Japanese gamers are completely ignoring the region-free Switch 2

Less than 3% of pre-orderers have snagged one of the more accessible versions of the console.

There were many reactions to the Switch 2 price tag (£395.99 / €469.99) when it was confirmed earlier this month. But the device won't be quite as expensive in all markets. In Nintendo's home country of Japan, a localised version of the Switch 2 will be released that is region-locked and only runs Japanese titles.

Today, the concept of region-locked consoles is basically forgotten and it's a given that the game you buy on vacation in Thailand, in California, or at an airport somewhere in Europe should work with your device. But... in Japan, this doesn't seem to be much in demand. According to a large survey conducted by yukino_san_14 (thanks Automaton) among 60,000 of the 2.2 million Japanese who have pre-ordered the Switch 2 so far, the overwhelming majority choose the cheaper and region-locked Switch 2 device.

In fact, only 2.9% of respondents have pre-ordered a region-free Switch 2, while 27.5% have pre-ordered a region-locked Switch 2 without bundled games and 69.7% have pre-ordered a region-locked Switch 2 with Mario Kart World.

What would you have chosen if you had the option to buy a Switch 2 for half the price - with the difference that you could only play titles from your part of the world?