Walmart cancels Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door pre-orders—will only sell it in-store

We’re less than a week away until the release of the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake, and we cannot wait for our pre-orders to arrive. However, it seems Walmart customers won’t be getting the same courtesy as the retailer has reportedly been cancelling pre-orders for the game.

Twitter user Wario64, who frequently highlights gaming related deals, recently shared a post sent them to by a Walmart customer who had been informed by Walmart that they wouldn’t be getting their pre-order for the Paper Mario remake. Is it because of stock shortages? No, instead Walmart’s email says it’s because “Nintendo will only be offering this item in stores.” So, Walmart will have copies of the game, but customers will only be able to buy it in-person once it launches on May 23. As an apology for the cancellation, Walmart is offering $25 off affected customers’ next purchase.

The phrasing makes it sound like this was Nintendo’s decision rather than Walmart’s, but that doesn’t make it any less perplexing. Especially since, at the time of writing, the Paper Mario remake can still be pre-ordered online at other retailers, such as GameStop, Best Buy, and Target. Walmart’s website, meanwhile, says the item is out of stock. That said, the game’s also been unavailable at Amazon US too for at least a month, with customers on Reddit reporting it had cancelled pre-orders due to a lack of inventory.

We’ve seen some suggest that this is Nintendo’s way of preventing Paper Mario from breaking its street-date. In the past, retailers have shipped some games to customers early, resulting in gameplay footage and story spoilers being posted online. However, we’ve contacted Nintendo for an official comment on the situation, and will update this article if we get a response.