On the eve of Nintendo Change 2 pre-orders, Nintendo introduced that hundreds of thousands of gamers in Japan have signed up for a lottery to get an opportunity to purchase the console. Nonetheless, the corporate later revealed that demand is so excessive, they received’t be capable to ship sufficient models for launch. Did you suppose $80 video games would cease folks? Apparently, customers don’t care about rising console costs!
Nintendo Says Change 2 Received’t have Sufficient COnsoles at launch

In a prolonged social media submit on April 23, Nintendo revealed that over 2.2 million folks in Japan had entered their official pre-order lottery. What’s notably fascinating is that the corporate then admitted demand had “far exceeded” their expectations—and that they wouldn’t be capable to ship sufficient consoles for everybody attempting to get one. May this give us a touch at what to anticipate for U.S. pre-orders? God, I hope not.
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Right here’s the complete excerpt: “We obtained a particularly massive variety of purposes—roughly 2.2 million folks in Japan alone. Nonetheless, this quantity far exceeds our expectations, and much exceeds the variety of Nintendo Change 2 consoles that may be delivered from the My Nintendo Retailer on June fifth. Subsequently, sadly, we anticipate {that a} important variety of clients is not going to be chosen when the winners are introduced tomorrow, April twenty fourth.”
It’s not all doom and gloom for Japanese followers, although, as Nintendo confirmed that those that aren’t chosen within the lottery will robotically be chosen as soon as extra consoles are in inventory. It’s additionally price noting that Japanese retailers can have models out there as effectively. Nonetheless, the explosion in demand is regarding—particularly in a area that historically doesn’t see huge launch gross sales. If Japan is that this determined for the Nintendo Change 2, it actually makes you surprise how issues will go worldwide.
U.S. Pre-order Occasions

Nintendo Change 2 U.S. pre-orders formally go reside tonight, April 23, 2025 (or April 24, relying in your area). Fortunately, retailers have proven us some mercy and supplied the precise instances pre-orders will go reside on their web sites.
Retailer | Pre-Order Begin Time |
Finest Purchase | April 24 at 12:00 AM ET / 9:00 PM PST |
Walmart | April 24 at 12:00 AM ET / 9:00 PM PST |
Goal | April 24 at 12:00 AM ET / 9:00 PM PST |
GameStop | April 24 at 11:00 AM ET / 8:00 AM PST |
Amazon | N/A (At the moment not taking) |
It’s sort of humorous as a result of through the Mario Kart World Direct, gamers crashed the livestream to spam “Drop the value” within the chat. And in on-line circles, there’s been a whole lot of anger over Nintendo charging $80 for his or her video games. But when the Japanese pre-order registrations are something to go by, it looks like most customers don’t care concerning the value. Actually—they simply need their next-gen Zelda system. Which, to be honest, I completely get. I’m shopping for the Nintendo Change 2 on day one purely for Pokémon Legends Z-A.
One other factor to level out is that Nintendo has shipped much more models to areas just like the U.S. and EU. So, whatever the unprecedented demand in Japan, worldwide clients even have extra models that can be purchased. Nonetheless, as somebody who actually needs a Nintendo Change 2, it’s exhausting to not really feel a little bit sense of dread. Heck, we even just lately noticed Stellar Blade collectible figurines promote out in minutes—they usually price over three thousand {dollars}! I hope everybody who needs the brand new console will get one, however we should always in all probability put together for the worst.