Nintendo has been pretty clear in its Nintendo Switch strategy. On 12th January it'll host a full unveiling of the system, and is planning to give gamers around the world opportunities to go hands on with the system before it arrives in March. Pricing and release date are key details that should emerge at that time.
A number of retailers have information pages on their websites, but GAME in the UK is running a rather peculiar pre-order initiative. As no pricing is even available, the retailer is taking pre-orders with a dummy price of £999.99, naturally promising that the money won't be taken. Those that want to use PayPal, though, will still have a pending transaction for that amount on their account, which might not be a good idea. The following is from the product page.
Until we receive an official price from Nintendo, a temporary price of £999.99 will be given to the Nintendo Switch console. This placeholder will show through the checkout process and on your confirmation email, but you will not be charged this amount. At a later date, the confirmed price will be guaranteed to those who have pre-ordered.
At this time we have not received official confirmation of stock allocation, nor of the availability of stand-alone consoles versus console bundles. Until we have our allocation confirmed by Nintendo we cannot guarantee that every order will be fulfilled for launch, nor whether we will be able to offer you a stand-alone console or bundle. We will contact you in the event that you need to choose whether you wish to receive a bundled console.PayPal pre-orders: If you select PayPal as your payment option to pre-order the Nintendo Switch, please be aware that PayPal will attempt to authorise the current £999.99 value, resulting in a pending transaction at that value until the launch date of the Nintendo Switch. This should not interfere with your use of your PayPal account and you will only pay the confirmed price on launch day. Please note that if you do not have sufficient funds available to your PayPal account when you place the pre-order, PayPal may decline to authorise the transaction which will prevent your pre-order from being confirmed.
Well, no-one can say GAME is slow to try and get on the Switch hype train, but this does seem a tad early to take orders, with zero details on bundle options and so on.
Perhaps we should wait for real information before placing pre-orders...
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[source game.co.uk]
Comments 59
Can I pay that in full now?!?! That's an unbelievable price, no really it is! 😛
Waiting for preorders to fill lol
Didn't they say they won't sell at a loss? And it will be something that gamers expected?
I was actually wondering when shops would start offering preorders earlier today.
Will be interesting to see what sort of numbers they get preordering so far in advance though.
@Aaron09 I think you're missing the point, unless I'm missing your sarcasm...
@Aaron09 It's only a temporary price until GAME receive final notice. Nobody is being charged that much.
Call me a fanboy if you want but I have already put my money down. Hype train. Choo choo
Why?
Tempted to pre-order purely to ensure I get one but I think I'll wait for more info from my local Indie.
January is just around the corner.
That's such an obnoxious thing to do. They could easily set it as £400, or £500 tops. Better yet just don't open preorders until Nintendo have actually priced the damn thing and you know how many units you're getting.
GAME just sucks for doing this, no reason to stick a £999.99 price tag at all. Please no one pre-order until Nintendo have announced the price. There is no reason too.
Well that certainly wouldn't be Nintendo selling the Switch at a loss.
The only correct response to this is: Errrrrrr?
@ThomasBW84 sorry. I've been known to take things too seriouly lol
Might as well not bother and wait for information
"Should not interfere..." haha. It's the bit about the need to have "available funds" that's really quite amusing, I for one don't have £999.99 in my current account!
@ThomasBW84 That would be £7,000 for you TW. Bargain.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/09/game_processes_additional_charges_on_super_mario_maker_pre-orders
@rjejr Ah yes, another reason why I won't be placing one of these 'pre-orders'.
Why would anyone trust them after the Super Mario Maker scandal? Honestly surprised they're still in business, Amazon, ShopTo, even Nintendo themselves offer better value than GAME. Just a terrible retailer.
@Aaron09 Clearly you missed the part where it said it was a placeholder price smh
Ah, I'll wait for a few months AFTER launch, thanks 'GAME'
I just hope this time around Nintendo can be more like Sony and support the system for more than 2 years. If I'm gonna pay good money I want it to carry length of time
There's only half of one side of a two sided stand (That faces a wall to boot), that has Nintendo stuff, and that's for 3DS, at my local GAME. That's it. No Wii. No Wii U. No sign of Breath of the Wild, no amiibo.
Ironically you're not gonna get it any quicker by pre-ordering sooner, may as well wait till they release the price/bundles/packages... then pre-order with a company with the most competitive price/deals. Duh!
£1000, are you kidding ?
@BLP_Software "No sign of Breath of the Wild"
Target put these $5 pre-order cards up for Zelda U in September. If I hadn't seen these I'd bet on the Wii U version being canceled or download only. Now they'll just delay it 2 months after the Switch version to remove Gamepad screen support. I started playing Lego City Undercover last night, screen is NOT a distraction Anouma.
I just realised. This is the UK. Joe public will probably take this as its price.
That's....well that's not gonna help.
This reminds me of when the Anniversary Map Pack for Halo Reach first popped up on XBL. Thing had a crazy glitched price- millions of credits (this right before XBL switched to proper money).
the only reason to do this is to lock down one of those 2million launch month units.
Not that I believe that's what they'll end up doing but if you want to be sure there you go.
@rjejr They may have had cases for it, but it would've been under the 3DS stuff right by the floor, as the 3DS side was so out of the way and small/hidden.
