Nintendo Switch production issues could make the console extra hard to find this holiday season. As a result, you might want to pick one up the minute stock replenishes. (Make sure to follow our guide on where to buy Nintendo Switch for the latest inventory news).
Not only are Switch consoles selling out the second they hit retail stores, but disruption to manufacturing caused by COVID-19 is making it difficult for Nintendo to make enough of its wildly popular console. Now Bloomberg reports that such stock shortages are set to continue until the end of the year.
- Where to watch Scoob online, release date, trailer and more
- GTA 5 is going free on PC today: Here’s how to get it
- Just in: PS5 release date may have just leaked
The report notes that government-imposed lockdowns in Malaysia and the Philippines have left Nintendo struggling to get the parts it needs to make the Switch. As both nations have to limit their manufacturing operations, Nintendo has found itself short of the printed circuit boards and the parts to attach to those PCBs in order to make the Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite.
In the very short term, Nintendo is expected to get its Switch inventory in order and have enough console units to take it over the summer period. But after that, the shortages are set to make a return.
"The inventory may recover in the summer, but we may see shortages again toward the year-end because Nintendo wouldn’t be able to produce enough units for the shopping season," Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute, told Bloomberg.
In April, Nintendo promised that more Switch consoles would be made to counterbalance the demand for them. But even with more stock, it still looks like Nintendo is going to fall short of the demand.
So if you’ve been waiting to get a Nintendo Switch, now’s the time to take the plunge. Assuming stock replenishes in the coming weeks. If you wait until the holiday 2020 period to get one as a gift for yourself or someone else, you might end up out of luck.
