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Nintendo Reportedly Plans To Double Switch Production In 2018 (engadget.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the more-the-merrier dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: The Switch, Nintendo's latest hybrid console is doing pretty well for the company, which expects it to outdo the Wii U's lifetime sales within a year. The company obviously thinks so, too, according to a new report at The Wall Street Journal, which says that Nintendo plans to ramp up production of the hardware itself, beginning in April 2018. The report claims that Nintendo is planning to make 25 million to 30 million more units of its successful Switch console over the next fiscal year. Further, Nintendo may plan for even more if this year's holiday sales are strong, according to the WSJ's sources. The company has already built almost 8 million Switches, total, as of its latest earnings report.

42 comments

  1. Nintendo remembers fun by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As a Switch owner, PS4 owner and card carrying member of the PC master race there's one thing Nintendo has over all other platforms: They remember how to make fun games. So much of gaming (especially AAA titles) has become and incredibly boring grindfest, or graphics over story / substance. I think I have spent more time on the Switch this year than the two other gaming platforms combined.

    1. Re:Nintendo remembers fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I go to my local stripjoint for my grindfest, Lara Croft and Princess Zelda quite don't do it for me.

    2. Re:Nintendo remembers fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Zelda amazing, Mario Odyssey amazing, Splatoon.... meh, should have had two player split screen mode, the campaigns are dull for one player and playing multiplayer on separate Switch screens isn't much fun.

      It isn't the Switch that is amazing, its the games. Switch will get its boring first person shooters too, all consoles and mobiles get those too.

    3. Re: Nintendo remembers fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love Splatoon but it boggles my mind that Nintendo let them release it without local split screen play. Iâ(TM)ve been hoping theyâ(TM)d add it in a game update but that seems pretty unlikely. Needing another switch to play with a friend? Ridiculous.

    4. Re: Nintendo remembers fun by Ebsolas · · Score: 1

      Well considering how well the switch has taken off and how many 3rd party developers are jumping on board the switch can be considered amazing. It's essentially a portable home console which can be easily projected into a bigger screen which is something that can't be claimed by anyone else. This is extremely tempting for anyone who sells games since the switch basically has created its own, separate market which is unique to only the switch which means that people are willing to repurchase games on it that they already own. So yes the games are amazing but so is the switch.

    5. Re: Nintendo remembers fun by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 1

      In the last generation most of the time I saw a promising game for the Nintendo platform it ended up being a DS game. Hopefully the Switch changes this and makes developers want to focus on the Switch, rather than the DS.

      The other thing that makes me like the Switch: LAN play. The promise of being in the middle of nowhere, or up i the air, and being able to play with another person who also wields a Nintendo Switch and not moaning about requiring an internet connection.

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    6. Re:Nintendo remembers fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Double Switch? I remember that game! Hopefully they bring back Night Trap as well.

    7. Re:Nintendo remembers fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a Switch owner, PS4 owner and card carrying member of the PC master race there's one thing Nintendo has over all other platforms: They remember how to make fun games. So much of gaming (especially AAA titles) has become and incredibly boring grindfest, or graphics over story / substance. I think I have spent more time on the Switch this year than the two other gaming platforms combined.

      I haven't really considered Nintendo at all for many, many years. There really is no point in buying Zelda and Mario over and over again.
      It's been since the SNES days that they actually had a decent amount of third party content.

    8. Re:Nintendo remembers fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They had a huge amount of 3rd party content for the Wii. It was shovelware, but it was 3rd party. The reason you don't remember it is because the barrier of entry dropped so drastically from the days of the SNES. Every shitty mobile developer and their dog made shitty Wii ports of shitty mobile games. The 3rd party SNES games were mostly decent (Pit Fighter notwithstanding).

      Personally, I'd buy more games if they weren't 3D. I'm tired of 3D. The games are over-complicated and aren't fun. I don't think this could be any more obvious than in Nintendo's first-party games. Every 2D Zelda (even Zelda II) is far-and-away better and more fun to play than any of the 3D ones. The same goes for Metroid. Mario seems immune, but then again, they didn't completely stop making 2D Mario games (NSMB, NSMB Wii, etc.). And 3D Mario games tend to be 3rd-person, almost top-down, viewpoints, which are much easier to control with a pad/joystick than an FPS (Metroid Prime series) or a hybrid 3rd-person+targeting disaster (3D Zelda games).

      I'm hoping the Switch brings some of the old-school 2D flavor back to Nintendo's lineup, and hopefully 3rd party devs will follow suit.

    9. Re:Nintendo remembers fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there's one thing Nintendo has over all other platforms: They remember how to make fun games.

      Yes, it's true. I remember when I bought the NDS and the original Wii, and have fun playing Zelda, Mario Cart, Cooking Mama, etc. It was fun... for the first 3-4 months. Then it gets old, and there wasn't much else to play, except maybe 1 or 2 games NDS which gave it a around 6 more months of gaming life.

