Nintendo Switch Game Console.
Photographer: Kyoshi Ota / Bloomberg
Photographer: Kyoshi Ota / Bloomberg
Nintendo Co. has asked its assembly partners to increase production of its Switch gaming console, which, according to people familiar with its strategy, will increase its target for this fiscal year to 30 million units.
Animal Crossing: New Horizon and coronavirus epidemics boosted by the success driven by increasing gaming demand, Japanese game makers are struggling to keep up with most of this year’s switch demand. It was Production orders were increased to 25 million units in early August, but that proved to be insufficient and assemblers are now running factories at 120%, with people saying the target is to remain anonymous because it is private. Shares of Nintendo rebounded on Wednesday after the report, rising 2.3% after the report.
Still going strong
Nintendo’s Switch console has not slowed down in Japan this year
Source: Femitsu
Production of the switch was halted in China earlier this year due to a coronavirus downdown, but since then those issues have been resolved and Nintendo’s supply chain is now fully operational. Although the increase in demand that the company saw behind Animal Crossing is unusual, the game and console sustained elevated sales momentum six months after the release of this island-hopping title.
The introduction of a more affordable switch light variant in late 2019 has helped expand the machine’s potential audience and Nintendo is preparing for it. As reported by Bloomberg News, the upgraded Switch model and beefed-up games lineup for 2021. Some outside game developers, speaking anonymously because the issue is private, said Nintendo has asked for their games to be 4K-ready, indicating that the resolution is being upgraded.
A Nintendo spokesman declined to comment.
Need a booster?
A juicy up switch could lift sales of Nintendo consoles in 2021
Source: Nintendo
read more: Nintendo upgrades the switch console and major games for 2021
The Kyoto-based sports company has greatly improved Quarterly earnings, ending June, are largely driven by a rapid transition to animal crossings and digital game purchases. It console rivals Sony Corp. And Microsoft will be challenged by Microsoft Ft. Corp.’s double threat to release their next-generation PlayStation 5 and Xbox series. X And S machines in the fall, though analysts aren’t sure that’s enough to slow down the switch.
“Our data suggests that demand has not yet been met by the switch,” said Katsuhiko Hayashi of industry tracker Famishu Group. “Switch sales are likely to pick up further at the end of the year.”
The Animal Crossing incident switched to the demands of gamers’ otherwise dormant classes, Hayashi said: those who were waiting for the console’s sports library to expand and those who didn’t pay attention to games but were drawn by global hype.
(Updates with stock feedback in the second paragraph)
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