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I noticed a huge demand for the Nintendo Switch, especially during the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, as self-quarantine became the norm. To keep up with the holiday demand for consoles, the Switch is now also made in Malaysia, in addition to existing locations such as China and Vietnam.
Nintendo previously struggled to produce enough units during the surge in popularity of Animal Crossing: New Horizons earlier this year. The game sold over 13 million copies in the first six weeks after its release and became the Switch’s best-selling game title, contributing to the high demand for the Switch.
While the COVID-19 outbreak affected production early on, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said production has returned to normal. They have also added Sharp Corp. and its factory in Malaysia as an assembler for the consoles.
According to an anonymous source, Nintendo shipped some Switch orders to Sharp to stabilize production and guard against trade tensions between the United States and China. The company asked Foxconn Tech during the Trump era to provide alternative manufacturing sites outside of China to guard against the trade war.
Furukawa said assembly lines in Southeast Asia are not yet operating at full capacity and the first batch of them is about to hit store shelves soon. However, the Switch assemblers plan to operate at full capacity until the end of this year. This suggests that Nintendo, in the current quarter, may end up shipping more than the 10.8 million Switch units it managed in the October-December period last year.
According to Bloomberg, Nintendo plans to release an improved version of its Switch console in 2021. It will likely have support for 4K graphics, to help extend the Switch’s lifecycle.
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