      The thing is, in addition to making fun games, Nintendo also has one thing over all other platforms, and that was draconian region restrictions. There was the US Wii vs the Japan Wii, US games won't work on Japan Wii and vice versa. But not all games were available with both versions, and there weren't a lot of games to begin with. In the end I don't even bother to look at Wii games.

      Compared to the PS4 (or PS3 when I was playing Wii), a console bought anywhere in the world can play games from anywhere in the world. I can buy US version if I wanted English, or buy the Japanese version if it came out first and I don't mind the language barrier. Not the mention the comparatively huge selection of games available AND online multiplayer, I had fun playing GT, Fallout, XCom, Farcry, Battlefield, etc, etc, over many years. While the Wii just sat there gathering dust.

    10. Re:Nintendo remembers fun by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      The one thing I love about the Switch is it's both a home console and a semi-portable console.

      The problem I have with both the Xbox One and PS4 is they're home consoles - basically I have to be sitting in front of my TV to enjoy the games, making it a distinct activity I have to block out time for. Great, yes, but I find I can't really block out the couple of hours to play so easily these days.

      With the switch, not so much. If I can't play in front of the TV, you eject it, and boom, play on the small screen. Got a few minutes waiting in the car? Out comes the Switch. Basically, you can play the nice in-depth games like you have at home, on the go, and instead of pulling out your phone, you pull out the Switch.

      For time-starved adults, this is an incredible console because of it. I can enjoy Mario and other games without having to invest the time in front of the TV. And instead of whipping out my phone or tablet and playing those games, I can play Switch.

      For those lucky ones that can carve out hours in the mancave playing PS4 or Xbone, congratulations. For the rest of us who maybe get a half hour in front of the TV, well, I'll take the Switch for that, and for all those little breaks in the day. Funny how it's easy to find an idle 15-30 minute block randomly through the day than to be able to concentrate it into one big block in front of the TV.

  2. Thank you for coming out of the closet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Makes you feel free, don't it.

    1. Re:Thank you for coming out of the closet by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Makes you feel free, don't it.

      Makes me feel free to post about doing something that a majority of people do? Did you have an aneurysm while posting?

  3. supply chain management by Speare · · Score: 2

    So the Switch is still very hard to get in Japan, where you have to show up on shipment day at dawn, or you have to get a lottery draw through a mobile app. If you pay an extra 10000 yen (US$100), you can get one right away, so there's a scalper's economy. It's starting to ship regularly to USA and Europe, with 1-per-customer limits still in place in some areas. This is all what, 8~9 months after release? Add on top of that, the way-under-produced mini-NES/mini-SNES batches. Where is Nintendo's supply chain management? They have good relations with their assembly suppliers, they should be able to say "dedicate another couple lines for this month." They should have good relations with their memory, screen and other component suppliers also. Few other devices out there are struggling to get their parts, anything like Nintendo this year. It's like printing money, but the printer is broken.

    --
    [ .sig file not found ]
    1. Re:supply chain management by scary_jeff · · Score: 2

      Lots of memory parts have had very long lead times or even been on allocation for some time now. You get what you ordered 4+ months ago, and that's it. Everything that the factory is producing has already been sold, so it doesn't matter how good your relationship with the supplier is. I wouldn't be surprised if the volumes generated by a mass market product like a games console caused even longer lead times. According to iFixIt, the Switch uses a Toshiba eMMC NAND flash, and this part currently has a 20 week lead time; that's nearly 5 months between deciding you want to increase production of your product, and having the parts to do it.

    2. Re:supply chain management by Luthair · · Score: 1

      The lsat few times I've been in the local walmart in Canada they've had a dozen-ish Switches sitting in stock. At least here shortages appear to have been more than met. On the otherhand, I've never seen a SNES Classic or a NES Classic.

  4. Nintendo already seems confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Switch was marketed as though games would "just work" in both docked and handheld mode, then along comes Mario Odyssey with waggle-only controls - trivial but necessary moves like increased jump height require you to bust out those sick Wii Sports skills you've probably tucked away in the garage. Sad.

    1. Re:Nintendo already seems confused. by LordKronos · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but you are just wrong on that. Odyssey does not have any moves that can not be done in handheld mode. Press + to bring up the menu, then scan through the action guide. It explains how to do every move in both 2 controller and single controller mode. Every single move either has a buttons-only mechanism you can use to trigger it, or it requires the exact same motion from both controllers so that you can trigger the move by just moving the entire unit.

      Granted, shaking the whole thing in handheld mode is a little awkward, and the fact that there's no wrist strap option for handheld mode makes it a little more risky, but every move is possible in handheld mode.

