A few weeks back, online retailer Amazon mysteriously began cancelling pre-orders for a number of upcoming Switch games, with seemingly no clear reason as to why.

Now, some new reports have come in possibly shedding light on the situation. Walmart, another major online retailer, has also started cancelling pre-orders for the Switch release of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. However, some of the affected customers are receiving notifications from Walmart informing them of the reason why: Nintendo is “only offering the item in stores”.

@Wario64 it looks like Walmart may be canceling preorders for Paper Mario: TTYD. I just got this email pic.twitter.com/irUuPZhqav

— Up and Adam (@Adampro941) May 16, 2024

At the time of this writing, it is not clear why Nintendo might be blocking the sale of physical pre-orders for Paper Mario on Walmart, or whether they are also responsible for the Amazon cancellations. Some speculate it may be to prevent scalping, while others believe its because Nintendo underestimated demand for the game. We will be sure to report back with more details should they become available.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.