Nintendo Switch shortage could get worse due to ‘uncertain’ production plans

By Giovanni Colantonio May 13, 2021

Nintendo says that its current production plans for the Nintendo Switch are “uncertain” due to the current semiconductor shortage. The company says that it is unable to keep up with demand for the console.

The current semiconductor shortage has been an ongoing headache for the gaming world, slowing down console production. The Nintendo Switch has already been hard to come by over the past year, but a recent investor Q&A signals that the problem is only getting worse.

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa tells investors that while the company was able to achieve steady production through 2020, it’s struggling to keep up.

“Demand for hardware continues to exceed our expectations even after the beginning of this calendar year,” Furukawa tells investors, “and production has currently not caught up to this high demand due to the tight supply and demand situation for semiconductor materials worldwide. Although we are currently striving to produce as many units as possible, the fact is that our production plans are more uncertain than they were at the beginning of previous fiscal years.”

Furukawa specifically cites the semiconductor shortage as the reason for the production trouble, saying that the company has “currently not caught up to this high demand due to this tight supply and demand situation.”

This week, Sony shared similar sentiments, warning that the current PS5 shortage may continue into 2022.

The news throws Nintendo’s 2021 plans into question. Recent reports stated that Nintendo currently has a new model of the Nintendo Switch in the works that was set to release this year. With production as tight as it is, it’s unlikely if Nintendo would be able to widely roll a new system out.

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Giovanni Colantonio

Section Editor, Gaming

Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…

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