Over on the official Nintendo of Japan website, Nintendo posted an apology about the shortage of Nintendo Switch units, humbly and graciously thanking fans for their support.
The site basically states that after becoming available on March 3rd, 2017 earlier this year the Switch went on sale. However, the system has been suffering from shortages ever since launch. Originally Nintendo underestimated the popularity of the Switch and only had just over 2 million SKUs made available worldwide.
The Switch sold out pretty quickly and the 2 million SKUs were quickly fulfilled.
Nintendo, however, could not fulfill demand because Apple’s latest products required the exact same components as the Switch, and now both Apple and Nintendo are fighting for parts to fulfill manufacturing orders of their products, so throughout May there was an even greater shortage of Switch units.
According to the site, Nintendo stated…
“Everyone waiting patiently to purchase a [Nintendo Switch] from a retail store who is having trouble purchasing a unit, we sincerely and deeply apologize [for the wait].”
“Every week now we’ve been shipping out units in large quantities to strive to meet demand. Throughout July and August we will continue to increase the shipment of more Nintendo Switch units,”
They continued to humbly apologize for the shortages, but they are ramping up production leading toward the tail-end of 2017. They mention that there will be more units available and more opportunities to pick up a Switch leading into the second half of the year.
Nintendo originally wanted to move 20 million SKUs throughout the fiscal year, but due to production shortages, parts shortages, and not enough supply to meet demand throughout the quarter of the Switch’s initial release, they’ve adjusted their estimates to around 10 million SKUs.
We’ll see how well the Switch performs throughout July’s NPD charts when they become available in August, as that will be the month where Nintendo will have ramped up production in hopes of meeting demand.
