You can't buy a Switch 2 on Amazon, and third-party sellers may be to blame
"Third-party merchants were offering games for sale in the US at prices that undercut Nintendo's advertised rates," Bloomberg writes. That proved to be a major problem for Nintendo, especially because Amazon used to sell some of the company's products directly in the US, at Nintendo's prices.
Amazon reportedly tried to smooth things over by offering to label games and consoles as authentic (implying third-party listings were suspect), but the video game company declined and pulled its products. Certain Nintendo games are once again available to pre-order in the US on Amazon, like Donkey Kong Bananza , but Nintendo hardware is still conspicuously missing.
Of course, both companies deny there's anything unusual going on. "There is no such fact. We do not disclose details of negotiations or contracts with retailers," Nintendo shared in a statement to Bloomberg . Amazon similarly downplayed any conflict. "The claims made by Bloomberg regarding our relationship with Nintendo are inaccurate," Amazon said. The company provided the same statement when Engadget asked about Bloomberg 's report.
You can find the kind of erratic price gouging behavior Nintendo was reportedly responding to all over Amazon, so it would make sense that the company is trying to protect the Switch 2 from the worst of it. It's still pretty unusual, though, especially when it's so easy to get a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X / S from the same marketplace. When the Switch 2 launched on June 5, it was only available to order from Walmart, GameStop, Target, Best Buy and Nintendo itself. Those are still the only places you can purchase one online.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNET
9 minutes ago
- CNET
Amazon Reaches Automation Milestone by Deploying Its Millionth Robot
Amazon's fleet of warehouse robots just hit a new milestone. The company announced Monday that it deployed its millionth bot to begin operations at a fulfillment center in Japan. Amazon's ambitions for robot use have long surpassed the company utilizing them for delivery service. The business juggernaut is the world's leading manufacturer of mobile robotics, and aims to sell them to you for use at home as well -- if you have $1600 to spare. The robotic workers operate in over 300 Amazon warehouses across the world, creating an ever-expanding automated delivery network. More than 75% of Amazon's global deliveries are assisted in some way by robot automation, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Amazon has also developed a new generative AI model called DeepFleet to make the robots in the delivery system "smarter and more efficient." According to Amazon, this new model will coordinate robots across the fulfillment network to improve package travel times by 10%. The company's robots currently lift thousands of pounds of packages at a time, integrate conveyor belts to move along individual items and move autonomously around the warehouse with heavy carts. The most recent fleet upgrade, Vulcan, uses force feedback sensors to create a sense of touch, physically lifting and moving items all by itself. Amazon's robots work in tandem with more than 1.6 million human workers worldwide. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is on track to have more automated workers than employed humans, while Amazon workers have begun to unionize in recent years. A representative for Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Forbes
11 minutes ago
- Forbes
The Genius Of Amazon's 'Value For Money' AI Reviews
The Genius of Amazon's 'Value for Money' AI Reviews Amazon has struck a rich marketing vein with its AI-generated summaries of product reviews, a feature the company first introduced in 2023 and appears to have become ubiquitous. To relieve shoppers of having to slog through endless screens of individual product reviews (Amazon reported more than 1.5 billion submitted in 2022), it now posts a short paragraph at the top of the list that distills all the blather into a few generalizations. For example, the AI blurb for a product with more than 120,000 reviews and averaging 4.6 stars: 'Customers find this electric toothbrush to be a premium product that delivers thorough cleaning with its scrubbing action and leaves teeth feeling polished and fresh. They appreciate its four different settings and consider it good value for money.' Review summaries can also be brutal. For a particular waffle iron that earned an average of 4.2 stars, the AI blurb nevertheless mentions: 'While the appliance makes great waffles and grilled sandwiches, customers report issues with heat control, taking a long time to heat up, and experiencing breakage problems, particularly with the thin plastic base.' The summary for a popular brand of casual shoe: 'Value for money opinions are divided, with some considering them a great