A truck driver on the way to deliver 2,800 Switch 2 consoles to GameStop pulled over for a quick break - only to find the $1.4 million shipment had vanished

Thieves snatched $1.4 million in Switch 2s but too bad Nintendo can brick them in no time. Once those consoles connect online, they’ll turn into nothing more than lumps of plastic.

Olga Racinowska

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A truck driver on the way to deliver 2,800 Switch 2 consoles to GameStop pulled over for a quick break - only to find the $1.4 million shipment had vanished, image source: Nintendo.
A truck driver on the way to deliver 2,800 Switch 2 consoles to GameStop pulled over for a quick break - only to find the $1.4 million shipment had vanished Source: Nintendo.

Over 2,800 Nintendo Switch 2 consoles, worth around $1.4 million, were swiped from a truck headed from Redmond, WA to Grapevine, TX. Sounds like a high-stakes, movie-style heist, except the thieves may not have realized Nintendo can remotely disable the stolen devices, making them worthless.

$1.4 million heist of Switch 2 consoles may backfire spectacularly

On June 8, 2025, a truck driver made a pit stop in Bennett, Colorado, and realized that several pallets, holding 2,810 Nintendo Switch 2 consoles, had been stolen. No one’s exactly sure when or where it happened during the trip from Washington to Texas, and the authorities are still looking into it.

But the thieves might be in for a nasty surprise. Once those Switch 2s go online, Nintendo can brick them remotely, turning them into useless plastic, kind of like the ones that got destroyed at GameStop in LA. And so far, no one’s cracked the new system, as Nintendo tightened the security like never before. Someone managed to carry out a ROP exploit, but it’s nowhere near a full jailbreak yet. So that $1.4 million haul might end up being pretty tough to cash in.

Source: Nintendo

The Switch 2 launch kicked off by smashing records, even surpassing heavyweights like the PS4 and PS5 in its first few days. Thanks to Nintendo’s smart strategy of keeping shelves stocked and cracking down on scalpers, the launch went surprisingly smoothly.

As of June 19, 2025, none of the stolen units have shown up in second-hand markets, so chances are they’ll end up being sold online or smuggled out of the US to avoid detection. Each console has a unique serial number that Nintendo and the police can trace. Once someone go online and register it (which is required to play games or get updates) Nintendo can locate the device. The only way to avoid getting caught is to stay offline forever, which kind of defeats the whole purpose.

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Olga Racinowska

Author: Olga Racinowska

Been with gamepressure.com since 2019, mostly writing game guides but you can also find me geeking out about LEGO (huge collection, btw). Love RPGs and classic RTSs, also adore quirky indie games. Even with a ton of games, sometimes I just gotta fire up Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, KOTOR, or Baldur's Gate 2 (Shadows of Amn, the OG, not that Throne of Bhaal stuff). When I'm not gaming, I'm probably painting miniatures or admiring my collection of retro consoles.