Today, Walmart sent out an email to customers who had ordered Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door online stating that it was required to cancel them, offering a $25 credit as consolidation. The company stated in the email that Nintendo had requested that Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door be only sold in stores, so all online pre-orders were required to be canceled.
Walmart is not the only store affected by this, with Amazon not accepting any orders on the title. Walmart has also disabled the game from being purchased online. As of writing, Best Buy, Target, and GameStop are all still accepting orders, but it’s something you’ll need to watch closely if you have a pre-order at these retailers. This begs the question: what is going on with these pre-orders?
There are numerous reasons why this could be the case. Potentially, Nintendo could have underestimated the demand for physical copies of the game. On the other hand, there could only be a limited number of copies for this highly anticipated release. Whatever the case may be, we’re hopeful that this release will be available to purchase easily. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is one of the most anticipated remakes in quite some time, with the game previously exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube. This release allows for continued game preservation, with access to new players who have not had the chance to check out this classic.
Not sure if this is widespread but it looks like Walmart will only sell Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in-stores (seemingly a Nintendo directive).
Online orders are getting cancelled and looks like they are offering $25 off a future order as an apology. https://t.co/vgmR4ESgUA
— Wario64 (@Wario64) May 16, 2024
We’ll be sure to keep you updated as this story continues. In the meantime, we’d recommend securing a copy for pick-up, if possible, at either Best Buy, Target, or GameStop while you still can.
Pre-orders for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door are live now, with the game set to release next Thursday, May 23.
