Finding a Nintendo Switch or Switch Lite during the pandemic hasn’t been easy. Which is why, according to Bloomberg, Nintendo is raising its production goal for the Switch yet again to 30 million units for this year.
The Switch shortage was widely reported on at the beginning of quarantine, and Nintendo has ramped up its production numbers several times this year. Supposedly, while Nintendo’s official 2020 shipment forecast remains at 19 million, it has ramped up production to 22 million, 25 million, and now 30 million. Bloomberg reports that currently, Nintendo’s assembly partners are operating their factories at 120% even as supply chain issues in China have since been smoothed over.
[referenced id=”1238742″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/08/this-tiny-portable-dock-got-me-playing-my-nintendo-switch-on-my-tv/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/11/tzrm1wgvinzheyfqdiqz-300×169.jpg” title=”This Tiny Portable Dock Got Me Playing My Nintendo Switch on My TV” excerpt=”Long story short, before this weekend, I had never once used the Nintendo Switch Dock to play my video games on the TV. When I first got my Switch, it was because my roommates had stuffed our communal TV’s four HDMI ports with their shit and I was not about…”]
A lot of the demand has been attributed to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but that also launched roughly six months ago. Surprisingly, Bloomberg notes that demand for the Switch (and Animal Crossing) hasn’t died down in that time. This news also comes shortly after rumours that Nintendo is working on a new Switch for next year — one with reportedly improved “interactivity” and possibly support for 4K gaming. Adding fuel to that rumour, Bloomberg also cited unnamed developers in today’s report saying that Nintendo has asked them to make sure their games are “4K ready.”
Rumours of a “Switch Pro” in 2021, as well as increased production of current Switch consoles, aren’t surprising when you consider the next wave of next-gen consoles is upon us. Sony’s PlayStation 5 and both the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X will arrive this holiday season. That said, Bloomberg notes the current demand for the Switch may not be impacted all that much by Sony and Microsoft’s offerings. That’s because it’s likely the Switch boom was triggered by folks who waited for Nintendo’s Switch library to expand and non-gamers who decided to hop on the bandwagon due to the pandemic. (You’ll recall the renewed buzz Ring Fit Adventure got as an at-home fitness alternative once lockdown began.)
All this points to some good times for Nintendo going forward. Now if only they would fix their cloud gaming problem.