Nintendo Still Isn't Totally Confident Switch Production Can Keep Pace With Demand

More the reason I don't think Switch Pro is coming out.

Why pour cold water on a product which is still so hot?

No reason to upgrade as its selling great.

Premise 1: Nintendo says they can keep up with demand.
Premise 2: Customers are demanding a Switch Pro.
Conclusion: Switch Pro confirmed.

The logic is irrefutable.

Why doesn't Nintendo make games anymore though?

@Madder128 @Northwind

Exactly right

@Northwind No issues with scarcity? Uh, where have you been lately? LOL

Can’t say I’ve been looking.

I’ve had my Switch since midnight of 3/3/2017 so I’ve never had an issue. my friends, on the other hand, have had issues since they decided to buy one early last year. they haven’t searched for one aggressively, mind you, but they do look for it when they go to their local Target out here in the US with no luck every time they go. if demand stays up and Nintendo doesn’t fall into problems with shortages of parts, I can see the Switch becoming Nintendo’s best selling system ever!

edit: it’ll become the second best selling Nintendo system. I never knew how popular the original DS was. it sold over 150 million units! that’s insane!

Ahh, limited resources.

@Mountain_Man Only the vocal minority are demanding a pro. The fact that animal crossing became a phenomenon in 2020, proves 90 percent of switch owners don’t care about a pro. only the 10 percent that are hardcore gamers.

Instead of bringing out a switch pro maybe they should actually make some new games first

@Northwind No worries! Thanks for clarifying.

NINJA APPROVED

I love skepticism. I am Pro Skeptic.

@Luigisghost669 In order to determine a majority and a minority, you need numbers. How many people exist in each group, and how did you determine that only the minority wants the pro?

@Luigisghost669 I fear the joke went over your head.

I don't care if the old model is having issues being manufactured, I still want that Pro because I'm tired of joy con drift and having a cracked switch shell. And I feel the only way for them to fix this would be a pro model. So give me that pro model.

Sure, the Switch is still selling well, but not to people who already have it. Nintendo doesn’t just put out revisions to sell to brand new customers! They have always up-sold their existing base with revisions and special editions. They know they wield that power when they flash shiny new hardware.

Ugh..but I want a new model!(despite the fact im incredibly broke)

According to Nintendolife's sister site, Pushsquare, the PS5 has been the bestselling console in the last 2 month in the UK.
Are the Switch finally slowing down sales wise after more than 2 years of runaway success?
Personally I wouldn't be that surprised if it was, the hardware is starting to really show its age (it's on par with the PS3 originating from 2006! - maybe a bit better - and the PS5/Xbox Series X/S are from 2020! - that's quite a difference when you think of it).
Besides it seems there's a drought when it comes to new games (not that the situation is much better on the PS5 or Xbox Series X/S - especially the latter). Not even that many remasters are being announced.

The demand will be much stringer if/when this rumoured new model hits the lines, so it's going to be interesting (and scary) to see how this plays out..... If at all.

@shgamer You can't get a PS5 in the UK right now, unless to hit the scalpers up and pay over the odds.

@BloodNinja I used to be a diehard wrestling fan and did the entire internet wrestling community for about a decade. We couldn’t understand how on every site in every comment section all we did was trash John cena yet year after year to casual fans he was leagues ahead in sales and true popularity to our favorite wrestlers. The switch pro is the same thing. the switch is John cena and the pro is who the wrestling message boards think should be in John cenas shoes, but the casual audience doesn’t care because they still love cena.

Considering how stupidly small their supply is of basically everything to the point where they started making everything a limited release, and i literally mean everything cause amiibos and even the classic NES & classic SNES (and etc.) were limited release (amiibo still are) this news should come as little to no surprise that they'd be "struggling" to meet supply demand of the Nintendo Switch, heck even their video games feel like limited release since they been focusing mainly on digital sales and printing very limited numbers of the physical copies of their games. Is very disappointing in my opinion but... is the modern Nintendo so we have no choice but to deal with it and accept it. Let's be positive and grateful that we are still getting some awesome games from them.

@Luigisghost669 That's still all based off of assumption. It's unwise to lump people into groups without at least doing a head-count!

