Nintendo is Increasing Production of the Switch Console This Year
Posted on January 20 2023 by Alexis S. Anderson
Nintendo has informed suppliers and assembly partners that it will be increasing its manufacture of the now six-year-old Switch console. The increase comes in response to the rebounding availability of console components like chips that had suffered from shortages as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ramp up in production is set to begin in April, though no target number of consoles has been announced.
Nintendo expects to surpass its November sales forecast of 19 million Switch units for this fiscal year because it feels demand for the console is still strong. Bloomberg notes that analysts expect sales to slow, but Nintendo is convinced supply issues– more so than a drop in demand– were responsible for hampering sales of the Switch.
Analysts’ skepticism of Nintendo’s sales projections are born out of the fact that the Switch should be nearing the end of its life cycle– a period when consumers are likely to wait for the next generation console than purchase the current one. However, Nintendo’s move to produce more Switch units may suggest that its next console is not just around the corner.
Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Toyo Securities, told Bloomberg that Nintendo may be able to pull off its expected sales if it leans into releasing more special editions consoles. Yasuda suggests that a Zelda-themed console could certainly boost sales with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s release fast-approaching.
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Source: Bloomberg
Alexis S. Anderson is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon who joined the writing team in November, 2014. She has a JD from the UCLA School of Law and is pursuing a career in Entertainment and Intellectual Property Law. She grew up in the New Jersey suburbs with her parents, twin brother, and family shih-tzu.
