Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has warned that Switch production may be affected by the ongoing semiconductor shortage.
Speaking during a recent financial Q&A, Furukawa explained that while demand for Switch hardware continues to exceed Nintendo’s expectations, production is still playing catch-up due to “tight supply and demand” for semiconductor materials worldwide.
“Although we are currently striving to produce as many units as possible, the fact is that our production plans are more uncertain than they were at the beginning of previous fiscal years,” said Furukawa.
“Our full-year sales plan is based on the premise that we can secure the materials necessary for production, but if we are able to produce more units, we will work hard to meet the strong demand, and to be able to ship and sell those units.”
The Nintendo Switch had sold almost 85 million units as of March 31, 2021, and Nintendo is forecasting another 25.5 million sales over the next 12 months.
That would take the console to over 110 million sales by the end of March 2022, eclipsing the Wii’s lifetime sales of 101.63 million units — which is currently the record for a Nintendo home console.
Nintendo isn’t the only game company affected by the semiconductor shortage, and it’s been reported that both Sony and Microsoft are struggling to secure the parts required to ramp up PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S production.
The issue has even prompted President Biden to sign an executive order directing a review of the supply chain behind critical materials including semiconductors in a bid to prevent a repeat scenario.