Nintendo Co. has asked its assembly partners to increase production of its Switch gaming console again, raising its goal to as many as 30 million units for this fiscal year, according to people familiar with its strategy.
The games maker has been struggling to keep up with Switch demand for most of this year, boosted by the runaway success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the fact the coronavirus pandemic has lifted gaming demand. It had raised production orders to 25 million units in early August, but that has proven insufficient and assemblers are now operating factories at 120 percent, the people said, asking to remain anonymous because the targets are private. Nintendo shares reversed losses Wednesday to gain as much as 2.3 percent after the news emerged.
Switch production was stifled by coronavirus lockdowns in China early in the year, but those issues have since been ironed out and Nintendo’s supply chain is now fully operational. Yet the surge in demand that the company has seen off the back of Animal Crossing has been uncommon, with both the game and the console sustaining elevated sales momentum six months after the island-hopping title’s release.