Nintendo fights Switch 2 scalpers in Japan with a 50-hour playtime requirement

Nintendo of Japan announced a new policy on X making it harder for scalpers to buy the multi-language version of Switch 2 through its Japanese storefront. Buyers now need a Nintendo Account with at least 50 hours of playtime on the original Switch — demos and free software don't count — and only one console can be purchased per account.

Scalpers had been exploiting the weakened yen to import the Japanese multi-language Switch 2 at a discount and resell it abroad, causing a suspicious spike in sales through Nintendo's Japanese store. Nintendo caught on, canceled the flagged transactions, and put the new restrictions in place. The cheaper Japan-only version of the console — which only supports Japanese text — isn't affected, since scalpers had no interest in it to begin with.

All of this is happening ahead of a previously announced price hike: Switch 2 goes from $449.99 to $499.99 in the US this September. The broader hardware market is in rough shape across the board — Sony's PS5 has climbed $150 since launch and now sits at $649.99, Microsoft's Xbox Series X hit $649.99 after multiple increases, and Valve's Steam Deck 512 GB OLED jumped from $549 to $789. The culprit across all of them is a global RAM shortage driven by Big Tech's AI data center buildout.

Nintendo's move shows the company is watching resale patterns closely and willing to act fast, but the September price increase could easily trigger another wave of scalping pressure once it kicks in.