UPDATE: February 18th, 2017, 5:35 p.m. PST: Added official statement from Nintendo.
The early Nintendo Switch owner responsible for uploading a video featuring the Switch user interface has reportedly had their console taken by Nintendo, according to information they posted on NeoGAF.
NeoGAF user hiphoptherobot, the uploader of both the Nintendo Switch UI video and the Switch unboxing video, says that while they are not in any trouble, they no longer have possession of the console.
“Not sure if I can really talk about it but I will say Nintendo has the console back and I am personally not in any trouble,” says hiphoptherobot. “Other than being out a console and the money I paid for it which really sucks with all the bills I have right now but it isn’t going to be the end of the world or anything.”
An official statement given by Nintendo to IGN says the system in question was part of a larger theft orchestrated by employees of an unnamed U.S. distributor.
“Earlier this week, individuals claimed to prematurely purchase a small number of Nintendo Switch systems from an unspecified retailer. Nintendo has determined these units were stolen in an isolated incident by employees of a U.S. distributor, with one system being illegally resold. The individuals involved have been identified, terminated from their place of employment and are under investigation by local law enforcement authorities on criminal charges.
Nintendo Switch will launch worldwide on March 3, 2017, and we look forward to everyone being able to discover the wonders of the new system for themselves at that time.”
While hiphoptherobot would not provide details regarding the circumstances that led them to obtaining the Switch, they did reveal they had received the console from another person.
“For the sake of clarification I will say that I don’t think the person I got it from knew and therefore I certainly didn’t know but somewhere down the chain some [Switches] had “mysteriously disappeared,” wrote hiphoptherobot in another post. “So while it was unknown to me, once I found out that it had probably been stolen I [didn’t] feel comfortable keeping it.”
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Written by Daniel Dell-Cornejo
Daniel is an editor at Nintendo Wire. Always with his head in the clouds, he is never apart from his creative thoughts – a blessing for an aspiring fiction writer. As a journalist and lifelong gamer, he aims to provide readers with the very best in Nintendo coverage.