    2. Re: Nintendo already seems confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? I'm supposed to vigorously shake a $300 console to make a frog jump slightly higher? They couldn't map that to one of the 6 buttons? How about the circle hat throw?

    3. Re: Nintendo already seems confused. by LordKronos · · Score: 1

      No need to vigorously shake anything. Small movements work. And it's not like the console is made of fragile parts that will bounce around and break. It's solid. It can handle a vigorous shake if that's how you choose to play.

      Could they map them to a different button? Possibly. I haven't thought about what would work, what would interfere with the usability of other button-combo moves, and I certainly haven't done any sort of play testing with different combo's as I'm sure they have. So I really can't speak to what they could have done.

      The circle hat throw? Just jerk the whole console to the side. It works just fine. When I read your first post, I actually believed what you posted at first. I thought "wow, that's a horrible oversight". So I grabbed the console, looked at the moves in the actio guide, noticed you seemed to be wrong, and tested each one before my first reply. It all works. It's perhaps a bit awkward for the reasons I previously stated, but it does indeed work.

    4. Re: Nintendo already seems confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Methinks you are trying to justify a purchase you never even use. The fact you had to fire up the console to remember the details from the ONLY game people play, is telling.

      The switch has 3 games that people play. Zelda, Mario, splatoon. Sorry I'm not buying a console for 3 fucking games.

    5. Re: Nintendo already seems confused. by LordKronos · · Score: 1

      Wow, I thought we were having a reasonable conversation. Then you had to just go total asshole.

      I don't need to justify anything. Nintendo knows how to make fun games. Their track record is proven enough for me, such that I'd buy any console they make even if the only game they made for it was a single Zelda game, and I'd consider it money well spent, no justification needed. As luck would be, Zelda is never the only game, and every system is well worth the investment. I've also got an XB1, and yet I've spent at least 10 times as much time playing the Switch as I did the XB1. Just as I played my Wii U at least 10 times as much as my Xbox 360, and my original Wii 10 times as much as the 360, and my GameCube 10x as much as my Xbox , PS 2, or Dreamcast.

      FYI...the reason I had to fire up the console is that I've personally only spent a couple of hours playing Mario so far...90% of the time I've "played" it has been watching my daughter play it and working through the levels with her at the controls (it's a family experience that, for some reason, only Nintendo knows how to do well). So off the top of my head, I couldn't name every move that could be done, and I've never played the game in handheld mode, so I just wanted to check. You know...just so I didn't end up being an asshole like you and spouting off something that isn't true.

    6. Re: Nintendo already seems confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a bystander, but I couldn't help but notice you get very upset when somebody proves you wrong. You should work on that; it's a flaw that really has horrible long-term effects.

  5. PS4 and XBONE games are all on PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why anyone would waist money on those consoles when they already have a PC is a mystery to me.

    1. Re:PS4 and XBONE games are all on PC by rodrigoandrade · · Score: 1

      A console is a turnkey gaming solution. Sure, there are big updates to download once in a while, but they just work out of the box.

      The last thing I want in this stage in my life (I'm 40) is get home after a long day at work and fiddle with drivers, configurations, etc.

      Once I get tired of the console and its games, I just sell it and buy the newest one at the time. However, I usually skip generations, and I never buy a console at or right after launch day.

      And a PC doesn't have Gran Turismo, of which I'm a fan.

    2. Re:PS4 and XBONE games are all on PC by Kjella · · Score: 1

      A console is a turnkey gaming solution. Sure, there are big updates to download once in a while, but they just work out of the box. The last thing I want in this stage in my life (I'm 40) is get home after a long day at work and fiddle with drivers, configurations, etc.

      About 99% of the people who break their machine "fiddle" with it and install random crapware or betas or tweaks get better FPS. If all you want is Windows, Steam/Battle.net/GOG and games with auto-updates enabled using release drivers and auto-detect settings I'd say any difference is absolutely marginal.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    3. Re:PS4 and XBONE games are all on PC by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Well, not "all" PS4 and Xbox games are on PC.

      Why anyone would waist money on those consoles when they already have a PC is a mystery to me.

      The word you are looking for is "waste". Considering you made a mistake most native English speakers would NOT make, I'm suspecting English isn't your native language. And since English isn't your native language, you didn't experience consoles and computers like Americans did.

      First thing, in the US console gaming predates computer gaming in the home. And even with the first of the personal computers, Apple II, Commodore PET, TRS 80, commercial games weren't a thing till after Commercial games had hit the big time on consoles.

      This was an Atari TV ad from December 1977:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      Remember the first computer to sell a million machines was the Commodore VIC 20! That was the FIRST computer that I saw commercial games in stores for, cartridges...Scott Adams games IIRC.

