Best Buy Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order: no online orders planned 'at this time'
You won't be able to buy the Nintendo Switch 2 online through Best Buy, according to an official statement from the US retailer. But there are other online options coming.
Update: See our in-depth Nintendo Switch 2 review, which is live after a week of thoroughly testing the new console. Check out our full Switch 2 news stories, too.
🎮 New Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders are set to go live on Thursday, June 5
🏷️ Best Buy won’t have online orders “at this time,” favoring in-store purchases
🔗 Walmart Switch 2 and Switch 2 bundle pre-orders may go live at midnight
🚨 Priority Alerts? The Shortcut subscribers get them in our Substack Chat
🔔 Turn on notifications for Matt Swider on X to get additional alerts
Best Buy announced that it won’t have Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders on its website “at this time,” according to an official statement, and is instead favoring in-store purchases of the highly sought-after video game console.
The Walmart Switch 2 pre-order and Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle will be in demand even more tomorrow. Best Buy’s decision leaves you with one reliable option: Walmart at midnight, if you’re shopping online.
The last Walmart Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order was Friday, May 30. Did you miss it? I sent priority alerts to subscribers in our Substack Chat. Best Buy hasn’t had a pre-order since April 24. Between that date and now, The Shortcut has helped over 10,000 in the US buy the new Nintendo console.
How to get more Switch 2 pre-order alerts
Get our instant alerts: Your best chance to find a Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order is to follow Matt Swider on X – and turn on notifications. It’ll look like:
Links to Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order pages
Walmart and GameStop will be the only stores in the US with Switch 2 pre-orders on June 5 at 12am ET / June 4 at 9pm PT. However, we’ve found GameStop’s website to be less than reliable (to put it kindly). You’re better off shopping in-store at GameStop.
Walmart often has more inventory than any other retailer in the United States, but it often changes up its links to thwart bots. So we’re constantly updating these links.
Walmart: Switch 2 console / Mario Kart World bundle
Target: Switch 2 console / Mario Kart World bundle
GameStop: Switch 2 console / Mario Kart World bundle
Best Buy: Switch 2 console / Mario Kart World bundle
Sam’s Club: Unknown time Switch 2 console / Mario Kart World bundle
Sam’s Club and other stores like Antonline, Costco, Verizon, and Staples will offer their Nintendo Switch 2 orders for the very first time on June 5. Nintendo has been very selective about which stores were allowed to accept pre-orders.
Will Walmart have Switch 2 pre-orders earlier?
This is why it’s important to turn on notifications. Since Best Buy confirmed it won’t have online orders, The Shortcut will start tracking Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders from Walmart minute by minute starting on June 4 at 8am ET.
Why that specific time? Walmart is guaranteeing it will deliver the Nintendo Switch 2 by June 5 at 9am local time if you order a console before June 4 at 8am ET. It’s very ambitious, given how many consoles and Switch 2 accessories Walmart has sold.
I could see Walmart pre-orders opening up after this time, so it’s not obligated to fulfill more Switch 2 deliveries by such a strict deadline. We’ll detect it when it goes live.
The Shortcut’s Switch 2 pre-order tracker will detect when the console comes back in stock at retailers throughout the United States. Stay tuned for frequent updates.
Matt Swider is the Editor-in-Chief of The Shortcut, the #1 consumer tech publication on Substack. Matt, a trusted technology expert with over 25 years of journalism experience and the former US Editor-in-Chief of TechRadar, can be found on social media through X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.