Nintendo and GameStop have addressed the Switch 2 launch day issue of consoles being sold to customers with broken screens, after staples were used to attach receipts onto the Switch 2’s box.
As impacted fans have now told IGN, GameStop has begun offering replacement Nintendo Switch 2 consoles sourced from other nearby stores.
The major U.S. retailer has also issued a short statement on the matter — which Nintendo itself pointed to when contacted by IGN asking for comment — that seeks to make clear that GameStop employees only damaged dozens of consoles in one of its stores.
“We’ve addressed a unique case of staples damaging Switch 2 screens — isolated to one store,” GameStop said in a post on social media.
“Replacements have been offered. Staplers have been confiscated,” it continued, alongside a short clip from 1999 comedy film Office Space, where an employee gets a stapler taken from their desk by their boss.
We’ve addressed a unique case of staples damaging Switch 2 screens—isolated to one store.
Replacements have been offered. Staplers have been confiscated. https://t.co/w6eOEDtCeK pic.twitter.com/8UUeS7mx8i
— GameStop (@gamestop) June 5, 2025
Numerous fans who attended the midnight launch of Switch 2 at the Forest Avenue branch of GameStop in Staten Island were left to discover their console screens had been punctured by staples after opening their new purchases.
Some criticised the store’s decision to staple receipts to Switch 2 boxes, while others pointed out the design of Nintendo’s Switch 2 packaging — which positions the console’s main unit against the side of its thin cardboard box, screen facing outwards.
“I knew this would happen,” another fan wrote on social media. “It was a weird decision by Nintendo to have the screen sit face-side-up at the very top of the box with only the thin cardboard to protect it. You’re going to hear about a few damaged screens in the coming days. They are at risk just being stacked in shipping.”
IGN has asked Nintendo and GameSpot if other stores have been warned not to do similar, and whether packaging could be changed to make Switch 2 consoles more secure — from staples or otherwise.
“GameStop did right by me,” one fan told IGN today, after receiving a punctured Switch 2 at the console’s midnight launch. “They traded it in for a new system. They must of sent a shipment of Switch 2’s to that location today to fix the staple problem.”
Another customer, who also got their Switch 2 replaced, said they had been told GameStop moved quickly to pull spare stock from other local stores in order to provide replacements.
Blogroll image credit: 20th Century Fox. Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
