I got my Switch 2 preorder the old-fashioned way: lining up at GameStop

Switch 2 preorders are sold out online everywhere. But some people have managed to snag one using once conventional but now antiquated means: going to GameStop and preordering one in store. 

In addition to offering online preorders for the Switch 2, its Mario Kart World bundle, and the various Switch 2 accessories, GameStop also allowed customers to preorder the console in person when stores opened for business on April 24th. With the advent of ecommerce, preordering video games in a brick and mortar store has become a quaint practice that’s fallen out of fashion; something looked upon with nostalgia for the midnight releases of years gone by. But for many people, physically preordering a Switch 2 was the best and easiest way to secure one. I should know — it’s how I got mine.

I missed the midnight commencement of online Switch 2 preordering for retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and others. Knowing GameStop opened its online preorders at 11AM ET on April 24th, I thought I might give it a go there but it was not to be. GameStop’s later preorder launch was just as chaotic, frustrating, and fruitless as it was for the other stores. But then I remembered seeing a post on Bluesky from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier. “About 40 people waiting on line here at my local GameStop for 80 Switch 2s. Better odds than the website!” he wrote. 

I saw that my local GameStop on Howe Road in Akron, Ohio opened soon and I was no more than a 15 minute ride away. So I packed my wallet and my dog Bu and went down there only to be greeted by a line full of people, some of whom had been waiting for days.

“It’s been unbelievably busy,” one GameStop employee told me. He said that people started lining up earlier in the week but he discouraged them from camping for multiple days overnight. “We had six waiting yesterday,” he said.

Other than that small number of campers, most people I spoke to who were waiting in line had only arrived a few hours before the store opened. Nearly everyone owned a regular Switch and was excited by the promise of an improved console. 

“The Switch 1 is so awesome and we’ve been waiting for a Switch 2 for seven years now,” one woman at the front of the line told me. 

“I have to upgrade, there’s no other way around it,” said another Switch 2 hopeful. Everyone I spoke to was enthusiastic about the console and when I brought up its price they still didn’t seem phased.

“That doesn’t bother me, I got more than enough money,” said one man. Others mentioned the state of the US economy and with inflation impacting consumer goods across the board, the price of the Switch 2 itself seemed reasonable. “The OLED Switch when it launched was $350,” said another man. “One hundred dollars more, almost 10 years later, not that bad.”

And while the price of the console doesn’t much bother this Akron crop of Switch 2 enthusiasts, the rising cost of games was another matter entirely. “The pricing for the games is a little steep for my tastes,” said the lady at the front of the line. I followed up by asking if that would impact her spending habits on games in the future. “No. The price is not going to affect that, it’s just going to make me upset.”

That was the sentiment of most everyone I spoke to. Nintendo’s pricing makes sense given everything going on with inflation and tariffs, and even if the higher prices do sting, it’s Nintendo. “I think it’s worth it,” a mother told me as she was waiting in line with her son and husband.

Mario Kart World was the first game out of everyone’s mouth when I asked what they were most excited to play at launch. Everyone in line was hoping to score the Mario Kart World Switch 2 bundle that essentially gets you the game at a $30 discount. Every so often, a GameStop employee would take a tally of the customers who wanted a bundle. He’d point to a person in line — who was well ahead of me — and say, “you’re the last.” 

According to a sign on the door, that location had been allotted 44 bundles and 19 regular Switch 2 consoles. But throughout my time in line, I overheard them say to customers that they expect to have more units available to be purchased when the console launches on June 5th. Since everybody wanted a Mario Kart bundle, I resigned myself to only getting a regular Switch 2 — a far better prospect than the one I faced this morning of not getting any Switch at all. But as the line moved, the employees found more and more Switch 2 bundles. When finally during one of the tallys one employee pointed to me and said I would be the last one to get one.

And I did. 

With Bu strapped ever so patiently to my back, I preordered a Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle and threw an extra five bucks down on Donkey Kong Bananza. I shouldn’t be all that surprised this worked out as well as it did, sometimes the old ways simply work best.