Nintendo Switch stock selling far faster than company expected, with production set to double

Retailers are only updating their stock every so often – and the consoles are snapped up as soon as they go on sale

Andrew Griffin
Friday 17 March 2017 09:49 GMT
Comments
Nintendo switch trailer

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Nintendo is doubling production of the Nintendo Switch, as fans struggle to buy the consoles weeks after it was launched.

The console originally launched at the beginning of this month. But even on that release date, it wasn't really possible to buy it – all the pre-orders had been snapped up in advance and people were left waiting for weeks.

That trend has continued in the weeks since, with consoles occasionally arriving on retailers like Argos and the Nintendo official store but quickly being bought. Even big websites like Amazon don't have much stock, leaving people waiting until the end of the month.

The limited stock has meant that the Switch is selling for far more than its retail price on websites like eBay and Amazon.

Now the company is ratcheting up production in an attempt to meet with the huge demand, which reportedly is far bigger than Nintendo had ever expected.

The company will now produce at least 16 million of the consoles in the financial year that starts in April, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The huge sales put the Switch easily on course to beat its predecessor, the Wii U, and might even mean that it seels more than the hugely successful Wii.

Nintendo is likely to give an update on how many units it has sold and how well it is doing when it reports its earnings on 27 April, and makes forecasts for the next year.

Click here for Argos discount codes

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in