Nintendo Is Trying Something New To Fight Switch 2 Scalpers

Earlier this year, Nintendo noted that one of the ways it intends to fight Switch 2 scalpers is by producing enough consoles to meet the demand. It's an admirable goal, but there's almost always someone willing to pay ludicrous amounts of money to get a Switch 2 from scalpers. Now, Nintendo has laid out how it's going to make things harder for scalpers to connect with would-be customers.

Nintendo has announced a partnership with a handful of Japan's top "flea market" sites--Mercari, Yahoo Auctions, Yahoo Flea Market, and Rakuten Rakuma--to limit the reach of Switch 2 resellers and scalpers. As noted by Autmaton, Yahoo Auctions is even prohibiting any Switch 2 listings in the immediate future.

The partnership between Nintendo and the associated flea market outlets lets them work together to take down Switch 2 listings that go against the sites' terms of service, penalize sellers who violate those rules, and lay the groundwork for "a collaborative system for sharing information."

These measures are meant to prevent scalpers from listing fraudulent posts or offering preorders for Switch 2. Once players actually have Switch 2 of their own, Nintendo's partnership with the flea market sites can't prevent those fans from reselling those physical consoles at any price that they wish.

That's not too different from the way things work in the United States. Fans have already banded together to target Switch 2 listings on eBay that violate the auction house's rules regarding preorders. If and when resellers actually have consoles to sell, there's nothing stopping them from hitting the secondary market.

Switch 2 will be released on June 5.