TLDR: A Switch 2 game sold as brand new to me has scratches on it’s pins, indicating use (seen in photo). Can anyone here confirm if brand new games are supposed to come like this? Or, if you have any unwrapped brand new games that have never been inserted in a console, could you please check for me if the pins have any scratches on them?

I’m pretty annoyed because I just bought a “Brand New” copy of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition from EB Games in Australia, and it appears to have been used. It has scratches on the gold pins. You can see them in the photo, but it’s very hard to tell from the picture, you have to zoom in and look really closely for a faint line going down every pin. I’ve not inserted it in my Switch at all yet. Now, I personally know that these scratches are completely normal for Switch 1 & 2 games (even DS & 3DS). They are not generally a reason for concern. Every single Switch game you own should have these scratches if you’ve ever used them - they’re normal. But this is supposed to be brand new. This to me indicates EB Games sold me a used copy. Also, as usual in Australia, like seemingly every store here, they annoyingly don’t sell ANY brand new games with the original plastic wrap on them, meaning issues like this can in theory easily occur.

Other then it not having plastic on it, the game case itself is perfect looking condition on the outside - it appears to be brand new. The only thing off about the case was that when I got home and opened it, it had a very tiny white hair sitting inside it that looks like it came from a short-haired dog. It also had just a few very tiny flake-like white specks the size of dust inside it too.

Really, everything seems to point to that they sold me a used game as a brand-new one. But I’m not 100% sure yet. The only reason I’m slightly skeptical is because I’m wondering if the games possibly come with those scratches when it comes from the factory or if they’re tested before arriving in stores (I doubt it, but it’s just a thought). Does anyone here have any unwrapped brand new Switch games, or, ideally, Switch 2 games that you’ve never played that you can check for scratches for me? It has to be a cartridge that has NEVER been inserted into the console even once, otherwise it’s almost certain it will have these scratches. If I can prove brand new games aren’t supposed to have these scratches, I can know for certain that they sold a used game to me. I have a couple of wrapped Switch 1 games, but I was hoping to save them for when I do an unboxing video of them, which I was going to do when I get around to playing them.

Update: Okay, to save you some reading time, from what people are telling me in the replies below, this seems to be almost certainly a normal thing, even for brand new games. Apparently the games do get tested before being sent out, and the pins get scratched in the process. I’m not sure about the hair that was in it, though. I’d still appreciate if anyone check a copy of their own unused cartridges for these scratches. I’m a collector like many of you, so I get it if you don’t want to open any games that are still wrapped until you want to play it; I’m the same. I was just wondering if anyone who has an already-unwrapped copy might be able to check.

  • Moog Muskie@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    If it had the shrink wrap on it when you bought it, this is almost certainly from QA at the factory as others have said.

    The game did not come with the wrap. I thought I mentioned this in the post, but just realised now that I only implied it when I said that stores in Australia don’t sell games with wrap on them.

    It is trivial to build a machine that would read carts on the line

    Thanks for letting me know. Others here have been saying this, too, which makes a lot of sense now that I’ve thought more about it.

    If no shrink wrap, then it was either opened at the shop to use as a display case

    It was on a shelf full of Switch 2 games. They are all real cases. Most of the stores I’ve bought games from in Australia sell the actual game cases that are on the shelf, and they are absolutely definitely official cases.

    Or perhaps someone bought it and returned it within the return window if the store allows such a thing, I don’t think typically it would go into pre-owned, but maybe clearance in that scenario.

    That’s maybe possible. I don’t know how they could easily tackle that issue if wanted to try, but that does still present the problem of: if the case is not in the plastic wrap, how do you know they haven’t just put a used copy of the game in a brand new case. Every store I’ve bought games from here in Aus doesn’t have the actual game cart in them. The game carts are all stored in a drawer behind the counter. It sounds like they could easily get mixed up by mistake, even if they have some specific organisation methods they’re supposed to follow.

    Though I think many places don’t really let you return games once they’re opened due to online registration features

    At least when it comes to EB Games, they do let you return used games as long as they weren’t a code-in-a-box. I’ve only ever returned one game before though, but that was like a decade ago so doesn’t really count. I know that they do still allow returns though, because I’ve asked them and they said yes.

    • 9point6@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      24 hours ago

      Sounds like the jury is out then

      When I worked in GAME (formerly EB in the UK) in the mid-00s we never unsealed new stock for display, we just changed the lining slip on the dummy boxes that always stayed on the shop floor (head office would send us the updated slips they wanted every couple of weeks). Fairly sure we had a policy that once the plastic wrap had been removed it was only returnable as a pre-owned trade-in (which seemed kinda scammy in some cases, but it was the policy)

      FWIW I imagine genuinely pre-owned stock would get a label on it to not mix it up with new stock, but yeah no idea how they’re handling non-preowned returns

      • Moog Muskie@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
        1·
        23 hours ago

        Oh wow, I forgot about GAME. I remember a GAME store in Australia near where I used to live prior to where I am now. I was about 5 then, lol. That was 2007. It shut down a very long time ago. I have no memory of how the games were displayed. I didn’t really think about games back then outside of the few games that were on the N64 at my Dad’s house.

        But yeah, the only shop in current-day I can recall (of what I’ve bought from) that only does dummy-cases is Target… or it might be Big W, it’s one of the two.

        Fairly sure we had a policy that once the plastic wrap had been removed it was only returnable as a pre-owned trade-in

        That makes sense to me, but yeah, I can see how it would be annoying if someone were simply to just buy the game, quickly give it a try-out, then return it, get their money back, and then you can only resell it for used price.

        FWIW I imagine genuinely pre-owned stock would get a label on it to not mix it up with new stock

        At EB, the actual game cases that are on the shelf do have differing stickers depending on whether they’re pre-owned or new. Maybe they do stickers for the games they store in the drawer, too. I know that from what I could see of the drawer while the employee has the drawer open, they at the very least have them organised by platform and game name.