Nintendo Switch in leak videos was stolen, Nintendo says

The Nintendo Switch shown off in a NeoGAF post last week was stolen, Nintendo said in a statement to IGN.

On Thursday, NeoGAF user hiphoptherobot said he was "just lucky" that his retailer shipped a pre-ordered Switch early. The console is due to launch on March 3. Nintendo says that unit was part of "an isolated incident" of theft by employees of a U.S. distributor, which it did not name. One system was 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 said in its statement.

The console's leak nonetheless provided some useful information in advance of the launch. The Switch comes with 32 GB of internal storage, and uses 6.1 GB of that for the operating system and other features. The NeoGAF user also showed off the console's main menu and some of its options, but no games.

Kotaku reported that the GAF user shipped his unit back to Nintendo and that he says he didn't know it had been stolen until after he had posted images and videos of it being used.

Here is Nintendo's full statement to IGN:

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.