Tech
Where to buy Nintendo Switch 2 online: Check every listing at Target, Best Buy, Walmart, and GameStop
The Nintendo Switch launch date is almost upon us. Starting on June 5, gamers can finally purchase the Switch 2 console for $449.99 and the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle for $499.99. (Some retailers list the price as $449 and $499, respectively.)
So, where can you buy the Switch 2 online? If you want to try your luck now, check the latest Switch 2 preorder stock at the My Nintendo Store and official Nintendo retailers:
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Nintendo
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Target
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Walmart
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GameStop
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Best Buy
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Costco
Like the PlayStation 5 before it, the Switch 2 is in short supply for preorders. That's left many Switch fans wondering how to buy the Switch 2 at launch. For the official June 5 release date, retailers like GameStop are bringing back the midnight launch event, so you can always try your luck at buying a Switch 2 in person. If you don't want to brave the crowds, then you'll have to go online.
Since opening for preorder on April 24, the Switch 2 has been sold out pretty much everywhere. So many gamers tried to place preorders on April 24 that they immediately crashed the GameStop, Target, and Walmart websites. And with tariff uncertainty and extremely high demand (Nintendo expects to sell 20 million consoles in the next year), there's a lot we still don't know. Besides a handful of blink-and-you'll-miss-it restocks, preorders have been hard to come by. We're hoping that changes once June 5 arrives.
Everywhere you can buy the Switch 2 online at launch
To avoid hoarding and price gouging, Nintendo and retailers have protections in place to limit orders per person. That means you'll need to make an account to successfully place an order with most retailers. We also recommend reviewing our tips for tracking restocks, such as signing up for inventory alerts with your retailer of choice. But the easiest way to track Switch 2 availability online? Keep checking this article, as we'll be updating it regularly in the days and hours to come.
Your best bet? Place an order with Nintendo.
You can't simply go to the My Nintendo Store and buy the Switch 2. To order the Switch 2, you need to log in with an active, paid Nintendo Switch Online account. Once you do that, you can choose either a Switch 2 standalone console or the Mario Kart World bundle and then hit the confirm button to "register your interest" in ordering a Switch 2.
Now for the weird stuff. Only Switch Online members who have paid for at least 12 months of service and registered at least 50 hours of gameplay on their Switch consoles can purchase through Nintendo. In other words, you better be a true Switch gamer if you want to buy the Switch 2 this way. If you're eligible and follow these steps, check your email for an invitation link.
How to order Switch 2 at Walmart
Unlike Nintendo, purchasing the Switch 2 online at Walmart is pretty simple. Technically, Walmart shoppers have been able to preorder Switch 2 consoles on Walmart's website since midnight ET on April 24. In reality, the console has been sold out consistently. However, this week Walmart confirmed that it would have new Switch 2 inventory available online soon, though we don't know exactly when. Our advice? Go to the Walmart Switch 2 listing and smash that refresh button at midnight.
We'll update this article as soon as we find Switch 2 consoles in stock at Walmart (or anywhere). Walmart also sells a lot of Switch 2 launch titles and accessories.
How to buy Switch 2 at Target
Target stores will open as usual on launch day, and according to a press release, Switch 2 hopefuls will be directed to a "designated queuing location" near the entrance. Target workers will reportedly give out reservation tickets to a lucky few, so we recommend arriving early and crossing those fingers. If you get a golden ticket, you'll be whisked off to the electronics department, where you'll finally be able to purchase either the Switch 2 or a Switch 2 bundle.
You'll have to wait a bit longer to buy the Switch 2 online at Target, as the company said it will start selling it online "beginning early morning" on Friday, June 6. For now, you can check the preorder pages at Target or sign up for alerts to get notified of Switch 2 restocks.
How to buy Switch 2 at GameStop
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GameStop is the one retailer of the four listed here that's doing things a little bit differently. If you were lucky enough to get a GameStop preorder, you can pick up your console at midnight on June 5. All GameStop stores will also be hosting midnight launch events (though supplies will be limited), and gamers will be able to participate in a "Transfer and Trade," where they trade in their original Switch and transfer their data to the new console.
You can also try your luck online or sign up to get updates when new inventory becomes available. You can also buy Switch 2 games and accessories at GameStop, including those all-important MicroSD Express cards.
How to buy Switch 2 consoles at Best Buy
Best Buy is joining GameStop in having Switch 2 midnight launch parties, and the company lays out all the details in this FAQ. To sum up, "Most stores in the U.S. will open Thursday, June 5, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time for pre-order pickup and walk-in purchases." (Central time stores open at 11:01 p.m., Mountain time stores open at 10:01 p.m., and Pacific time stores open at 9:01 p.m.) Participating stores will stay open for about two hours.
As a “high-demand item,” Best Buy customers have to follow specific steps to buy a Switch 2 online:
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Create a My Best Buy account and sign in
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Confirm your location
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Add the item to your cart
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Follow the on-screen prompts and check for available inventory
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If you get a Switch 2 console in your cart, you’ll have 10 minutes to complete the purchase
Can you buy the Switch 2 at Amazon?
You'll notice there's one major retailer conspicuously missing so far — Amazon. That's because Amazon is not an official Nintendo retailer, so any Switch 2 consoles you find there are likely listed by resellers of dubious legitimacy. However, Amazon shoppers can preorder some Switch 2 titles ahead of the launch.
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How to buy the Switch 2 at Staples
As we noted in our Switch 2 preorder guide, select Staples stores will sell the Switch 2 on a first-come, first-served basis starting June 5. Most Staples locations open at 8 a.m., but we recommend showing up bright and early. Staples will also be selling an unnamed Switch 2 game bundle, and we know it's not the standard Mario Kart World bundle. As with other retailers, Switch 2 consoles are currently listed as "Out of stock" at the Staples online store.
