Anyone who’s recently tried to buy stuff from Nintendo through Amazon will have noticed that something weird is going on. Lots of new games you’d expect to find on the online retailer aren’t available there, and the ones that are often arrive with region codes indicating they were originally intended for Europe or elsewhere. Even the Switch 2 itself, which just had the fastest console launch sales ever is still not for sale on Jeff Bezos’ marketplace almost a month later. Now both Nintendo and Amazon swear everything is normal.
These denials of any headbutting between the companies come in response to a new report by Bloomberg alleging that Nintendo pulled its products from Amazon because of store listings that undercut its products with cheaper prices from third-party sellers who had likely been importing things for cheap from Southeast Asia. Amazon reportedly tried to offer better labeling to make it clear which products were coming officially from Nintendo and which ones weren’t, but that apparently wasn’t enough to mend the relationship.
“There is no such fact. We do not disclose details of negotiations or contracts with retailers,” a spokesperson for Nintendo told Bloomberg. Amazon also played dumb, calling the reporting “inaccurate” and stating that it was “pleased to offer Nintendo products directly to our customers as part of our commitment to providing an exceptional shopping experience with the widest selection possible.”
Those products it does offer include the original Switch and first-party games for it, as well as third-party releases for the Switch 2 like Cyberpunk 2077. The Switch 2 and its Nintendo games, however, remain absent. Search for Mario Kart World and you will instead get listings for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Two notable exceptions: you can currently pre-order both Donkey Kong Bananza and Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
Has the beef been squashed, or are these pre-orders for upcoming games just a test run to see if Amazon can allegedly get back into Nintendo’s good graces? Metroid Prime 4, also launching this year, does not have a pre-order listing. In fact, Amazon canceled previously placed pre-orders for the game earlier this year.
Meanwhile, online deals retailer Woot, which is owned by Amazon, frequently sells physical copies of Nintendo’s Switch 1 games at steep discounts. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom are all $15 off at the moment. Even Tears of the Kingdom is just $48. Buy it and pay $10 for the upgrade and you’re effectively saving $22 off the sticker price of a Switch 2 launch game. I’m sure Nintendo’s not pissed about that at all.
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