Been spendin' most their lives livin' in the scalper’s paradise
Been spendin' most their lives livin' in the scalper's paradise
Keep spendin' most our lives livin' in the scalper's paradise
Keep spendin' most our lives livin' in the scalper's paradise

@Iggy-Koopa Yeah, I've heard, but still, according to Pushsquare, it's the bestselling console for the last 2 month.
So maybe the Switch is supply restrained too, or the demand is simply not as high as it used to be (the Switch has already sold a lot units in the UK and elsewhere the last 2 years from what I've heard).

The thing with Nintendo is they have lied about limited availability before to create demand. Actually Nintendo has done this alot to boost sales before. So it's impossible to know if this is true or manufactured scarcely.

Either side of the holidays, a Switch Pro with Monster Hunter Rise enhanced edition and a BotW2 enhanced edition would just hit the ground running. Plenty of folk still wanting a Switch so you would have first time buyers alongside early adopters wanting to upgrade. Honestly, if it's as good as the 'reports' suggest, they can't sleep on it. First to market with A.I tech is huge. Let it have exclusives and invite folk to upgrade. I can't see a bad side. (Especially if og Switch production is coming to an end.)

Heck, they could do 2 versions - 1 with a normal dock for a similar price to current model and 2 a 4K dock (costing a bit extra.) $299 is such a sweet spot for the console, if it's going to replace it, I would think it needs to be near that price.

I don't think a head count is needed to know that it is definitely a minority that is interested in the pro. That said, even 10% interest means 7 million in sales for launch. Others will fall in line eventually especially with the whole fear of missing out driving some purchases.

@shgamer Switch sales were up 10% YoY in the UK during March, in spite of it selling third best. In other words, it's not slowing down.

@IronMan30 Ok, didn't know that. It must be pretty close then.

I like how this article is about they may not keep up with demand, but people are still saying “give me my new console, cause whatever rumor that that guy says is real!!!”. Like y’all think they would split the player base? When the normal switch is so close to outselling the wii? And 2, if they are having trouble with production, do you guys remember the ps5 debacle, we’ll nintendo is bigger than PlayStation, so if a pro is to happen, you ain’t gettin one, the scalpers are, and when the scalpers get em all, you guys will complain that there wasn’t enough stock, just watch IF I SAY IF a pro happens

There's definitely not a shortage in Norway. The online shops have plenty, and even different editions like the Animal Crossing, Super Mario, Ring Fit and Fortnite ones.

@NorseGamerTommy,

There will always be places you can buy the Switch, but on the whole it's been in and out of stock in most regions and in high demand, and if a new revision hits this year it will get worse.

@shgamer It's also worth noting the UK is traditionally lukewarm on Nintendo in general. FIFA is consistently one of the highest selling series in that region, if that is any indication.

wait they cant keep up with demand yet idiot yt and this site every week switch pro is here next week for the last 3 bloody years

I haven't seen any normal Switch systems in stores recently, but there are certainly a few Switch Lite units still sitting around.

It's unimportant, because I already have a Nintendo Switch, and that's all that matters. Whether other people get one or not is immaterial.

At least they're having a better time than Sony, who decided they needed over half a kilo of custom CNC-carved aluminium on every single PS5. :V

So you see, this is why we won't be getting an overpriced upgrade to the Switch anytime soon. Especially at times like this, I don't think Nintendo wants to release something mid-pandemic and end up like Sony and Microsoft. Don't get me started about vaccinations, because it will be a very long time before those are done.

@Menardi That's putting it mildly 😅

The statement from Nintendo President Furukawa seems to be more at allaying stock market fears that component shortages will affect Nintendo, at least until their next financial statement. I wouldn't read anything into it regarding a potential switch upgrade.
However Nintendo still need to produce something that takes advantage of the growing base of 4K TVs in potential customers households. Otherwise it'll be like the later years of the Wii all over again. So yeah, there'll be a 4K Switch upgrade sooner rather than later, and I can't see it being delayed, unless component shortages stop 4K TV production as well.

Nintendo isn't totally confident. Is that one below confident. Or is it that they are not confident at all. Or even unsure.

Or is it another marketing ploy to get us buying their old stock?

I want nintendo to release more games. Its kinda quiet from their side.