buy while others say they're not worth the price tag.' The concept of value for money has been around for decades, largely used in the government sector to discuss policies and budgets for programs such as public housing, to gauge efficiency and effectiveness. Governments want to know, for example, if underwriting affordable housing will reduce social safety-net costs. Value for money suddenly gained traction in the consumer sector this year, and has become a frequent mention in the AI blurbs on Amazon. A Google Trends search finds a huge spike in mentions began in February, a month in which consumer confidence collapsed and grassroots movements like 'No Buy 2025' encouraged spending boycotts. In the consumer economy, value for money is hard to define because it is personal. But it is becoming a big deal, especially in the U.S. where tariff uncertainty has fanned renewed inflation fears, housing remains unaffordable, and shoppers have loaded themselves up with debt. According to a recent McKinsey & Company report, State of the Consumer 2025, 'Consumers are redefining what value means to them.' Consumer-facing companies that aren't paying attention do so at their peril. Brand loyalty is losing power and more-value-for-the-price is becoming an expectation. Look what happened to Starbucks a year ago after consecutive quarters of disappointing results, same-store sales, and earnings. As we noted here at the time, Bloomberg reported that the company 'is bleeding customers who no longer want to shell out for high-priced coffee drinks.' One of the big winners in a value-for-money economy has been Aldi, the quirky grocery store chain we covered here recently. The surge in sales of private label goods versus national brands is driving up profit margins at major retailers and changing how they market the value-for-money message. Value for money is here to stay. A recent report by accounting giant Deloitte, based on a deep data dive, found that, 'Today, 4 in 10 Americans are value seekers—defined as surveyed consumers who exhibit three or more cost-conscious, deal-driven, or convenience-sacrificing behaviors each month across grocery/retail, restaurants, leisure travel, and automotive.' Consumers in 2025 are no longer just looking for deals. With the proliferation of competing promotions that lack real urgency, for retailers every day needs to be 'prime day.' And because shoppers are heavily influenced by reviews, a 'good value for money' mention on Amazon is marketing gold.
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tesla Stock in Tailspin After Error-Plagued Robotaxi Debut
Things are veering way off the road for Tesla. In the wake of the long-awaited Robotaxi rollout in Austin, Tesla stock saw an initial bump — but those gains weren't able to withstand the ample bad press the autonomous cabs have gotten in the few days they've trawled Texas streets. On Tuesday, the botched Robotaxi launch led Tesla stock to drop more than four percent and nearly $15 in a single day. That falloff came after videos emerged showing the driverless cabs — which also, embarrassingly, still have human "safety monitors" riding shotgun — breaking traffic laws and driving erratically. One of the most viral Robotaxi freakouts shows one of the not-exactly-self-driving cabs braking repeatedly when driving near police cars, blowing through an intersection, and swerving into oncoming traffic — all within the brief 20 minutes that the ride was filmed by its backseat passenger. In another unsettling Robotaxi video, the Model Y's self-driving steering wheel jerks back and forth while plowing through another intersection before careening across a double-yellow line. The videos weren't only seen by internet critics, but also by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which confirmed to Bloomberg earlier this week that it was aware of the clips and looking into whatever the heck is going on in them. In an investor note shared with MarketWatch, erstwhile Tesla bull Tom Narayan of RBC Capital Markets pointed out that the inclusion of human safety monitors and remote drivers in the Robotaxi rollout came as a rude surprise to stockholders banking on a revolutionary demo. "Robotaxis are critical to the Tesla investment case," Narayan wrote. If the company can prove to stockholders (and the rest of the world) that its autonomous driving capabilities are legit, the analyst noted, the company would edge out its competition both in the driverless cab sphere and in EV world. With the way things are going for Tesla, however, that seems like a big "if." "Only time will tell if this will work," the analyst concluded. And even if you look past all the drama, it's clear that Tesla's competitor Waymo is blowing it out of the water as it expands service to city after city. More on Tesla trouble: Cybertruck Burned So Severely That Its Driver's Bones Disintegrated Sign in to access your portfolio
