Nintendo Switch Production falls by 20% amidst a lingering global chip shortage

Nintendo lowered the production of its popular Switch handheld gaming console by 20% due to the global semiconductor chip and other electronic parts shortage.

Nintendo’s Switch console production will be 20% lower than its original projection for this fiscal year. Nintendo will only make about 24 million units of its famous handheld console in the fiscal year through March.

Industry experts deduce the production of the Switch console is held up due to shortages of semiconductors and other electronic parts amid solid demand for the Switch, including the latest OLED version of the console released on October 8. Around spring, components such as microcomputers caused production bottlenecks, and Nintendo reduced its production targets as the company could not source the required amount of parts.

The Kyoto-based gaming giants originally planned on producing a record 30-million Switch units on the back of rising demand for computer games triggered by the COVID pandemic, as people were locked up in their homes due to the government enforced lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.

Nintendo’s President, Shuntaro Furukawa had said the company could not manufacture as many consoles as it had initially wanted, and that uncertainty remained over production. President Furukawa added that the demand for Switch remained strong as retailers have had to ration the sales of the latest OLED version by using a lottery system. Japanese video-game magazine Famitsu reported that the supply crunch had left Switch with a 37% drop in sales to 214,000 units in September from a year ago, marking the third consecutive month of year-on-year declines.