Switch demand is insaine! I would not be surprised it ends up outselling the PS4 and Wii. Maybe not PS2 levels of sales, but for sure PS4 and Wii as if we are to assume that the Switch is here to stay for another 2-3 years then I don't see why it can't reach those numbers after 80million sales in just 4 years! It took the PS4 upwards of 8 years to get where it is on the charts (with close to no competition in its first 4 years due to Wii U failing and the XBone having a very rocky start) and the Switch is almost there in half the time!

@ModdedInkling Agreed! The XSX/XSS and the PS5 have struggled out of the gate. The XSX is only a couple million behind the PS5 and this is pre-Elder Scrolls and Halo so that shows PlayStation market dominance is not like it was last gen. It would be foolish for Nintendo to not wait a year or two before releasing a successor when supply can meet demand far easier.

@Wexter the ps5 and XSX/S have only struggled due to stock issues and even then then I can easily find a series S online for purchase so it's not that popular, even with the Bethesda acquisition xbox will still lag behind sony by a lot.

Also the switch should reach the ps4 sales easily as its not directly competing with anyone else, the ps4 had the xbox one to compete with so people had to choose to either get a ps4 or an xbox one. So let's just say the xbox one never existed then its sales would instead of gone to Sony meaning the ps4 would of sold upwards of 150 million easy. That's the main reason the ps2 sold so well aswell as it didn't really have direct competition like for like, power for power

This is the exact reason why I think a Switch Pro is not coming before 2022.

I don't mean this offensively but Nintendo really do owe a lot to the pandemic, without the last year being the way it was then the switch wouldnt of sold the amount it has, the need for gaming grown within the last year with people self isolating and being in lockdown and kids being off school for a while year really helped the switch sales sky rocket and also help animal crossing get the sales figures it has today, the pandemic made the whole gaming industry skyrocket in terms of sales and have seen some record figures.

I fully expect the switch/switch lite sales to decline soon especially as most countries seem to be on track to going back to normality, kids going back to school, lockdowns lifting, less need for gaming.

Maybe towards the end of the year would be the perfect time to announce a switch pro or maybe a switch successor would be better suited. As if the Pro can play certain games the normal switch can't then that's a bad move but if the Pro just plays the same games as the original switch then what's the point? Unless it's for 4k

@Zimon you gonna have to come with some actual evidence to prove that statement. also you know it's illegal for a public company to lie to its investors right?

90 percent of switch owners don’t care about a pro. only the 10 percent that are hardcore gamers.

@Luigisghost669 I do not crave a Switch Pro. Am I not a "hardcore" gamer, too?

I get shot down in Ikaruga three times before breakfast, which I follow up with a cold shower. I'm doing a complete playthrough of Skyrim in my third, and shakiest, language (with a dictionary open before the screen). I returned to NES Battletoads after ~2 decades away, and I pass the third stage ~50% of the time. I advocate for F-Zero in the face of mocking silence from Kyoto. ... Can't a furball be "hardcore" too?

@UltimateOtaku91
Switch successor is not releasing anytime soon.

Switch Pro is going to launch within the next 12 months, whether people like it or not 😉

@Madder128 Hardware upgrades are never about selling to new customers, but re-engaging existing ones. It’s about giving people who have been playing with the same device for four years something new to get excited about

@Menardi FIFA is the top seller in all European countries bar Finland

@Slinkoy1 Why would it split the player base?

@shgamer Switch sales in the UK this year are up 13.6% compared with the same period in 2020

@Chibi_Manny it’s not the ‘modern’ Nintendo. They’ve always done this since the beginning

@Dringo Very unfortunate

@Northwind That is a very astute assessment! Very much agreed.

@Dringo what I mean is that what about the millions of people who bought one during the shutdowns, just for them to release a new console, and who knows IF it does happen, make exclusives on it.

@Luigisghost669 @Bobb @anoyonmus @Northwind @Madder128 @GrailUK @Yosher
"Why come out with a new Switch when the current one is doing so well?"
Perhaps one reason is that they had a 'Pro' ready to go when COVID caused current Switch sales to go through the roof. They (theoretically) delayed the Pro as a result, however they can only delay the release for so long due to business/cost/contract reasons.

For example, if they had it prepared and don't release it, they would have wasted all that R&D time and costs, plus they would've made contracts with part manufacturers that they were going to buy x amount of LED screens, x amount of CPUs, etc.
If they face those consequences and delay the release indefinitely, then the new hardware design they just settled on gets outdated and they're back to the drawing board with R&D, obtaining updated parts, new negotiations etc. So they may just release it anyway due to such reasons, even though the current Switch is doing so well.

