Last week, I was fortunate enough to pre-order theNintendo Switch 2when pre-orders went live in the U.S.It was pretty messy– Target’s website crashed and was down for about 25 minutes – but even then the process wasn’t as bad as when the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 first arrived back in 2020.
After the dust settled and I woke up the next morning, I saw that a friend of mine had gone in person toGameStop to secure a pre-order, something I never even considered. “Well, I bet that was amess,” I thought to myself as I did my morning scroll through BlueSky. Then I saw another person who did the same. Then another.
In retrospect, I wish I had too.
Turns Out, Console Launch Events Still Exist
I’m not sure why in-person pre-orders never occurred to me as an option for the Switch 2. I dismissed the idea because they felt like a thing of the past sincemidnight launches for games have all but died outthanks to the prevalence of digital ownership. Additionally, the console launches in 2020 were wrapped up in the height of the pandemic, meaning a lot of stores weren’t doing in-person pre-orders, and the few that were had extremely limited stock.
The pandemic felt like the end of in-person console launches forever, but I was wrong. From what it looks like based on my friendswho secured pre-orders from GameStop, they had a great time. People lined up outside storefronts for an hour or two before the doors opened and when they did, most stores seemed to have been stocked relatively well to accommodate pre-orders – a stark contrast to the four PS5s and ten Xbox Series Xs that my local GameStop had at launch to sell to a line of 50 people in 2020.
Not only was the process of pre-ordering a console simple, but it seems like everyone who went in person got a taste of the kind of gaming community building that’s been lost in the digital age. One of my friends told me about how he talked with the person in front of him for 20 minutes or so about how they’re hopingthe JoyCon 2’s mouse capabilitieswill be used in future games and about how they’re both excited forKirby Air Ride to be making a returnafter more than two decades.
What I Missed Out On
That experience is entirely opposite to mine. I spent the night refreshing pages on Best Buy and Walmart texting a friend to see if he had secured an order and that was about it. The process didn’t feel like an event,it just felt like I was buying something while my internet freaked out.There wasn’t that warmth and excitement that comes with physically being around other people who are just as excited about new gaming hardware as you are.
Pre-ordering a Switch 2 in person sounds like it was a drastically better experience both on the pre-order side of things and on the human side. It sounds like my friends who went in person made a legitimate memory by leaving their house. It might not be the most exciting story – all that happened was they waited in line and talked with people – but it’s certainly more memorable than another night buying something online.
Even though release events for physical games have disappeared almost entirely, it’s nice to know that console launches are a different story. Hearing about what I missed out on from my friends who went in-person has me reconsidering how I plan my future console purchases. When the PS6 and Xbox Series X-2 (not to be confused withFinal Fantasy X-2) launch in a few years, I might skip the digital queue and hop into a physical one. That is,if GameStop even still exists at that point.
