Nintendo finally hit with supply chain issues, expects to sell 10% less Switch units this fiscal year

Forecasts are down 10% from fiscal year 2021

There are some Nintendo supply chain issues coming up, the company has warned, and it’ll directly impact Switch hardware availability.

Financial outlet Nikkei is reporting that Nintendo will be pushing roughly 20 million estimated Switch consoles for the current fiscal year (a 10% decrease from the year prior), which runs from April 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022. Nintendo aims to publish this info on May 10 publicly, but before then, we have the rundown on how the global supply chain has impacted the company. The situation expects to be complicated by the current global landscape (amid a lockdown in Shanghai, China) on top of all of the happenings of the last few years.

The reason is obvious, and the same issue that’s impacting every other electronics company (and car manufacturers, and so on): semiconductor shortages and general logistics/global supply chain issues, from shipping to manufacturing. Despite all this, Nintendo did manage to secure quite a lot of hardware to peddle, more than their competition: Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S.

Nintendo supply chain issues are forcing their hand with software

Nikkei notes that as a result of Nintendo supply chain hardware issues, Nintendo is internally pushing for more software sales. The company has said as much recently, and is currently configuring their plan to have “evergreen” software titles guide them through troubled times like this. We might see more sudden launches like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 or more delays in the future.