Nintendo Switch to Face Shortage In North America Even Through Holidays

Even as Nintendo targets to sell 10 million units by the end of its fiscal year, it seems that the target may be way under the consumer demand. According to a Wall Street Journal article (link), Nintendo has been preparing the supply chain to be ready to produce up to 18 million units.

Nintendo’s official target is to ship 10 million Switch units in its current fiscal year ending in March 2018. People involved in the supply chain say they have been told to prepare for 18 million units. One executive in the supply chain said his company was ready to pick up the pace of production if asked.

Though already preparing for more, especially for the upcoming holiday season where Nintendo has already prepared a strong lineup of games for, the shortage does not seem to have any end in sight. In North America, GameStop’s COO even predicted that the console will see shortages through the holiday season.

“We continue to see strong demand for the Switch and sell out our inventory in a matter of days of it being available in our stores and our websites,” Tony Bartel, GameStop chief operating officer, said in a quarterly earnings call Thursday. “We believe that this will continue through the holiday.”

The Nintendo Switch took the world by storm since it launched in March 2017. Since then, Nintendo Switches has never been on the shelves long enough for even any dust to collect, selling out promptly in Japan and North America. While some may attribute it to artificial scarcity on Nintendo’s part, Wall Street Journal’s article seemed to suggest that Nintendo is actually hard at work to address the shortage issue.