Sources claiming to be involved with supplying the parts of the Nintendo Switch, claim that production has increased by 10% to help deal with shortages.
The news comes via Nikkei Asian Review, citing alleged parts suppliers who were “informed of the [company’s] plans.” Nintendo will allegedly produce an additional 10% of units in 2020, compared to the 20 million units in 2019. This would mean Nintendo will allegedly produce 22 million units in 2020.
The additional production will occur across April to June. However, some parts suppliers are reportedly receiving orders 50% larger than they expected. An “industry source” told Nikkei “There are signs procurement is being moved forward to deal with the disruptions in the supply chains.”
Nikkei themselves state that “the supply chain for the Switch has expanded to China and Southeast Asia. Malaysia and the Philippines have imposed social restrictions that could frustrate part deliveries.”
Nintendo Switch shortages began as early as February of this year, with Bloomberg reporting that the coronavirus pandemic could cause global shortages. This was due to Chinese factories being unable to produce the components needed for assembly plants in Vietnam. Now them and many other nations are dealing with quarantines.
On April 8th, Nintendo addressed the shortages to GamesIndustry.biz, a Nintendo US spokesperson stating “Nintendo Switch hardware is selling out at various retail locations in the U.S., but more systems are on the way. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
EuroGamer reported [1, 2] that the shortages had caused third-party sellers and resellers to increase their prices to over double RRP. The New York Post (in an article on the video games industry having had its best March sales since 2008) also made similar claims.
“An Amazon listing for a used Switch, which normally retails for $300,” The New York Post states, “was priced above the $500 mark on Tuesday, while a special ‘Animal Crossing’ branded Switch was listed at $700 on eBay.”
Nintendo did not seemingly deny there was an increase in production, based on the comments a spokesperson made to Nikkei.
“We hope [suppliers] will be responsive to the production increase, but for procurement of some parts, the outlook remains uncertain, and we can’t forecast exactly how many Switches can be supplied.”
The Nintendo Switch launched in 2017, and by January 2018 had become Nintendo’s fastest selling console in US history. At the end of January 2020, we reported that the Nintendo Switch had sold over 52.48 million units worldwide.
The best opening week for a Nintendo Switch game thus-far has been Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with 1.8 million physical copies in three days in Japan. The New York Post also stated the game was the best seller of March.
Image: Nintendo
