How to check if you qualify for Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders
Nintendo has introduced some criteria for making pre-orders through their site. Some of it is easy, but one qualification might be tough to remember.
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After the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct yesterday, you might be looking into pre-ordering the upcoming console. There are plenty of online stores that will make it available, but if you’re nervous about trusting anyone other than Nintendo themselves, you might be confused about some of the restrictions. This is most likely to try to avoid scalpers, people who will try to buy the console and re-sell it at a much higher price to make a profit. Here’s what you need to know and how to check if you qualify.
Don’t remember if you opted to share data with Nintendo? It’s easy to check
Nintendo outlined some qualifications for ordering through their official site. Certain users will be able to register their interest in the next Nintendo console. For some reason this step is exclusive to Nintendo account holders in the US and Canada. We are not quite sure why the rest of the world is excluded from this option, but that is a major restriction. If you are lucky and not in another country, you will be able to register your interest in either the base Switch 2 console (priced at $449.99) or the bundle which includes Mario Kart World (priced at $499.99). Remember, you can only choose one of the two to register interest with. Once your interest is registered, you will have to wait until May 8th for the first batch of invitations to arrive. This is about a month later than pre-orders are expected to go live elsewhere. You will only have 72 hours from the time of receiving the invitation to make a pre-order purchase.
From Nintendo’s website: “Initial invitation emails will be delivered on a first-come, first-serve basis to eligible registrants who meet the priority criteria.” So, what are the priority criteria? Your account has to have been the one to purchase any Nintendo Switch Online membership and have continued to pay for that membership for a minimum of 12 months as of April 2nd, 2025. This might not be too hard to remember, but the other criteria that worried me was that “you must have opted in to share gameplay data and have at least 50 hours total gameplay hours.” The 50 gameplay hours are no problem for me, but I could not remember if I had opted to share gameplay data with Nintendo years ago when I first got my Switch. Thankfully, there is a way to check.
First, if you want to make sure you have 50 hours logged, simply power on your Switch and select your profile in the top left. The profile homepage will have data on the last 20 games you’ve played and how many hours you have played each game.
Checking if you opted into sharing gameplay data is a little more complicated, but still easy. To check, you’ll need to log in to your My Nintendo account. Click on your profile in the top right and go to Account Settings. Select Privacy and Other Settings and scroll down to Data Usage – Opt-Out Preferences. There you will see if you are sharing data with Nintendo. There are two options, and if you see “Share with Nintendo” with a little blue check mark, that means you opted in at some point. If you don’t, it might be too late to change it, as the criteria do specify “as of April 2nd, 2025.” But at least either way now you know and can plan your pre-order accordingly.
