Nintendo apologizes for "any inconvenience" caused by Switch 2 pre-orders in Japan causing the eShop to malfunction for 5 days in a row

Player wearing yellow sweater using Nintendo Switch 2 JoyCon in mouse mode playing Drag x Drive on woodgrain coffee table.
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders are live in Japan, and so many people have been trying to snag that cheaper console that the Nintendo eShop has been having issues for days, prompting the company to apologize.

A redditor reports that the Nintendo eShop has been malfunctioning for "five consecutive days" due to the high-demand for Switch 2 pre-orders. Japan has a region exclusive console that's around $110 cheaper than it is internationally.

Over on the Japanese Nintendo store page, a message reads (with translations by Google): "The site continues to be malfunctioning. Some customers are unable to view their order history or wish list properly. We are working to restore the site and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

Nintendo issues apology in Japan as high demand for entering the Switch 2 preorder lottery has caused the My Nintendo Store and Nintendo eShop to mulfunction for 5 consecutive days from r/NintendoSwitch

As you can see, the issue is beyond just not being able to pre-order a Switch 2, it's affecting many other aspects of the site's basic functionality as well. Wishlists being unreadable doesn't just affect you, but the devs who want you to be notified when their games launch or go on sale.

As annoying as these technical issues are for everyone, executives at Nintendo must be happy so many people are trying to pre-order the console. Unfortunately for those of you in the US, Trump's tariffs led to a pause on Pre-orders in the States to give the company time to "assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions."

In the US, people are very unhappy about the price of the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World, which is going to be the most-expensive standard edition of any triple-A game ever, $80. During the Nintendo Treehouse livestream showing off gameplay of the new racing game, people spammed the message "drop the price" and continued into the second day of livestreams. Former Nintendo marketing leads believe the company is likely panicking over the response.

For now, check out all the upcoming Switch 2 games and hope they're not all $80.

Issy van der Velde
Contributor

I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.

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