GameStop's Switch 2 Preorders Off to a Rocky Start

GameStop's Nintendo Switch 2 Preorders: A Chaotic Launch

When GameStop launched online preorders for the Nintendo Switch 2 at 11AM ET, it was anything but smooth sailing. Much like other retailers who had their preorders go live overnight, GameStop's website struggled under the pressure. By 11:30AM ET, a few lucky individuals, including a staffer from *The Verge*, managed to secure their orders. However, the party was short-lived. At 1:49PM ET, GameStop announced that the online preorders had completely sold out.

"Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders have sold out online," GameStop declared on X. "We will continue to squash bot and duplicate orders to reopen inventory. Preorders are still available in-store for the Nintendo Switch 2, the Nintendo Switch 2 + *Mario Kart* Bundle, games, and accessories."

As soon as the clock hit 11AM, chaos ensued. Many of us at *The Verge* were met with a frustratingly blank page on GameStop's website, displaying only the message "Oops… Something went wrong" alongside a refresh button. Shortly after, Cloudflare notices began popping up, indicating issues like a "web server is down" or a "bad gateway."

Every now and then, I managed to get the online listing for the Switch 2 and *Mario Kart World* bundle to load, but the preorder button was stubbornly grayed out. A colleague of mine saw the console-only option appear, but with a "not available" button instead of the preorder one. Even the GameStop mobile app wasn't immune to the chaos, throwing up error messages like "activity paused" when I attempted to use it.

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At 11:34AM ET, deals-hunter Wario64 announced that GameStop's Switch 2 preorders were actually live. A few *Verge* staffers managed to add the console to their carts, and one even completed a purchase, but didn't receive a confirmation email until after 1PM ET.

Another staffer thought they had secured a console in their cart, only to find out upon loading that GameStop had run out of stock.

GameStop acknowledged the issues at 11:37AM ET, stating they were experiencing "site issues" and were "actively working to fix it." By 1:15PM ET, they provided an update, saying, "we expect Switch 2 online pre-orders to be caught up within the hour. If you didn’t get a confirmation email, it should be arriving shortly. Thanks for hanging in there — we’re almost back on track."

Update, April 24th: GameStop says online preorders are sold out.