Nintendo Switch: Nintendo to double production for next Fiscal Year
The Nintendo Switch was launched on March 3rd worldwide, and it’s off to a great start. In many countries and regions (United States and Europe, among others), the console had an even better launch than the Wii, which was quite the feat (made all the more extraordinary by the lukewarm sales of the Wii U at launch).
Officially, Nintendo is only planning to ship 2 million units for the current Fiscal Year, but according to one person familiar with production, 2.5 million units is more likely. This does fall in line with previous statements from Nintendo, who said that production would be increased based on demand following the Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017.
Unfortunately, even those 500 000 extra units will not be enough to avoid shortages in some regions, such as in Japan, where the console has been virtually sold out since launch (with only limited shipments at select retailers).
As for the next Fiscal Year (April 1, 2017 – March 31st, 2018), the Wall Street Journal reports that Nintendo is planning to increase production for the Nintendo Switch from 8 million units to 16 million units (according to people briefed on the plans). That would mean Nintendo is planning to sell a lot of consoles: even if they planned to sell “only” 10 million (2 million more than initially planned), they would still be left with 6 million units.
If the Nintendo Switch managed to sell that many units, that would put it way above the Wii, that sold “only” 20 million units by the end of 2017 (with two holiday periods, vs only one for the Nintendo Switch). Obviously, the Wii was severely supply-constrainted for many months, and there’s no doubt it would have sold even more if Nintendo had been able to keep up with demand.
On April 27th, Nintendo will share its latest Financial Results, along with its forecast for the new Fiscal Year. This will allow us to see just how many Nintendo Switch consoles the company is planning to sell, though it’s unlikely Nintendo will say 16 million units like the Wall Street Journal report suggests.
After all, as pointed out by the WSJ reporter, Nintendo usually tend to have very conservative forecasts, in order to avoid downward revisions.
Source: Wall Street Journal
