Most recent game consoles have encountered some sort of issue with scarcity when they launch, most famously when the global chip shortage during the pandemic impacted the amount of PlayStation 5s available in 2020.
The scarce supply and heightened demand is fertile ground for scalpers, who buy console in bulk and sell them for hiked up prices to take advantage of the situation.
While the original Switch suffered from a constrained supply when it launched in 2017, Nintendo has said this should be less of a problem for its next console.
During an investor-focused Q&A, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa outlined how they have a simple ‘countermeasure’ for preventing scalpers: making more consoles.
‘As a countermeasure against resale, we believe that the most important thing is to produce a sufficient number to meet customer demand, and this idea has not changed since last year,’ Furukawa said (as translated by IGN).
‘In addition to this, we’re contemplating whether or not there are another measures that may be taken to the extent allowed by legal guidelines and rules, considering the circumstances of every area.’
Furukawa explains that the element scarcity subject, which has affected the manufacturing of Switch consoles over the previous two years, has now been ‘resolved’ – so it shouldn’t be a difficulty in the case of the corporate’s subsequent piece of {hardware}.
‘Although we have been unable to provide adequate portions of Nintendo Switch {hardware} final yr, and the yr earlier than, on account of a scarcity of semiconductor elements, this example has now been resolved,’ he added. ‘At this time, we don’t consider that the scarcity of elements can have a big affect on the manufacturing of the successor mannequin.’
Apart from the very fact it exists, we nonetheless don’t know something official about Nintendo’s subsequent console. Nintendo has stated it would announce the follow-up to the Switch ‘inside this fiscal yr’, so sooner or later earlier than March 31, 2025.
Earlier this yr, experiences claimed the console had been internally delayed from the tip of 2024 to subsequent yr with the intention to bolster its software program line-up. Although subsequent rumours recommend the plan was all the time for 2025.
As for particulars on the precise machine itself, rumours have indicated it will likely be an ‘iterative’ enchancment over the unique Switch, presumably with magnetic Joy-Cons and backwards compatibility.
While many anticipated this yr to be a quiet one for the Switch, Nintendo’s slate for the remainder of 2024 is surprisingly busy, with The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership – which additional means that there was no delay.
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