Report: Nintendo Set to Double Switch Production

[Emabulator]

Gamesindustry.biz has the story.

Nintendo will double planned production of the Switch console in the next financial year, according to internal sources briefed on the company's plans.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal states that Nintendo will alter its manufacturing plans for the Switch in the fiscal year ending March 2018. The Japanese company had initially planned to make 8 million Switch units, but that has been raised to 16 million.

The change is due to better than expected demand for the hardware, which launched on March 3. According to the WSJ's sources, the company believes it can sell more than 10 million units in the next fiscal year, following a launch month in which it expects to ship 2.5 million units.

Read on.

[ElektroDragon]

Great... now will they triple the damn NES Classic production so I can actually get one for my kid for $60 before end of May birthday??!?

[Anemone]

Spectral on suicide watch.

[Chimpbot]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

Great... now will they triple the damn NES Classic production so I can actually get one for my kid for $60 before end of May birthday??!?

I wouldn't hold my breath.

You could just build 'em one with a Raspberry Pi and give them the entire catalog to play with instead. If you want to make it extra snazzy, just use an old NES cartridge as the case.

[VenomUSMC]

Good for Nintendo, obviously. Hopefully this leads to other companies working to innovate some more. It, to me at least, seems to solidify Nintendo as really filling a different 'entertainment want' than MSFT or Sony is attempting. Seems to be working well thus far.

I'd wager a large portion of their success is clearly linked to their well-known titles, but the versatility, as others have pointed out as being useful, must be a draw to a decent portion of individuals. I guess time will tell with this one after the Wii U, but it certainly seems to be a case of lessons learned base upon the Wii U to me.

Originally Posted by Anemone

Spectral on suicide watch.

Yet another instance of "rules for thee, but not for me":

If you think it's problematic, you probably shouldn't enter into a thread and make a post that only serves to take a shot at another poster.

[Evil Avatar]

Originally Posted by Chimpbot

I wouldn't hold my breath.

You could just build 'em one with a Raspberry Pi and give them the entire catalog to play with instead. If you want to make it extra snazzy, just use an old NES cartridge as the case.

Building a Mame Cabinet is on my wish list for sure. Though I would probably use a high-end PC and not something mini. Though, it might be fun to build a Mini arcade cabinet that would fit on a desktop.

My Son wants to buy a new PC at the end of the summer, I'll probably convert his current machine to Mame when he gets a new one.

[Phoenix1985]

"Better than expected demand" is one way of putting it, especially what with how badly they produced for this launch in terms of units.

I don't think Nintendo were aware they might actually succeed this time around, if only because of at least two solid titles this early on (Breath and the clipper game)

[VenomUSMC]

Originally Posted by Phoenix1985

I don't think Nintendo were aware they might actually succeed this time around, if only because of at least two solid titles this early on (Breath and the clipper game)

I do think Nintendo was quite confident that they would sell-out at launch, especially considering they had a new Zelda to go along side the Switch's launch. However, being Nintendo, it seems intentional to me that they don't launch with more units than they at least in part to have the "it's sold out, so it must be amazing" hype.

[Phoenix1985]

Originally Posted by VenomUSMC

I do think Nintendo was quite confident that they would sell-out at launch, especially considering they had a new Zelda to go along side the Switch's launch. However, being Nintendo, it seems intentional to me that they don't launch with more units than they at least in part to have the "it's sold out, so it must be amazing" hype.

Sure, absolutely. But to then not have the supply to meet demand a few weeks later means they'll have lost most of that hype and then can't capitalize on it.

[Chimpbot]

Originally Posted by Phoenix1985

"Better than expected demand" is one way of putting it, especially what with how badly they produced for this launch in terms of units.

I don't think Nintendo were aware they might actually succeed this time around, if only because of at least two solid titles this early on (Breath and the clipper game)

They didn't really produce badly at all; they've sold an estimated 1.5 million units since launch. The PS4 sold 1 million on its launch day and had supply issues through April 2014.

In other words...both companies produced a similar number of units and ran into similar supply issues.

[VenomUSMC]

Originally Posted by Phoenix1985

Sure, absolutely. But to then not have the supply to meet demand a few weeks later means they'll have lost most of that hype and then can't capitalize on it.

That's possible, but I think (which I could certainly be wrong) such circumstances helped to propel the original Wii.

[Phoenix1985]

Originally Posted by VenomUSMC

That's possible, but I think (which I could certainly be wrong) such circumstances helped to propel the original Wii.

I couldn't comment on that, since I never owned one. All I remember about the Wii was that it sold a lot of hardware but not a lot of software.

[Chimpbot]

Originally Posted by Phoenix1985

I couldn't comment on that, since I never owned one. All I remember about the Wii was that it sold a lot of hardware but not a lot of software.

