A report from Nikkei via GameIndustry reveals that Nintendo told it’s part supplier to increase the production of hardware in 2020. The idea is to increase production by 10% in 2020.
“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” Told Nintendo to Nikkei.
Earlier this year, Nintendo released their staggering ‘Nine Months Earnings Release’. As Nintendo reported being close to selling 18 million Switch units, the company’s initial goal for the financial year, executives decided to raise their forecast of Switch’s sales to 19.5 million units. But the COVID-19 has affected the production of Switch. Making the console almost impossible to find, reports from GameIndustry suggest that finding a new Switch will get even harder as now buyers are using bots to learn when consoles are being restocked.
The pandemic has hurt Switch availability this year, causing both delays to production and increases in demand from customers under stay-at-home orders. Nintendo has struggled to keep units on shelves, a challenge apparently complicated by re-sellers using automated bots to scoop up new stock as soon as it hits major retailers’ websites.
Back on February, Nintendo of Japan addressed the situation of COVID-19 and the supply of consoles. Executives told Bloomberg that a shortage in the supply would happen if the virus became “widespread and prolonged.”
In an attempt to keep supply in a larger market, Nintendo of Japan announced earlier this month that they’re “unable to keep up with rising demand, therefore, the company would suspend the sales of consoles in Japan, Europe and America where given a priority of any console manufactured. President Shuntaro Furukawa has talked about how the virus is affecting the company and the repercussions of the COVID-19 for Nintendo. In the eve of one of the most successful years of the company, in January Furukawa warned that “prolonged problems will affect the product delivery plans”.
Source: GameIndustry
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