I'm just concerned average joe schmoh might see this as its actual price and say nope, even after Nintendo gives the real price. The UK is that dense. Honestly with the way GAME uses it's monopoly, and how the Nintendo stuff locally is now 3DS (Kinda, its next to nothing) only...I cant see them giving the Switch a good shot. Ill have to go elsewhere for the console itself. Probably use my connections.
..will they accept My Nintendo Coins?..
Nintendo need to stop that carry on. Game are a joke.
@buildz this is the wobbly wobbly world of GAME. There's a very real chance people will eventually be charged this price. Eight or nine times on their credit card.
I just pre ordered! When it gets closer to launch, if I see cheaper cheaper prices elsewhere then I will cancel and pre order from somewhere else.
This has to be the worst idea I've heard all day. This is about as low as it gets. Horrible.
No thanks...
I'll wait for the proper preorders to start up at a local Gamestop.
Given Game's track record I would not touch this with a barge-pole. This is all on the basis Game is still trading in March '17.
They do not inspire much confidence on either front.
GAME opened pre-orders in store on the day after the announcement. It's a £50 deposit and there is provision to cancel later on.
ShopTo are also offering pre-orders with the £1000 placeholder price. They don't take any money now.
@BLP_Software I don't think anybody looking for Switch on GAME's website 5 months before launch will think that price is real. Though that's based on you being about the only person doing so.
I don't think I've ever read anything good about Game. Or good about Nintendo in the UK. Maybe you should just do all of your shopping on the Nintendo UK store or Amazon or something? Doesn't seem much point in shopping in stores.
I do almost all of my leisurely shopping on Amazon (not groceries or clothes), as does like half the US, so Nintendo better get the Switch on there if they want to make a go of it here. Nintnedo needs it's own header page on there. NES Classic only has email alerts, no price even.
While I don't usually pre-order stuff at all, I DO want to make sure I get a Switch day one... 2 million consoles worldwide doesn't sound like a lot.
Obviously, I won't be pre-ordering with GAME. At least not right now I won't be. I'll wait for the January info dump from Nintendo then see where I can get the best deal.
@rjejr Nintendo in the UK isn't very positive. Most supermarkets stock Xbox/PS4 stuff, albeit small quantities, and put the latest release front and centre for a while. Other media stores are the same. GAME is the only Nintendo based store, and even then...its not much as I said.
If I'm buying Nintendo stuff, which is a lot of the time actually...it's right from Nintendo themselves, and most of the time it arrives early for um...reasons... even though I'm pretty sure actively working with Nintendo is an offense to my uni or something. Iunno.
Seems like a small price to pay for something so revolutionary.
@sandman89
That OoT title screen ALWAYS gives me super mega feels!
I'm in the US but Game has had a terrible reputation these last few years of abruptly cancelling preorders etc.
I'll be expecting an article of similarity just before and after launch.
GAME ..... stay away from that company. No customer support (phone rings, then waiting time for 45 mins and phone disconnects) and live chat nobody answers.....they often take too many pre-orders and others that were unlucky have to wait up to several weeks longer (because they cannot cancel pre-order)... again, stay away from that crap. Go Amazon.
I'll await until they announce a price in January and any bundle deals. There still be enough time to pre order for March.
This is not even anything unusual. Here in Sweden pretty much all stores have had pre orders for Switch for over a year with a silly price like this.
Pre-order in store is £50. I ordered one just because I'd like to increase my chance of getting one on launch day. I refuse to order through their site due to issues in the past but I've never had a problem in store.
A temporary price of WHAT?!
I've been burnt by GAME before several times on pre-orders so I'm waiting for Amazon. It's a pity, I used to always swear by Gamestation before GAME bought them, but these days they just don't seem to be able to get their act together.
I preordered one instore from GAME with a £50 deposit (that's fully refundable once they know the price) the day after the trailer hit.
I don't get why people would preorder now with so few details known about the Switch. At the very least, hold off until the January Direct when so much more info and hopefully a price will be available.
There is another uk store - not gonna mention it's name as you lot seem to have blown the whole thing out of proportion - they put a temp price of £9,999 when you pre order the switch - it's their standard placeholder which will reduce to the correct price once everything is announced - they don't take a penny off you or try and claim anything until you pay on release day - which by then it will have reduced to the right amount.
Game should have disabled PayPal for this preorder though, again, it checks you have the money but doesn't claim anything, it's the way PayPal works - then they adjust and it takes the right amount on release.
I don't see the issue, plus regarding why people are pre ordering now - maybe they just want to be sure they get one on order in case it sells out like the psvr and the wii did. Nothing worse than waiting til the last minute to find there is none left to pre order and you have to wait a few months after release to get one
That fake blonde girls looks weird.
Who would preorder for that?
@UK-Nintendo
So you want Nintendo to support their systems like Sony does? If they did that then they'd have stopped producing Wii U games over a year ago, just like how Sony stopped supporting the Vita just over a year after its release.
I'll probably preorder the NS after Christmas is out of the way.
Game should Switch to a better pre-order price!
@SH007ME : Your goldies are good for 10% off the Switch version upgrade of Super Mario Bros. (1985). Must already own Wii U and Wii versions to be eligible for this too-good-to-be-missed offer.
It's not really that early for pre-orders considering it's less than 5 months away from release. Nintendo are late getting the details out, as we know. And we won't know anything else until almost 2 months until release, so it's really not that peculiar to be taking pre-orders now.
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