The Best Places to Buy Nintendo Switch Games in 2024 - IGN (2024)

As the best place to buy physical Switch games, we recommend Amazon. With a Prime membership, it's incredibly easy to purchase a physical Switch game and receive lighting fast shipping. Most of the time, you can get in stock Switch games within 24 hours. Plus, Amazon doesn't charge your card for pre-orders of upcoming Switch games, as the company waits until the item is in stock.

There's also other solid options like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. Though, for the latter, you'll want to be careful when purchasing, as sometimes Walmart has listings for European Switch games. These will work on your system fine, but some players do prefer to own North Amercian, ESRB-rated copies.

Beyond these picks, you can also find rare or limited Nintendo Switch physical copies at retailers like Limited Run Games and Video Games Plus. Since these games are either reprints or limited print runs, you won't be able to find these at retailers like Amazon or Best Buy.

Beyond traditional retailers, you can even buy physical Switch games directly from Nintendo! Nintendo's store has almost every Switch game published by the company available, and often, you'll find discounted titles throughout random periods of the year.

Where Can You Still Find Switch Games in Stores

With the physical market slowly shrinking over the last few years, sometimes it can be difficult to find Switch games in store. Luckily, there are still dozens of stores that carry all sorts of Nintendo Switch games on their shelves. Although the company removed its collection of Blu-rays, Best Buy still offers plenty of Nintendo Switch games. It's easy to walk into any store and browse the collection of 50+ physical games available, with most of Nintendo's first-party offerings available.

Additionally, GameStop is a solid option. While we don't necessarily recommend purchasing online from the retailer, it's still easy to walk into any GameStop storefront and find a wide variety of Switch games available. In addition, other major retailers like Target and Walmart still offer physical games, but the offerings can vary depending on the store.

When Is the Best Time to Find Discounts on Switch Games

Collecting and purchasing Nintendo Switch games is not a cheap hobby, but you can offset some of that by buying when games are the cheapest during the year. There are many great times to buy video games, but we recommend holding off for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. By far, this is usually the best time to score discounts on Nintendo Switch games, both physically and digitally. Nintendo will discount many of its own titles, and you can score on hundreds of third party releases from major publishers.

The only main downside with this sales event is that Black Friday is at the end of the year, so it can almost become a waiting game in earlier parts of the year. Overall, this Holiday will be an exceptional time to buy Switch games, especially as Nintendo Switch 2 is coming soon.

While the best options for physical games are limited, it's another story with digital games. The Nintendo eShop hosts countless sales events throughout the year, and it's easy to find great deals. Our advice is to pay close attention to the news posts on the Nintendo Switch home page, as those will mention any new eShop sales on the horizon.

Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.