Nintendo is considering the possibility that it may not be able to meet its projected sales goal of Nintendo Switch systems this year. This isn't due to a lack of consumer interest, but rather the possible inability to produce enough Switch consoles because of the worldwide lack of semiconductors. During a press conference, Nintendo of Japan's president, Shuntaro Furukawa, stated that the company is doing everything it can, but there's rising uncertainty regarding their fiscal year plans being able to be met while the shortage is still ongoing. The projected shipment of 25.50 million units before March 2022 is still on track, but Furukawa implied Nintendo may have to revise those numbers if they run into issues sourcing the parts.

Last year, Nintendo sold a total of 28.83 million Switch systems, with Furukawa crediting the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic for most of those sales. In 2019, it had been predicted that Nintendo would sell around 19.5 million units, which turned out to be greatly surpassed. Even so, Furukawa says that 25.50 million is a high number compared to previous years, especially with the Switch having hit its fourth anniversary just recently.

Source (translation courtesy of VGC)

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Finally, some good news this month.

(^:

Anyways, gasp, shocky surprises hahanotreally etc etc. Now let's see how long MS takes to announce exactly the same thing ;O;

 

[x65943]

So now not only will there be PS5 and XBOX S|X scarcity, but last gen scarcity too

Sucks it's like near impossible to increase production scale in the short term

 

[Switchgamer123]

Well that can't be good

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

Well that can't be good

Name related

 

[RobXcore]

I'm kinda getting sick of that semiconductor shortage bullshit. Is mass production gonna restart someday or are we fucked forever?

 

[raxadian]

I bet five non existent bucks that Microsoft will also announce Xbox Series S and Series X shortage if they haven't already.

 

[x65943]

I'm kinda getting sick of that semiconductor shortage bullshit. Is mass production gonna restart someday or are we fucked forever?

I know early on I remember hearing it was because certain companies (e.g. Huawei) were hoarding chips because they feared potential sanctions/trade war fallout

I think that kind of spiraled - but hopefully things will slowly get back to normal now that the US and China are on friendlier terms

 

[Deleted member 532471]

So now not only will there be PS5 and XBOX S|X scarcity, but last gen scarcity too

Even though it's a 3ds successor with a single screen and no powerful tabletop counterpart, the switch is still current gen lol
In all its "portable PS3" glory

 

[x65943]

Even though it's a 3ds successor with a single screen and no powerful tabletop counterpart, the switch is still current gen lol
In all its "portable PS3" glory

I also happen to consider the switch as current gen (placing wiiu with PS4 and XBONE), but most people seem to disagree mostly due to the large separation in time between launches and also the widely disparate games being available for the systems

The wiiu saw a lot more 360/PS3 remasters than PS4/XBONE games

 

[Jayro]

I'm kinda getting sick of that semiconductor shortage bullshit. Is mass production gonna restart someday or are we fucked forever?

Nobody wants to make more factories to end this fake shortage. Kinda pissing me off too.

 

[BitMasterPlus]

I don't have a switch yet so this is indifferent to me.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Nobody wants to make more factories to end this fake shortage. Kinda pissing me off too.

You do realize "making more factories" takes literally years and billions of dollars, right? They are building new factories, it's simply going to take at least 5 years and some $20 billion dollars worth of equipment before they can even be up and running, let alone another year before they'll be ready to produce silicon at a steady rate. "Building more!" isn't a solution for now.

To be frank, there is no solution for now other than to sit and wait for demand to lower and production to increase...which likely won't be until 2022-2023.

 

[Jayro]

You do realize "making more factories" takes literally years and billions of dollars, right? They are building new factories, it's simply going to take at least 5 years and some $20 billion dollars worth of equipment before they can even be up and running, let alone another year before they'll be ready to produce silicon at a steady rate. "Building more!" isn't a solution for now.

To be frank, there is no solution for now other than to sit and wait for demand to lower and production to increase...which likely won't be until 2022-2023.

As well as beating up any scalper we see in public.

 

[NyaakoXD]

In other words, stuff we already knew like we've seen with PS5/XSeries,

 

[AgentSkyblueM7]

Sums up me and anyone else that doesn't seem to care, but actually do.
Hy-phen-a-tion

 

[Spider_Man]

Semiconductors.... or is it that nvidia are no longer producing the chips and nintendo either have to pay for its upgrade chip (hence rumours of a shitty pro) or find another supplier.

If Semiconductors has nothing to do with the chip then fuck me, nintendo should have focused more on r&d than taking any tom dick and harry to court.

Its not like the switch isnt trying to make sales the wii u failed to get with all the lazy wii u and older ports.

New console, nothing new from nintednont to play.

 

[anhminh]

Oh no.

Anyway, really look forward to their E3 this year.

 

[HarveyHouston]

I'm confused. Why are we running out of semiconductors? Does it really take that long to make high-quality ones? Is it a cop-out? Is it some other reason? What's going on here?!?

 

[Silent_Gunner]

I'm kinda getting sick of that semiconductor shortage bullshit. Is mass production gonna restart someday or are we fucked forever?

They say that it's gonna last until at least 2022/2023...but if you were to ask me, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some artificiality to the shortages.