The Switch 2 preorder launch is a mess

The moment many people had been waiting for finally arrived when the clock struck midnight on April 24: the long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2 preorders. After

teasing the console
in January,

fully unveiling it at the beginning of April
, and delaying preorders due to

tariff concerns
, preorders for the Switch 2 recently

became available in the US
. However, the experience turned into an emotional rollercoaster for many.

You’d think that after all the trials and tribulations associated with the launch of the PS5 in 2020, retailers might have finally figured out how to prepare for and manage preorders for the most highly anticipated console of all time. But it seems that demand far exceeded anything they could’ve imagined.

People hoping to secure Switch 2 preorders frantically rushed to the websites of numerous US retailers early Thursday morning, trying Walmart, Best Buy, and Target to secure a Switch 2, with GameStop launching its preorders later in the day at 11am. Now, what’s one thing all these retailers have in common? Their websites instantly exploded like the Death Star from Star Wars.

Preordering the Switch 2 was/is a nightmare

People got orders through, but not without a fight

As many could have guessed, the moment preorders started for the Switch 2 at midnight, the websites of Walmart, Best Buy, and Target all imploded shortly after. When GameStop launched preorders at 11am EST, it only took a matter of minutes for their website to crash, with “Oops something wrong” starting to pop up on people’s screens.

Many individuals attempting to secure a Switch 2 faced long virtual queues, nearly instant out-of-stock pages, and constant refreshing for over an hour, only to be met with the dreaded message, “something went wrong and the item was not added to your cart. Please try again.”

For about two hours after preorders went live, people dealt with Best Buy’s endless in-line wait times that frequently timed out or showed no progress at all. Target may have been the worst offender, crushing the dreams of some who thought they had placed an order. One user on X wrote that after refreshing the page to preorder on Target and waiting to checkout for 20 minutes, when the order was finally placed, they were met with a cancellation notice immediately.

Walmart had its fair share of issues as well, with what seemed like endless queue times and the horrifying message of this “deal is almost gone” as you waited.

Victory for some, disappointment for others

There must be a better way to go about this

Related Topics:launchMesspreorderSwitch

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