Switch 2 Chaos in Japan as My Nintendo Store Buckles Under Weight of Users Desperate to Find Out if They've Won Pre-Order Lottery — and Now Scammers Are Taking Advantage

For Nintendo fans successful Japan, April 24, 2025 is simply a large time — with Nintendo acceptable to uncover conscionable who has been fortunate capable to get the accidental to drawback up a Switch 2 via authoritative My Nintendo Store pre-orders. But not lone was Nintendo forced to unopen down the My Nintendo Store website for attraction owed to excessively overmuch traffic, it besides issued a informing astir phishing emails mimicking authoritative Switch 2 pre-order lottery results.

Back connected April 2, Nintendo started accepting applications for a Switch 2 pre-order lottery successful Japan. Winners of the lottery would beryllium capable to acquisition a Switch 2 from My Nintendo Store, to beryllium delivered astatine motorboat connected June 5.

According to Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa’s connection yesterday, astir 2.2 cardinal radical successful Japan entered the archetypal Switch 2 presale lottery. This request acold exceeded the company’s expectations, meaning that galore entrants volition person their hopes of obtaining the console connected motorboat time dashed.

With results of the archetypal Switch 2 presale lottery coming retired today, it seems that galore radical rushed to entree Japan’s My Nintendo Store, forcing Nintendo to instrumentality the tract offline for maintenance. Scammers besides took vantage of this Switch 2 fever by sending retired fake lottery results.

Japanese speaking users connected X besides warned others, sharing screenshots of fraudulent emails and identifying respective variations of the scam. At archetypal glance, the taxable enactment announcing “You person won the Switch 2 lottery” would apt person had galore Nintendo fans jumping for joy.

The illustration emails either request that the idiosyncratic click connected a LINE messenger app nexus oregon wage the wealth contiguous via a suspicious-looking url, and impulse the idiosyncratic to enactment present to unafraid their coveted caller console. It seems the phishing attempts scope from much evident emoji-riddled fakes to much blase attempts with smaller errors similar misspellings of Nintendo successful email addresses, and non-Japanese URLs.

The authoritative informing from the Japanese Nintendo Support relationship states: “Although we program to nonstop retired the lottery effect emails contiguous (April 24), we person not sent them yet. Please beryllium alert that immoderate specified emails that you person received up until present were not sent by Nintendo.”

In the U.S., an update connected release-day transportation was published connected Nintendo’s website informing those who’d registered their involvement successful buying a Switch 2 from My Nintendo Store that it could not warrant transportation by the June 5 merchandise date.

As a result, invitation emails whitethorn get after the Switch 2 comes out. However, Nintendo said it volition corroborate your shipping day upon purchase. Nintendo is present saying you whitethorn person a amended accidental of getting a Switch 2 astatine motorboat by pre-ordering astatine a third-party retailer — a concerning proposition fixed Switch 2 has already sold retired pursuing pre-orders going unrecorded overnight.

The conflict fans had to pre-order Switch 2 connected April 24 coupled with this informing from Nintendo suggests the next-gen console volition beryllium precise hard to bargain astatine slightest successful and astir launch.

According to a FAQ posted to Nintendo’s website, the archetypal batch of invitations volition spell retired starting May 8, 2025 for the My Nintendo Store successful the U.S. Additional batches of invitation emails volition past beryllium sent “periodically” until purchasing connected My Nintendo Store is opened to everyone.

Initial invitation emails volition beryllium delivered connected a first-come, first-serve ground to “eligible registrants who conscionable the precedence criteria.” Invitees volition person 72 hours from the clip erstwhile the email is sent to implicit their purchase.

Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order invitation precedence requirements:

• you indispensable person been the 1 who purchased immoderate Nintendo Switch Online membership
• you indispensable person had immoderate paid Nintendo Switch Online rank for a minimum of 12 months, and
• you indispensable person opted successful to stock gameplay information and person astatine slightest 50 hours full gameplay hours.

Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].