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How to buy the Switch 2 at Costco
Are you a Costco member? Then you may be able to secure your Switch 2 at the mega-retailer. Costco members can purchase the Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle online starting June 5, though there's a limit of one console per membership (every seven days).
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Still want more information? Our first impressions of the Switch 2
Mashable reporter Alex Perry was lucky enough to play the Switch 2 at two Nintendo pre-launch events, and as of this writing, he's hard at work testing his Switch 2 review unit. You can read all about his first impressions and thoughts on Mario Kart World. After playing the Switch 2 for the first time, he had this to say:
From the first second I got to hold a Switch 2 unit, I instantly liked the way it felt in my hands. The 7.9-inch 1080p display (which supports HDR and 120Hz refresh rate) is substantially nicer than the 6.2-inch 720p display on the predecessor console. In addition to a bigger screen, the Joy-Cons also have some added muscle…Doing a cross-country race across Mario Kart World's gorgeous open world without even a hint of loading between tracks is awesome. Seeing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom run at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second is very convincing in person.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable
You can also read all about the Switch 2 launch titles we're most excited to play.
And if you still haven't secured your preorder, keep checking this page for updates — and good luck!
It’s hard enough getting into the content creator space without the platform you’re on putting up restrictions. However, Instagram is now the latest social media app to institute such a restriction — forcing people to have at least 1,000 followers before they go live on the site. Previously, Instagram let anyone go live, regardless of account status.
The news first started circulating after smaller creators posted the notice on other social media channels.
The notice reads, "Your account is no longer eligible for Live. We changed the requirements to use this feature. Only public accounts with 1,000 followers or more will be able to create live videos."
Credit: Chance Townsend / Instagram screenshot
TechCrunch followed up with Instagram and confirmed that the social network giant made this change intentionally. As expected, small creators aren’t fans of the change, and it’s been mostly maligned across all of social media. Creators with private accounts won’t be able to go live at all, even if the account has over 1,000 followers. Instagram says the change was made to “improve the overall Live consumption experience.”
There are pros and cons to the decision, as TechCrunch notes. On the one hand, small creators will have an even harder time breaking out into the segment than they already do, as accumulating followers without buying them can be a long and painstaking process. By contrast, Instagram likely removed a lot of low-quality streams this way that only have a couple of viewers each, which makes it easier to find better live content while also saving Meta money.
This change brings Instagram more in line with TikTok’s live streaming rules. However, the number of followers you need on TikTok can vary, with plenty of people getting access long before they reach 1,000 subscribers. As of this writing, Facebook’s Help Center says that going live on Facebook only requires a 60-day-old account and at least 100 followers. YouTube still allows users to go live after just 50 followers, while Twitch remains the easiest to get started with a 0 follower limit.
Lovense is well-known for its selection of remote-controlled vibrators. It’s slightly less known for a massive security issue that exposed user emails and allowed accounts to be wholly taken over by a hacker without even needing a password. Fortunately, both issues have been fixed, but it didn’t happen without some drama.
As the story goes, security researcher BobDaHacker (with some help) accidentally found out that you could uncover a user’s email address pretty easily by muting someone in the app. From there, they were able to figure out that you could do this with any user account, effectively exposing every Lovense user’s email without much effort.
With the email in hand, it was then possible to generate a valid gtoken without a password, giving a hacker total access to a person’s Lovense account with no password necessary. The researchers told Lovense of the issue in late March and were told that fixes were incoming.
In June 2025, Lovense told the researchers that the fix would take 14 months to implement because it did not want to force legacy users to upgrade the app. Partial fixes were implemented over time, only partially fixing the problems. On July 28, the researchers posted an update showing that Lovense was still leaking emails and had exposed over 11 million user accounts.
"We could have easily harvested emails from any public username list," BobDaHacker said in a blog post. "This is especially bad for cam models who share their usernames publicly but obviously don't want their personal emails exposed."
It was around then that the news started making its way around the news cycle. Other researchers began reaching out to show that the exploit had actually been known as far back as 2022, and Lovense had closed the issue without issuing a fix. After two more days in the news cycle, the sex toy company finally rolled out fixes for both exploits on July 30.
It’s not Lovense’s first roll in the mud. In 2017, the company was caught with its proverbial pants down after its app was shown to be recording users while they were using the app and toy. Lovense fixed that issue as well, stating that the audio data was never sent to their servers.
Sony and Marvel have revealed a fresh look for Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and it’s a return to basics. In a very short 22-second teaser, fans got a decent look at Spidey’s new suit, which leans heavily into the classic comic design.
Gone is the ultra-slick Stark Suit, the high-tech armor gifted by Tony Stark, which Holland’s Peter Parker wore in three solo films and multiple Avengers crossovers.
Spoilers for 2021’s No Way Home:
By the film’s end, Peter’s high-tech suit is wrecked — and so is everything else. It's a brutal reset that leaves Peter truly alone and stripped of all the Stark tech that powered his previous adventures. This mirrors the more grounded, scrappy origins many fans felt had been missing from the MCU’s version of the character.
The closing shot in No Way Home is of a homemade suit — vibrant, hand-sewn, and all Peter — and signaled a fresh start. Now, with Brand New Day on the horizon, we’re finally seeing that suit in action. And yeah — it looks great. Here’s hoping the movie lives up to it.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters July 31, 2026, with Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton at the helm.
You can no longer go live on Instagram unless you have 1,000 followers
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