Nintendo Switch could face PS5-like restock shortage

Nintendo Switch could face up PS5-like restock shortage

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Nintendo Switch supplies could soon dry out upwardly, with the console condign as elusive to find as the PS5 or Xbox Series X.

That's co-ordinate to visitor president Shuntaro Furukawa, who confirmed the news at a post-earnings call press conference. So if you've been on the fence almost picking one up, that decision could be out of your hands in a few months.

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Over the class of the last financial year, Nintendo shipped 28.83 million Switch units. The forecast for this year is a petty more conservative, sitting at 25.5 million units. The three million drop accounts for the surge in sales the hardware enjoyed thanks to the release of Brute Crossing: New Horizons last year. It doesn't account for the semiconductor shortage, which looms over console production, creating "an increasing sense of uncertainty".

Speaking to Nikkei (via VGG) Furukawa explained that, "Due to the global shortage of semiconductor materials, we are not able to produce all the products nosotros want to. We are doing everything we can, but there is an increasing sense of uncertainty about production plans."

He added that the earnings forecast is predicated on the "supposition that [Nintendo] will be able to secure parts and materials," but if circumstances change, the visitor volition likely "respond by revising it."

Last month, Furukawa warned of future bit supply issues providing a potential bump in the road ahead. At the time, he confirmed that Nintendo had managed to "secure the necessary materials for the immediate production of semiconductors for switches," but that demand for the panel has been "stiff" in Japan and other regions.

If Switch consoles continue to get snapped upward, he advised that "at that place is a possibility of shortages at some retailers in the futurity." The overwhelming demand coupled with the global semiconductor shortage has left the company in the aforementioned predicament every bit Microsoft, Sony, and a slew of other companies in other industries who are also being affected.

In fact, Sony is rumored to be looking at a PS5 redesign that volition see it find a "2d resources" for semiconductors to circumvent the current supply crunch. Until the issues is resolved, you might want to pick up a Switch or Nintendo Switch Lite while you still can; our where to buy Nintendo Switch online guide should help you on that forepart.

More: PS5 restock update: Track on Twitter, Target, Best Buy and more

Shabana is T3's News Editor covering tech and gaming, and has been writing about video games for almost a decade (and playing them since forever). As well as contributing to Tom'south Guide, she'southward had bylines at major gaming sites during her freelance career before settling downwardly at T3, and has podcasts, streaming, and video content nether her belt to kicking. Outside of work, she also plays video games and should actually call up about expanding her hobbies.