Nintendo claimed in a recent Q&A report that due to a global semiconductor shortage, they are currently unable to physically produce enough Switch consoles to meet demand.
Because of this, Nintendo’s production plans for the coming year are becoming “more uncertain.”
Shuntaro Furukawa, the company president, stated in a Q&A with investors that: “Demand for hardware continues to exceed our expectations even after the beginning of this calendar year, and production has currently not caught up to this high demand due to the tight supply and demand situation for semiconductor materials worldwide.”
Semiconductors, which are used in nearly all computing devices, have been in limited supply since last year. They’re used in the chips that control all of the major consoles, like the Nintendo Switch.
Despite the shortage, Shuntaro is trying to stay optimistic.
He said: “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. 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.”
This news comes as the same shortage impacts the production of other devices including the Playstation 5.