is coming to an end: the Nintendo Switch 2 will be available in a few days, on June 5th, in France. A highly anticipated moment for players who pre-ordered the console and those planning to go to the store to buy the machine on release day.
As you might expect, not all the players who bought the console online intend to have fun with Mario Kart World or Cyberpunk 2077. No, their ambition is rather to make money by reselling the console at high prices to players desperately looking for the machine. Will Nintendo's strategy prevent scalpers from causing harm?
Nintendo's strategy to prevent the resale of the Switch 2 at exorbitant prices
Nintendo indicated from the moment the Switch 2 was announced that it intended to combat scalpers, without revealing the methods used. The Kyoto-based company is now revealing its intentions.
"Nintendo Co., Ltd. has agreed to cooperate with three flea market site operators, Mercari, Inc., LINE Yahoo Japan Corporation, and Rakuten Group, Inc., to prevent fraudulent listings of Nintendo-related products, including the Nintendo Switch 2, which will be released on June 5, 2025," Nintendo said.
Thus, LINE Yahoo Japan will simply prohibit all sales of the Nintendo Switch 2 on its platform until an undetermined date. Rakuten is doing the same, but only until the console's official release date of June 5. Mercari, for its part, only states that it intends to work hand in hand with Nintendo to prevent the publication of fraudulent offers.
Will this innovative strategy from Nintendo be enough to put a spanner in the works of scalpers in Japan? The most determined will undoubtedly choose to use other, perhaps less popular, platforms, complicating their task. It remains to be seen whether Nintendo plans to form partnerships with other merchant sites in Japan and around the world to truly combat this scourge. Remember that gamers themselves are trying to harm Nintendo Switch 2 scalpers by hiding their offers behind fake eBay listings.
Of course, the console is neither the first nor the last to attract the lure of malicious individuals. The PS5 has long been a victim of scalpers, preventing genuine gamers from getting their hands on the machine at a decent price. Note that a few lucky players already own the Nintendo Switch 2.
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