@Prizm Your talking to the wrong people. They already have a closed mindset to start out with and like you said they can only delay the release for so long due to business/cost/contract reasons. This is something those don't get and never will get no matter if they only studied a little harder at their college Business 101 classes.

@UltimateOtaku91 it just shows how the pandemic negatively impacted their launches. And I know a lot of people who are not buying a PS5 as they feel they did not get their money worth on the PS4. It's hard to say how either console would do normally, but Xbox owning Bethesda is a major boon!

The Switch should easily reach those numbers and despite the spin Nintendo is competing with the PS4 and Xbone as it gets the same games. It is the portability feature that makes people buy the Switch version over the others despite the loss in visuals. Or in some cases double-dip for an easy way to play games like Doom portability.

@Wexter well the switch seems to be missing out on the biggest third party games and only gets third party ports and they don't don't offer the same subscription services or free games like xbox or playstation do, and their graphics and power are way off, plus playstation and xbox both offer a blu Ray player for multimedia.

Those are the reasons why Nintendo aren't direct competition and are doing their own thing, that's why most people who own a Nintendo switch also own either a playstation or xbox console aswell

@UltimateOtaku91 agreed.

New games/ New IPS are MORE IMPORTANT than a switch pro

@Northwind - What you describe is also a possible outcome, although just because Nintendo thinks it might be better to bail out of a 'Pro' release, it may not be possible due to contracts/obligations.

Either way, my overall point is that the situation may not be as simple as "The Switch is doing well, therefore we're not going to release a Switch Pro".

@Madder128 PS4 was selling well when PS4 pro came out. DS was selling well when DS Lite came out. Switch was selling like hotcakes when switch lite came out. Nvidia releases better card even when their old ones are selling great. And Toyota comes out with a new corolla every year even though last year's was still the best selling car.
So selling well doesn't mean anything.

Switch is scarce in the greater Seattle metro area. Very few stores have them and Amazon quotes a week or more to ship one. Switch Lite on the other hand is everywhere.

Just because the Switch still prints money, I don't think that necessarily rules out the possibility of a Switch Pro, as some are suggesting.

The Switch has been an interesting piece of hardware in terms of accommodating different specs in handheld or docked - often dynamically - up to and including "impossible" ports of PS4/XBone games.

It would therefore stand to reason that a flexibility in game optimization is something that most developers would already be accustomed to (I mean, even beyond Switch, that's pretty much however PC game works).

Thus - assuming that a Switch Pro would be much closer to a PS4 in terms of power - it wouldn't necessarily mean that certain games would only be playable on Pro. Developers could create a game that - at its highest optimization setting - purposefully takes advantage of the Pro's increased specs while at the same time making sure that it can be optimized downward to play at reduced a reduced fidelity in handheld, or when it's being played on a vanilla Switch.

In fact - again, assuming that Switch Pro type upgrade would ever happen - I would not be surprised if Nintendo made it a strict policy that all games released on Switch Pro would also have to be playable on the OG iteration.

The New Nintendo 3DS is an example of where upgrade-exclusivity actually hurt the image of the product and I doubt they would make the same mistake twice. As such, my sense is that Nintendo will avoid doing that again with Switch and save any sort of exclusivity for its official "Switch 2" successor.

The lack of high profile games being talked about does seem to indicate to me that Nintendo is saving up its ammunition for something - whether it's to time release some games that can show off the Pro, or if they've lost their minds and have gone all in on a surprise Switch 2 launch within a couple years time will remain to be seen.

But something is definitely up, imo.

@Karatecanine This is Nintendo.

They like to save money.

@Yosher exactly, the quality of the hardware is one of the major flaws with the current switch.
Too many failing parts.. joycons, cartridge reader, brittle plastics etc

None of these issues were a thing with my nes, snes and n64.

@UltimateOtaku91,

Not sure why some always seem to suggest the Switch and it's games have only been successful because of the global pandemic, sure the situation has helped but the console has been in high demand since it's launch, consoles tend to be linked to momentum, hence why there was no saving the Wii U, the Switch has had great traction since it's launch.

