In a statement given to IGN, it turns out those “early shipments” of leaked Nintendo Switches are not early at all… they’re stolen.
The statement reads:
“Earlier this week, individuals claimed to prematurely purchase a small number of Nintendo Switch systems from an unspecified retailer. Nintendo has determined these units were stolen in an isolated incident by employees of a U.S. distributor, with one system being illegally resold. The individuals involved have been identified, terminated from their place of employment and are under investigation by local law enforcement authorities on criminal charges.
Nintendo Switch will launch worldwide on March 3, 2017, and we look forward to everyone being able to discover the wonders of the new system for themselves at that time.”
So if any hobo on a street corner tries to sell you his “early shipped” Switch, rest assured the leaked Nintendo Switches are stolen, not just early shipped. It’s better to wait until March 3rd, folks.
The original story and video that showed the unboxing can be found here. But now we just feel a little dirty watching it. In good Nintendo news though, we found out that Switch purchases will link to your Nintendo account, not just the Switch console. Hooray!
William Murphy
Two weeks early really seemed too good to be true.