‘Sounds about right’: Switch 2 first-day owners horrified as GameStop staples receipt to the console screen

It’s Switch 2 launch day and all around the world excited Nintendo fans are unwrapping their shiny new consoles. Top of the agenda is the long-awaited Mario Kart World, but the console is set to deliver years of high-quality Nintendo exclusives, leaving gamers very happy.

Well, most gamers anyway. As reported by @Wario64 on X, a GameStop store in Staten Island needed a way to fix pre-order receipts to the new console box. Glue? Nah, too messy. Sellotape? We don’t have any. Ooh! How about a staple gun! Ka-thonk!

Apparently one GameStop store used a stapler to attach receipts to Switch 2 boxes and the staple ruined the screen…another person commented their unit and others were affected at the same store https://t.co/3eMGSUVnT6 pic.twitter.com/YXvfU9fUq7

— Wario64 (@Wario64) June 5, 2025

Yup, some incompetent employee decided to staple the receipt to the front of every single Switch 2 box on pre-order. As you might predict, the staple pierced the box, the packaging, and, unfortunately, the pristine screen of the new console. Needless to say, those anticipating a fun day of Mario Kart aren’t happy to see that their system was irreparably damaged before they even took it out of the box.

A whole shipment, trashed

Reports on Reddit indicate that this particular GameStop may have done this to every Switch 2 they had: “Me and my homie here (we never met before) were unfortunately at the same gamestop and this happened to me and another buddy! Think the entire pre order batch is completely f**ked” and that it looks like “over 100 people” may have had the same thing happen.

Unfortunately, even if GameStop accepts liability (and anyone who’s dealt with them knows that’s far from guaranteed), it’s unlikely those with damaged consoles are getting a replacement anytime soon. From the preorder chaos onwards ,it’s clear that, at least in the United States, there are far more people who want Switch 2’s than there are available.

Predictions are that they’ll be waiting 6-8 weeks for a new one, but here’s hoping they’ll get some kind of apology in the form of GameStop store credit. In the meantime, here’s hoping that poor GameStop employee that screwed up is lying low. They’ve no doubt been chewed out ferociously by their boss, are probably already looking for new employment, and now have hundreds of irate Nintendo fans on their trail. Maybe in their next job, they’ll be more careful with the merchandise, so fingers crossed this is a lesson learned!