Coronavirus threatens to cease global Nintendo Switch production by April

Following announcements by various parties that the continuing coronavirus epidemic will affect the manufacture and production of certain games and consoles, the latest major blow comes by way of Nintendo, who Bloomberg reports will struggle to maintain Switch stock past April. If what’s stated in the report turns out to be true, the industry will be looking at a global shortage of the console.

Sources close to Bloomberg suggest that Nintendo’s supply chain could dry up in the US and Europe if the virus disruption continues in the weeks ahead, placing both territories in a similar position to the one being experienced by the Asia-Pacific region. It’s due to specific components that are made in Chinese factories not being made while the Coronavirus continues.

Our first inkling of such issues came a few weeks back, when Nintendo announced shortly after announcing it that the special, limited-edition Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch variant might have to be delayed. Its March 20^th release date currently remains unadjusted, but don’t be surprised to see it changed in the next couple days. Nintendo’s Official Japanese store is already struggling to keep up with demand, and we ourselves at Gaming Deals can attest to how scarce Switch stock has been from the beginning of the year onwards.

In slightly brighter news, Nintendo recently announced that Nintendo Switch sales had topped 52 million worldwide, if all models are taken into account. That’s more units sold than Xbox One’s lifetime and sees the Nintendo Switch fly past the sales of the Super Nintendo. Such colossal sell through rates were most likely to carry on, but who knows with the console’s manufacture during a bottleneck shortage.

If you’re based in the UK and have been putting off a Nintendo Switch purchase, it might be worth reconsidering. Here are today’s best prices: