Why the Nintendo Switch is sold out everywhere

If you don’t already own a Nintendo Switch, good luck finding one right now.

If you’re in the market for a Nintendo Switch, you may have a hard time finding one right now. Since March, Nintendo’s hybrid console has been sold out at most major retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, GameStop, Target and Best Buy.

Unfortunately, Nintendo has no idea when the shortages will be resolved. So what exactly caused the shortages to begin with?

Well, it was a perfect storm of things, most of it brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. With stay-at-home orders issued to prevent the spread of the virus, there was a surge in demand for the Nintendo Switch.

With nowhere for many people to go, they turned to video games. And it just so happened that Nintendo released one of its biggest titles of the year around the time the shutdown went into effect in March: Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was already pegged as one of Nintendo’s tentpole releases of the year. But with demand for in-home entertainment surging, the game sold better than anyone could have anticipated. Millions of restless people stuck in their homes were looking for an escape and what better game to fill that desire than Animal Crossing: New Horizons where you literally visit a virtual town? Even people who don’t normally consider themselves gamers went out and got a Switch just to play it.

Normally, increased demand would be considered a good thing; however, the coronavirus also caused shutdowns across manufacturers in China where 90 percent of Nintendo’s Switch consoles made for the United States come from, according to Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad. The increased demand coupled with the limited supply led to shortages.

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Although Nintendo president Shuntaro Furakawa told investors that console production has mostly recovered, he acknowledged, “There is some amount of lag between when a product is manufactured and when it arrives on retailer shelves.” To that end, he couldn’t say when the shortages will be resolved.

Looking across the gaming industry, there are two other companies that should be looking at the issues Nintendo is dealing with: Microsoft and Sony. Both companies are expected to launch new consoles this holiday season although both have yet to announce pricing details or an official release date. Could supply issues have impacted their console production as well to the point that they aren’t sure if they’ll be able to keep up with initial demand? Neither company has come forth and said anything and both seem steadfast in their holiday 2020 release window.

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