No more shortages? Nintendo says Switch production is back to normal

[midian182]

Recap: The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many industries, hitting everything from manufacturing to logistics. Anyone who tried to buy a Nintendo Switch during the lockdown will know how difficult, if not impossible, it’s been to find one. Now, however, the company says things will soon return to normal.

Nintendo’s problems began back in February when Covid-19 caused Foxconn to cease almost all of its production in China. The disruption resulted in a shortage of Switch units and shipments of Ring Fit Adventure in Japan, and the same issues soon hit the West.

As the pandemic took hold and more people turned to gaming while locked in their homes, demand for Switch consoles went through the roof at a time when they were in short supply—a situation made worse by auto-purchase bots.

April saw Nintendo promise to address the shortages by upping production of the Switch by ten percent, but purchasing one of the hybrids never got any easier, leading to cheap copies hitting the market.

Speaking with CareerConnection (via Nintendo Everything), a Nintendo representative said that Switch production has finally returned to normal, though we still don’t know when they’ll be filling store shelves. The rep also said Nintendo was aware of resellers buying units in bulk and selling them at inflated prices, which is keeping them out of the hands of many consumers.

Despite the shortages, Nintendo has seen its share price jump during the pandemic. It’s estimated that total Switch sales will have passed 75 million by March 2021, putting its lifetime sales around the same level as the 3DS family. The device has now proved so successful that Nintendo no longer needs to make smartphone games.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85750-no-more-shortages-nintendo-switch-production-back-normal.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

"Normal" = we are making about 1/3 of the supply the market is demanding.

 

[R00sT3R]

I don't think I'll ever understand why so many people want to buy such an underpowered, overpriced piece of hardware, in such numbers, TBH.

It was ridiculously overpriced three years ago at launch, given the ancient tech inside it, and its doubly so overpriced in 2020.

The BOM on these things must be peanuts by now and Nintendo are laughing all the way to the bank, at everyone's expense.

 

[zaku49]

I don't think I'll ever understand why so many people want to buy such an underpowered, overpriced piece of hardware, in such numbers, TBH.

It was ridiculously overpriced three years ago at launch, given the ancient tech inside it, and its doubly so overpriced in 2020.

The BOM on these things must be peanuts by now and Nintendo are laughing all the way to the bank, at everyone's expense.

It's the best PORTALE gaming system, that's why, if you happen to hack it my god would you have a library of games and emulators on the go. There isn't anything currently out that can top the power/portability.

 

[Experimentongod]

In Spain we have no stock problems, actually they're running discounts in some stores. Seems like post mandatory isolation there's less demand.

 

[Experimentongod]

I don't think I'll ever understand why so many people want to buy such an underpowered, overpriced piece of hardware, in such numbers, TBH.

It was ridiculously overpriced three years ago at launch, given the ancient tech inside it, and its doubly so overpriced in 2020.

The BOM on these things must be peanuts by now and Nintendo are laughing all the way to the bank, at everyone's expense.

Nintendo can overcharge for the H/W all they want because they have people (and fanboys of course) locked to their first party titles.

Also titles like Bayonetta 2, Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Astral Chain are locked to that platform for the time being (not counting Wii U which is of course "deprecated" so to speak).

 

[Adi6293]

I don't think I'll ever understand why so many people want to buy such an underpowered, overpriced piece of hardware, in such numbers, TBH.

It was ridiculously overpriced three years ago at launch, given the ancient tech inside it, and its doubly so overpriced in 2020.

The BOM on these things must be peanuts by now and Nintendo are laughing all the way to the bank, at everyone's expense.

Well I just ordered one for my son, I also think it's underpowered and very overpriced but my kid wanted one because his cousin have one, it's portable and has games on it that are good for kids this is why it's so popular

 

[Andrighi]

I don't think I'll ever understand why so many people want to buy such an underpowered, overpriced piece of hardware, in such numbers, TBH.

It was ridiculously overpriced three years ago at launch, given the ancient tech inside it, and its doubly so overpriced in 2020.

The BOM on these things must be peanuts by now and Nintendo are laughing all the way to the bank, at everyone's expense.

Because Nintendo has a huge base. A base of fans that is of their original and exclusive lineup titles. They also run a segment on a market that was is their home turf for decades now, hand held video games.

Nintendo charges you more for the console because in opposition to Microsoft and Sony they do not subsidize their console. They need to make a profit on both hardware and software to stay a float. If they come up with a service like Xbox Live Gold maybe that can change next gen. I doubt since Nintendo have a partnership with Nvidia and the other big N is more money hungry than the former

 

[Reehahs]

As far as I have experienced, Nintendo is the only console maker that properly supports offline multiplayer consistently.

 

[DZillaXx]

I don't think I'll ever understand why so many people want to buy such an underpowered, overpriced piece of hardware, in such numbers, TBH.

It was ridiculously overpriced three years ago at launch, given the ancient tech inside it, and its doubly so overpriced in 2020.

The BOM on these things must be peanuts by now and Nintendo are laughing all the way to the bank, at everyone's expense.

Well you'd be pretty wrong. While the switch was using a chipset that was already on the market for some time, there was really no better option. And Nvidia being in a situation to let the chip go for a much cheaper price than they normally would ask for is a big reason for the choice of the SoC. Nvidia reserved so much manufacturing from TSMC, and didn't have a user base for them.

What the Switch is largely rebranded Tegra Tablet hardware. But for 299 you got a lot in the box. A entire Tablet & the two removable controllers. A controller grip that removable controllers slide into. A Dock for the console, and a few other accessories.

To this day the games still look great on the system. I have never played my switch and was disappointed by the visuals. The system is powerful enough to look clean on a HDTV. It isn't a PS4 or XB1, but it is far more powerful than the 360/PS3.

From a mobile SoC perspective, there wasn't any better options. And waiting for Nvidia to make a custom SoC just for Nintendo on a smaller node would have pushed the console back another 2 year most likely.