Most recent game consoles have encountered some sort of shortage problem when they were released, most famously when the global shortage of chips during the pandemic affected the amount of PlayStation 5s available in 2020.
The tight supply and increased demand is fertile ground for scalpers, who buy consoles in bulk and sell them at high prices to profit from the situation.
While the original Switch suffered from a limited supply when it launched in 2017, Nintendo has said that this should be less of an issue for its next console.
During a Q&A focused on investors, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa described how they have a simple ‘countermeasure’ to deter scalpers: making more consoles.
“As a countermeasure against reselling, we believe the most important thing is to produce a sufficient number to meet customer demand, and that idea hasn’t changed since last year,” Furukawa said (as translated by IGN).
“In addition, we are considering whether there are any other measures that can be taken to the extent permitted by laws and regulations, taking into account the circumstances of each region.
Furukawa explains that the component shortage issue, which has affected the production of Switch consoles for the past two years, has now been ‘resolved’ – so it shouldn’t be an issue when it comes to the company’s next device.
“Although we were unable to produce sufficient quantities of Nintendo Switch devices last year, and the year before, due to a shortage of semiconductor components, this situation has now been resolved,” he added. “At this time, we do not believe that the component shortage will have a significant impact on the production of the next model.”
Other than the fact that it exists, we still don’t know anything official about Nintendo’s next console. Nintendo has said it will announce the Switch sequel ‘within this fiscal year’, so sometime before March 31, 2025.
Earlier this year, reports claimed that the console had been pushed back from late 2024 to next year in order to bolster its software lineup. Although later rumors suggest that the plan was always for 2025.
As for details on the actual machine itself, rumors have indicated that it will be an ‘iterative’ upgrade over the original Switch, possibly with magnetic Joy-Cons and backwards compatibility.
While many expected this to be a quiet year for the Switch, Nintendo’s schedule for the rest of 2024 is surprisingly busy, with The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree and Mario & Luigi: Brothership – which further suggests that there were no delays.
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