@ModdedInkling
Well who knows? ^^
Perhaps they're a little worried exactly BECAUSE they started production of a new model.
But, like you, I'm not really counting on that being the case.

@shgamer
Nope. Switch is still outselling PS5 and Series X globally. UK is a tiny market. Switch is selling much more in Japan and the US, which are the two largest markets. I'm sure eventually they'll overtake Switch globally- it has to happen one day as the cycle eventually repeats itself, but not yet.

Also, there's been game overload, not a drought. I've bought Bravely Default 2, Persona 5 Strikers, Mario 3D World, Monster Hunter Rise and Trails of Cold Steel IV just in the last month and a half or so. With New Pokémon Snap a week or two away? Ya. If that's considered a drought then may it never rain again.

@Madder128 Pretty much what I always thought as well.

Of course they will say that. The first rule of sales is to create a sense of urgency and fear of missing out.

@Petew They are to a degree being honest. Demand for a Switch exploded in 2020 and has continued into 2021. For a while, it was near impossible to get a Switch from March-May in 2020. The pandemic has helped the Switch in increasing demand, but also a shortage of certain components has been a major problem. So Nintendo is right to have some concern if demand will exceed supply due to the pandemic.

This has majorly kneecapped some companies like Sony and Microsoft for the PS5 and XSX/XSS and even AMD and Nivida have felt the pain in regards to their CPU and GPU manufacturing.

@Luigisghost669

Well to be fair, demanding higher specs doesn't make them hard core game is at all. There are people that I see playing solely on a Nintendo Switch that have a much larger libraries with a wider pallet of gaming, games completed or in rotation under there belt than most of these wannabe "hardcore gamers" couldn't even hope to achieve. Their little obsession with power and specs hardly makes some of these people hardcore gamers.

True hardcore, real gamers just play the games regardless. They are the ones that help keep retro themed games and a wannabe photorealistic world of gaming. Make Shovel Knight a success and all that kind of stuff. Not saying that they don't love the glitz and graphics and all of that, but the game itself comes first for them always. I get what you're saying, but let's not sell the true hardcore Gamers short LOL.

@Petew

Yeah nah bro. It is what it is at this point. That might have been the cool thing to say before when people were down playing the success years ago but there's no way on God's green earth that even if we subscribe to some idiotic false shortage Theory before that they would be doing it like, four years in? You gain nothing call doing that. As people can always take their money somewhere else and there's always a competing product fighting for their dollars. And where's the logic in this false shortage conspiracy theory when people already perhaps more reluctant to be parting with their money as easily these days? Especially with the loss of jobs and wages and having to think about more important things than video games and entertainment like putting food on the table, feeding your kid, keeping lights on in the house et cetera.

Even if I play Devil's Advocate it said okay that might have been a thing in the beginning, did not want to continue doing it darn near 4 years later or whatever bruh. You're begging to lose money. And while peeps sitting on their duff hanging on message boards can have all the crazy conspiracy theories and whatever they want, Nintendo as a business have to deal with shareholders and all of those other aspects of business in the real world, nuff said.

@Northwind @Madder128 nVidia is discontinuing the chip though. That means a new revision of the hardware will be necessary no matter what. The changeover to a new design, no matter the components designed for it, would have to occur regardless of demand, capacity, or cost. All the signing on everything involved would have been done a year or more ago.

@Slinkoy1 Oh I wouldn’t expect any exclusives on it. Maybe one or two niche titles, but we are talking about a souped up version of the existing machine ... aren’t we?

@Menardi It’s just football. Lots of people like football. It doesn’t tell us anything

@NEStalgia I don't think it's been confirmed.

Nvidia aren't going to seize production, when it's making them money.

They still make Geforce GT710 and that's ancient.

@Dringo It tells you a sizeable chunk of annual gaming hours are spent playing the same game year after year, for one. Hard to fit Mario, Zelda, or Animal Crossing into that picture. I understand you personally like the football games, there is no need to feel ashamed.

@Menardi It's a bit of a different audience. It's worth noting that Animal Crossing sold almost as many copies in the UK (physical sales) than FIFA 21

@Dringo Precisely. Almost, which is saying something considering how colossal Animal Crossing is. FIFA is a lifestyle in that region, very challenging for Nintendo IP to make a dent there compared to other regions.

@Menardi It's not that bad. Mario and Pokemon are in the Top 5 franchises in the country