Report: Nintendo planning massive boost to Switch manufacturing in time for the holidays
2017 surely is the end times. ‘Cause if the reports are to be believed, Nintendo is actually planning a massive manufacturing push for the Switch. Go figure — they want their console to be purchasable during the holiday season. Madness. As I said, the end times.
Since Switch arrived in March, the console has been difficult to find. Nintendo’s success was reflected in its recent earnings report, which stated that the machine had sold 2.74 million units in its launch window.
At the time, Nintendo stated that it planned to sell 10 million more Switch consoles by the end of its financial year, in March 2018. But a new report in today’s Financial Times (as reported by Gamesindustry.biz) suggests the company has even more ambitious plans.
According to the report, Nintendo chiefs have ordered that the company churn out 18 million units by the end of March. Nintendo is concerned that shortages this Christmas will work against its attempts to recover from the commercial failure of Wii U, and re-establish the company as a serious hardware player.
Switch was also given a lift by recent news that Capcom’s Monster Hunter XX will be coming to the console, which caused a significant rise in Nintendo’s share price.
But the FT — generally a trustworthy media outlet— also reports that Nintendo might be stymied by a general shortage of LCD screens. We’ve contacted Nintendo for more on this, and will update the story when we hear back.