It seemed good news for Nintendo that the Switch is a hot item, meaning the gaming console is making god money for the Japanese company. But supplies have dried up such as the case in North America where units cannot be found in online and physical outlets. To deal with this, Nintendo said production will be ramped up.
Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Nintendo made a vow to increase production this year and the target is to exceed the supplies delivered to the market in 2019.
The production boost is set at 10 percent from last year, according to WCCFTech, citing the report published by Nikkei Asian Review. Nintendo shipped out some 20 million units last year so there will be 2 million more that can be expected in the months to come.
Despite the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic at the start of the year, the Japanese firm said production activities will be doubled up and should reach an optimal level between April and June. Nintendo is gunning to make up for the slack seen in the past months but the company has made clear that supply chain issues have yet to be resolved.
"We hope [suppliers] will be responsive to the production increase, but for procurement of some [Switch] parts, the outlook remains uncertain, and we can't forecast exactly how many Switches can be supplied," Nintendo was reported as saying.
Notwithstanding, the company is looking to see more Switches in store shelves in the last quarter of 2020 and for a good reason. As the report noted, the Sony PS5 and the Microsoft Xbox Series X will be coming out around the same period so to better duke it out with the competition, Nintendo is making sure that the Switch is readily available for would-be buyers.
As things stand now, the Switch and the Switch Lite are nowhere to be found as the case in the United States. Business Insider said gamers can't get their hands on the devices and there are no units available in outlets such as Target, GameStop, Best Buy, and Walmart.
Those who are desperate to get the Switch can actually score some in Amazon but the cash damage will be double than the usual. Nintendo's SRP is at $300 but through Amazon's channel the asking price could be as high as $600 and unsurprisingly there are takers.
The Nintendo Switch, no doubt, has made its mark in the console gaming market. With an estimated total sales of 52 million units so far since the product debuted three years ago, Nintendo is again a hitmaker and it's looking to remain so going forward.
