The largest retailers have run out of Switch. Nintendo will not be able to return the consoles to the shelves until the summer. This is reported by Business Insider with reference to a representative of the gaming company.
Analysts predicted a shortage of Switch in Europe and the United States back in February. In Japan, these consoles ran out just then, after supply restrictions due to the coronavirus.
In April, the deficit began to be felt in the West. To date, Switch has sold out at Amazon, Walmart, GameStop, Best Buy and Target. It is difficult to find both the classic version of the system and the recently released Switch Lite. In stores where consoles are still in warehouses, their price tag has doubled.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Nintendo was still meeting the demand for the popular device. But when the virus reached the United States, many retail stores closed.
The situation was also affected by the loud launch of the Switch-exclusive Animal Crossing: New Horizons March 20. The game has become a driver of a significant increase in demand for the console.
According to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, Nintendo will be able to resume deliveries no earlier than June. “Switch production volumes have increased, but we will see the effect in late May — early June, that is, by the end of the second quarter,” he writes.
Ahmad also stated that no Nintendo Switch consoles were produced in February. The reason for this is the quarantine of coronavirus in Chinese factories.
Note that the Japanese giant has sold more than 52 million Switch consoles as of the end of 2019.
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