As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nintendo Switch production in China was significantly reduced due to the shutdown of factories. However, in the June 26, 2020 investor’s meeting, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa mentioned that production basically returned to full capacity in June 2020. Nintendo Switch stocks will be back to normal during this summer. [Thanks, The Sankei News!]
The Nintendo Switch production reduction severely affected the number of systems available worldwide throughout the entire first half of 2020, especially in Nintendo’s home country of Japan. Due to the company prioritizing other countries, the system was scarce enough in Japan that lotteries for the opportunity to purchase the system were reinstated at many large department stores. This is something that was also seen immediately following the Switch’s launch. Apart from Switch consoles, some other related items like Ring Fit Adventure were hard to find due to supply issues. (The exercise game comes with a “ring” peripheral and supplies have been scarce since the pandemic began.)
As early as late January 2020, Nintendo announced that the COVID-19 pandemic would affect production of items made in China. While some percentage of the consoles are manufactured in Vietnam, the majority of console production is still done in China. After half of a year, things are finally looking to get back on track so that Nintendo could perhaps meet its 19.5 million sales forecast.
