For Nintendo followers in Japan, April 24, 2025 is an enormous day — with Nintendo set to disclose simply who has been fortunate sufficient to get the prospect to snap up a Switch 2 by way of official My Nintendo Store pre-orders. But not solely was Nintendo compelled to close down the My Nintendo Store web site for upkeep resulting from an excessive amount of visitors, it additionally issued a warning about phishing emails mimicking official Switch 2 pre-order lottery outcomes.
Back on April 2, Nintendo began accepting functions for a Switch 2 pre-order lottery in Japan. Winners of the lottery would be capable to buy a Switch 2 from My Nintendo Store, to be delivered at launch on June 5.
According to Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa’s message yesterday, round 2.2 million individuals in Japan entered the primary Switch 2 presale lottery. This demand far exceeded the corporate’s expectations, that means that many entrants could have their hopes of acquiring the console on launch day dashed.
With outcomes of the primary Switch 2 presale lottery popping out right now, evidently many individuals rushed to entry Japan’s My Nintendo Store, forcing Nintendo to take the site offline for upkeep. Scammers additionally took benefit of this Switch 2 fever by sending out pretend lottery outcomes.
Japanese talking customers on X additionally warned others, sharing screenshots of fraudulent emails and figuring out a number of variations of the rip-off. At first look, the topic line saying “You have gained the Switch 2 lottery” would possible have had many Nintendo followers leaping for pleasure.
The instance emails both demand that the person click on on a LINE messenger app hyperlink or pay the cash right now by way of a suspicious-looking url, and urge the person to behave now to safe their coveted new console. It appears the phishing makes an attempt vary from extra apparent emoji-riddled fakes to extra refined makes an attempt with smaller errors like misspellings of Nintendo in e mail addresses, and non-Japanese URLs.
The official warning from the Japanese Nintendo Support account states: “Although we plan to ship out the lottery end result emails right now (April 24), now we have not despatched them but. Please remember that any such emails that you’ve got acquired up till now weren’t despatched by Nintendo.”
In the U.S., an replace on release-day supply was revealed on Nintendo’s website warning those that’d registered their curiosity in shopping for a Switch 2 from My Nintendo Store that it couldn’t assure supply by the June 5 launch date.
As a end result, invitation emails might arrive after the Switch 2 comes out. However, Nintendo stated it can verify your delivery date upon buy. Nintendo is now saying you might have a greater probability of getting a Switch 2 at launch by pre-ordering at a third-party retailer — a regarding suggestion given Switch 2 has already bought out following pre-orders going reside in a single day.
The wrestle followers needed to pre-order Switch 2 on April 24 coupled with this warning from Nintendo suggests the next-gen console will likely be very onerous to purchase at the least in and round launch.
According to a FAQ posted to Nintendo’s website, the primary batch of invites will exit beginning May 8, 2025 for the My Nintendo Store within the U.S. Additional batches of invitation emails will then be despatched “periodically” till buying on My Nintendo Store is opened to everybody.
Initial invitation emails will likely be delivered on a first-come, first-serve foundation to “eligible registrants who meet the precedence standards.” Invitees could have 72 hours from the time when the e-mail is shipped to finish their buy.
Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order invitation precedence necessities:
- you have to have been the one who bought any Nintendo Switch Online membership
- you have to have had any paid Nintendo Switch Online membership for at least 12 months, and
- you have to have opted in to share gameplay information and have at the least 50 hours complete gameplay hours.
Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
