Nintendo opens official stores on Lazada and Shopee from Oct, Switch OLED pre-orders are live

Well, it looks like Japanese game console giant Nintendo is finally paying close attention to Singapore, as there will soon be two Nintendo Official Stores launching locally on e-commerce platforms, with Shopee going live on Oct 8, 2021, and Lazada on Oct 16, 2021.

The stores will be operated by a new official distributor, Convergent Systems, and will carry a huge range of Nintendo Switch consoles, peripherals, games, and other Nintendo products. This means that it will be much more convenient getting your Nintendo itch scratched, all from the comfort of your own home!

The Nintendo Official Store on Shopee will go into pre-launch on Sept 8, 2021, and the Nintendo Switch (OLED Model) will be up for pre-order on Sept 9, 2021. The official store on Lazada is not up yet, so while buyers won’t be able to purchase the console from the Nintendo Official Store yet, they can pre-order the Nintendo Switch (OLED Model) from Maxsoft, another official distributor for Nintendo.

Prices are looking relatively reasonable with no forced bundles which consumers in Singapore have been familiar with.

So despite having a new distributor with Convergent, it look like Maxsoft, the existing incumbent, isn’t going anywhere.

In conversation with folks in the gaming industry, it seems that Maxsoft will still very much remain part of the scene. So it might be premature to write them off too early.

As it goes, it seems that Nintendo is increasing their presence in Singapore slowly but surely. After all, Super Nintendo World is currently in the works over at Universal Studios Singapore. This is an addition to the Pokémon Centre at Jewel.

Overall this is good news for Nintendo fans, and we look forward to see if this works out in the long run or is it more of the same.

This article was first published in Geek Culture.