Nintendo Restricts Switch 2 Sales in Japan to Combat Scalping

Nintendo Co., Ltd. temporarily suspended sales of the multi-language version of the Nintendo Switch 2 in Japan after identifying numerous orders suspected of bulk purchasing and reselling. To curb scalping, the company introduced strict eligibility criteria requiring buyers to use a Nintendo Account with at least 50 hours of gameplay on the original Nintendo Switch recorded by May 31, 2026. These requirements exclude time spent on demos and free-to-play titles, and purchases are limited to one console per account.

The restrictions target the multilingual model, which resellers are importing at lower costs due to a weak Japanese yen before a scheduled $50 price increase takes effect in September. These measures do not apply to the cheaper, region-locked Japanese-only model.

President Shuntaro Furukawa linked broader hardware price increases to sustained costs for memory, oil, and foreign exchange fluctuations. These trends mirror industry-wide price hikes for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Steam Deck, driven by a global RAM shortage resulting from the expansion of AI data centers.