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Nintendo Co. has asked its assembly partners to increase production of its Switch gaming console again, raising its goal to as much as 30 million units for this fiscal year, according to people familiar with its strategy.

The Japanese games maker has been struggling to keep up with Switch demand for most of this year, boosted by the runaway success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the coronavirus pandemic lifting gaming demand. It had raised production orders to 25 million units in early August, but that has proven insufficient and assemblers are now operating factories at 120%, the people said, asking to remain anonymous because the targets are private. Nintendo shares reversed losses Wednesday to gain as much as 2.3% after the report.

Switch production was stifled by coronavirus lockdowns in China early in the year, but those issues have since been ironed out and Nintendo’s supply chain is now fully operational. Yet the surge in demand that the company has seen off the back of Animal Crossing has been uncommon, with both the game and the console sustaining elevated sales momentum six months after the island-hopping title’s release.

The introduction of a more affordable Switch Lite variant in late 2019 helped broaden the machine’s potential audience and Nintendo is making preparations for an upgraded Switch model and a beefed-up games lineup for 2021, Bloomberg News has reported. Several outside game developers, speaking anonymously as the issue is private, said that Nintendo has asked them to make their games 4K-ready, suggesting a resolution upgrade is on its way.

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Crazy crazy stuff. First of all, 30 millions is what I was imagining them to hit this FY a couple months ago, so it makes sense to me. But still crazy to read it being somewhat official, even more before the holidays since it can be increased yet again. It will def sell over 25 millions to consumers this year. Crazy.

Second of all, the 4k thing means they would bring a pro version with a pretty big upgrade. It would help compete with the next gen a little better momentarily while we wait for the official Switch 2 (if it happens.) Feels like there is a lot of interest in buying a pro version and it could keep the sales up next year as well with a banging lineup (Bayo 3, Botw 2, 3D World, SMT V and so on).

Crazy stuff. Nintendo is as healthy as ever. Hope they keep listening to fans and dont get too arrogant, Switch era started amazingly and they totally deserve this.

30 million is DS peak level btw, no doubt Switch will pass 100 millions before the end of next year. It should get in the 120-130 millions range easily now.

If they can actually manage to manufacture and ship 30 million Switches this FY, I do believe they can sell through close to that number, such is the pent-up demand for the system.

Fuck you beat me to making this thread lmao.

But yea this is definitely great news for Nintendo and I'm happy to hear they'll be able to produce and thus sell more Switches this year. 30 Million in one fiscal year has only been done once in video game history with the DS having 2 30Million years which is insane. In terms of home consoles, the Wii had a 25 Million year and it seems likely the Switch will be able to beat the Wii's best year this year.

So the Switch right now is in unprecedented territory when it comes to sales right now, most people thought the Switch likely wouldn't hit 30 Million cause Nintendo won't be able to produce that many. However, it's now possible.

I'm totally mindblown from all of this, especially looking back from before the Switch's launch where I was somewhat pessimistic about Nintendo after the Wii U and I predicted the Switch would only sell 30 Million units in it's LIFETIME. Now it's possible the Switch sells that in ONE YEAR. I am so happy my prediction was wrong.

If the Switch has a 30M fiscal year, the Switch would be aproximately at 86 Million sold by March 31st 2021, which is 86 Million sold in 4 YEARS! Wowwww.

IMO I think the Switch will hit 30M fiscal year, even when Nintendo raised production to 25M a few months back they STILL can't meet demand, there's still so much unmet demand at this point for the Switch to capitalize on in the future.

Damn! Thats is crazy if true! Which sounds more believable because of how popular the Switch is this year.

30m would mean around 85m shipped come the end of the FY.

That would solve any switch stock issues.
Now solve ring fit stock!

I actually think they could manufacture and sell more than that if they were capable of it.

Yep, exactly what I expected to happen. And people are still waiting for Switch demand and sales to fall off a cliff any minute now...

Assuming its doable it certainly seems like a smart move to me. Demand is still sky high in many regions and even if at some point after the holidays that starts to change and sales can no longer keep up with their shipment rate then that'll be the time to do a price cut to keep this crazy momentum going. They got people hooked so now is the time to reel them in.