Nintendo Switch suspends shipments in Japan, supply chain disruption is the main reason

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Reporter Peng Xin

On April 8, according to the “Nihon Keizai Shimbun”, due to the expansion of the new coronavirus epidemic, the production of Nintendo’s game console Nintendo Switch has lagged behind, and the product supply has been in short supply. It has now suspended the shipment of Switch, Switch Lite and other products in Japan. The time to resume shipments has not yet been determined.

Nintendo has not given a date for resuming shipments in Japan. On the e-commerce website, the Switch shows that it is out of stock, and there are only empty shelves in offline stores. But shipments in the U.S. and Europe will continue as usual, as Nintendo still has stock in those regions.

This is also after the first release time period, a game console rarely experienced global shortages and price increases in its life cycle, except for the national version of the Tencent agent in China.

The situation of large-scale out-of-stocks has already begun. In February of this year, Nintendo announced for the first time that the epidemic had affected the shipments of the Nintendo Switch series of consoles and “Ring Fitness Adventure”, and it has shown that the supply of Switch is not very optimistic.

A good game is the best motivator for players to spend on equipment. Because the somatosensory game “Ring Fitness Adventure” combined with home fitness and somatosensory gameplay unexpectedly became popular, but the game needed to cooperate with ring-shaped equipment and straps worn on the thighs and other components, and the production was more complicated. At that time, China was hit by the epidemic. Production delays have impacted availability.

Then on March 20th, “The Collection!” “Animal Crossing” “hit” the spread of the new crown epidemic around the world, coupled with good game quality and the needs of players for entertainment at home, making this game the most popular game in recent times. According to data from Japanese game media “Famitsu”, the game sold 1.88 million units in Japan in just 3 days, making it the best-selling first game ever on Nintendo Switch, surpassing the previous record holder “Pokémon: 1.36 million copies of Sword/Shield.

The game is very popular, but when the console is hard to find, some consumers increase the price to buy it. According to thinknum statistics, starting from March 13, the price of Switch on Amazon in the United States began to fluctuate, with an increase of 62%.

Although the national version of Switch represented by Tencent has been released, the lack of national games and the inability to connect with overseas games makes Chinese players rarely buy them. Instead, they choose the overseas version of Switch on platforms such as Taobao, Xianyu, and Amazon. At present, the price of this machine on Xianyu is confusing, but even the old version of Switch that has been discontinued, the general price is higher than the official price of about 2100 yuan.

This phenomenon may change after the supply chain gradually recovers. Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted an unnamed Nintendo executive as saying that the operations of Switch’s contract manufacturers in China and Vietnam have “recovered to a certain extent” but have not yet returned to full capacity.

Therefore, it may not be too early to completely solve the many problems related to the out-of-stock Switch.