The Wii actually had an attach rate of 8.84; it was only beaten by the Gamecube, which had an attach rate of slightly over 9. For every Wii out there, there was an average of nearly 9 games in those homes.

It actually had a good software attach rate.

[SpectralThundr]

Originally Posted by Chimpbot

They didn't really produce badly at all; they've sold an estimated 1.5 million units since launch. The PS4 sold 1 million on its launch day and had supply issues through April 2014.

In other words...both companies produced a similar number of units and ran into similar supply issues.

Chimpy do you have a link to back up that number of units being actually available or is this preorders that obviously weren't filled due to supply constraints? At any rate I applaud Nintendo for this change in production.

[Phoenix1985]

Originally Posted by Chimpbot

The Wii actually had an attach rate of 8.84; it was only beaten by the Gamecube, which had an attach rate of slightly over 9. For every Wii out there, there was an average of nearly 9 games in those homes.

It actually had a good software attach rate.

Huh, color me corrected I suppose. I mean, to me a good and proper software attach rate should be near the 20s so I don't feel like a gaming freak or something, but still

[Inkabodcrane]

Originally Posted by Chimpbot

The Wii actually had an attach rate of 8.84; it was only beaten by the Gamecube, which had an attach rate of slightly over 9. For every Wii out there, there was an average of nearly 9 games in those homes.

It actually had a good software attach rate.

Well to be fair, that article says that Nintendo counts the pack-in game Wii Sports as part of the attach rate. So taking that out to account for games consumers actually bought after buying the hardware, it's still an admirable 7(ish).

[PatrickRes9]

That Zelda game isn't hurting their cause. Honestly, I didn't understand what Nintendo was doing recently. It felt like they were floundering - unsure. There were a few absolute gems on the Wii U and the Wii but...nothing industry defining. Nothing that floored me the way they used to, until Zelda breath of the wild. Listen to developers talk about this game. Here's a great video. That game will change open world games. The craft and the care put into every corner of the game is mind-boggling. Every zig or zag you take reveals something completely new and unexpected. They had a team of hundreds, and all of them would drop what they're doing every few weeks, and play what they created, and report on the experience. And you can see the payoff to that kind of QC and playtesting. Aside from the way the game just throws you into the world and says "have at it" with incredible mechanics, and gives you that sense of freedom and wonder from exploration, you can see that every inch is hand-crafted in a way that open world games simply don't do. 2 weeks after, I'm still blown away by BotW.

But what I'm getting at with that needless rant about BotW is that ultimately it's all about games, and that's it. And to me that's the crux of whether Nintendo's Switch will succeed or not. And my hope, for the sake of further enjoyment of my favorite hobby, is that BotW is the start of Nintendo taking chances and growing balls again when it comes to games development. Can they keep it up? Can we get top notch games that shake up and improve their revered IP? If they can continue to craft games like BotW, they'll start to convince even the gamers that are most sour on Nintendo for a lot of their recent boneheaded decisions. In the end, it's all about great games. BotW was a great start, but what else are they going to give us? If they shrink back into their "comfort zone" they're going to fail. If they continue to make games with the brilliance and care of BotW, they may find themselves setting industry standards again when it comes to games development, and probably in better shape than they found themselves in after the failed Wii U. To make their first open world game that draws from western games development and absolutely crush it out of the park on attempt #1 is pretty impressive. That's a games developer I DONT want going out of business.

[Chimpbot]

Originally Posted by SpectralThundr

Chimpy do you have a link to back up that number of units being actually available or is this preorders that obviously weren't filled due to supply constraints? At any rate I applaud Nintendo for this change in production.

Do you want me to drag the plethora of links I posted in the other thread here? 'Cuz I already backed it up once.

You can't really blame Nintendo for retailers over-committing and overselling preorders.

[Chimpbot]

Since you're too busy arguing with with Anemone (which, if we're being honest, is like fighting with a 10 year old who also somehow happens to be a pedophile), I'll just cut and paste for you.

The Switch has moved around 1.5 million units since launch...most of which would have been on or around March 3rd. When we contrast that with the PS4, they sold 1 million units on it's launch day. (Make sure you take a look at the title of the PS4 article from 2013, by the way.) The PS4 was also difficult to find shortly after it launched, as well. What's the point? If you look at these numbers, Sony shipped just about as many units for the PS4 launch as Nintendo did for the Switch.

[Anemone]

The Switch is selling aftermarket right now for over 50% premium, can't get one on Amazon for less than $480. $400 on Ebay.

Many people are saying Zelda is their favorite game of all time, "the greatest game I've ever played in my whole life..."