Nintendo announces Zelda 40th-anniversary Switch 2 availability, plans more launch inventory

Buying one had already proved difficult for some shoppers. In an Oct. 28 guide, Kotaku’s Ash Parrish reported that preorders sold out almost immediately after the console was announced. Parrish also reported that Best Buy had announced plans to offer some consoles not allocated to preorders at its Nov. 5 midnight launch.

In a separate Oct. 29 report, Kotaku’s Kenneth Shepard described a Reddit user’s purported Walmart employee memo citing supply-chain delays at some stores. Shepard also reported that workers encountering a point-of-sale block on consoles were told not to override it until at least Nov. 6. That reporting does not establish a chain-wide Walmart policy.

Nintendo’s availability announcement was not a guarantee of lasting stock. Nine minutes later, GameRant posted that Nintendo’s U.S. store had already sold out and Amazon had the console in stock at that moment. Those posts do not establish whether either retailer had stock later.