      Also in the US we didn't have special import duties that applied ONLY to entertainment devices and not computers. So unlike say maybe Hungary or UK, consoles cost less than computers....a lot less.

      Also in the US, all the best home computer games came on floppy, not tape or cartridge So while lads in the UK were playing their copy of Dizzy or Paradroid they copied from a rich friend on a boombox, americans were playing Ultima, The Bard's Tale, Flight Simulator II, Earl Weaver Baseball..on disk drives, which added to the cost of the machines. Not only that, but load times were LOOONG, even with fast-loaders and god forbid you try to play a game like SSI's Pool of Radiance with a single disk drive.

      We also got hardware earlier than you did, sometimes 2 years earlier, so while you might have compared the NES to your early Amiga in the states the NES was compared to machines like the Atari 2600, Colecovision or C64.

      And sometimes, instead of just one "big" computer, what we need is a lot of "little" computers. So someone might have a PC AND a console, AND a phone, AND a tablet, AND a portable console like a Vita or 3DS.

      And here in the US software pricing is consistent across platforms, so a game will cost EXACTLY the SAME on PC and console. It isn't like PC publishers in Europe who subsidize PC games for Po/Ru/Hu/Ro by charging less than what Americans pay.

      Besides, some people just like the whole coherent console experience. No muss, no fuss, even with modern consoles.

       

    4. Re:PS4 and XBONE games are all on PC by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      About 99% of the people who break their machine "fiddle" with it and install random crapware or betas or tweaks get better FPS. If all you want is Windows, Steam/Battle.net/GOG and games with auto-updates enabled using release drivers and auto-detect settings I'd say any difference is absolutely marginal.

      This is true of PCs today. Gaming PC lifespans are comparable to console generations without upgrading parts. The PC hardware upgrading treadmill was a thing 10+ years ago, but it's slowed and is no longer a problem, although the myth/feeling persists. I upgraded my PC almost a year ago, but my prior PC lasted ~6 years without any upgrades. Techies can dive deep into PC upgrades and tweaks if they want, but relatively low-tech users (like myself) can get many years out of a PC with just the auto-updates. Cost-wise the amount I spent on the PC was comparable to a new console + controllers, and Steam sales typically make PC games cheaper over the lifespan, if one is patient enough to buy games on sale, YRMV.

      Platform-specific games aside, PC's fall short mainly in because they are not well-suited to playing on the living room TV+couch and not suited playing in the same room with others, which are drawbacks PCs always had, with good reason. There are options now to connect or stream a PC to your TV so you can sit on your living room couch, but it's a technology step too far for most people.* Even if one does connect the PC to the living room TV, most PC games are not designed for playing with friends in the same room, so it doesn't fix that drawback.

      *-Note, no opinion on if the logistics of connecting a PC to a TV really are too difficult. I am only saying most people don't do it, for whatever their reasons.

  6. Only in Japan you have to pay a premium by thesjaakspoiler · · Score: 1

    One cannot even get a Switch for the price that Nintendo is advertising on TV. You have indeed to pay an extra $100 to get even the basic model. This has been going on since the beginning and while shortages have dissappeared abroad, here in Japan Nintendo it's still almost impossible just to buy a Switch. That has nothing to do with lead times. It's just arrogance of Nintendo, gambling that customers will buy their product anyway.

    1. Re:Only in Japan you have to pay a premium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That has nothing to do with lead times. It's just arrogance of Nintendo, gambling that customers will buy their product anyway.

      As others have pointed out repeatedly, Nintendo is playing the long game. They don't have the means to temporary ramp up production, produce an extra ten million units, and then leave those factories idling for the next several years; unlike Sony which can switch production over to other goods or MS which literally spent billions and was, in total, still in the red during the XBox 360's life . Hell, Nintendo has already projected sales of 14 million units in their first year. Compare that to the 3DS which has had 67 million sales over ~6 years. So, now that it's clear that the Switch, which was clearly a gamble, is a success, they can move to ramp up production and probably shorten the total production cycle at the cost of less SNES Classic units, likely.

      I'm not saying there's no arrogance here. But it's clearly also heavily a business thing. Meanwhile, looking into it, I can see how Sony's market cap can be so relatively similar to Nintendo's. Perhaps it's because of their own over-extension? Or a spike from the Pokemon Go crazy? Or simply deluded investors about the Switch? *shrug* Or possibly a sign that market cap doesn't really mean a lot as far as real operating revenue? Again, *shrug*.

  7. moneymaking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    TURN YOUR FACEBOOK KNOWLEDGE INTO CASH
    Amazing Secret Of This Social Media Manager Who Makes $100,000 A Year â" Without Doing Any Of The Work Himself

    http://bit.do/dSPrv

    1. Re: moneymaking by Ebsolas · · Score: 1

      Translation: CLICK THIS LINK TO DOWNLOAD SPYWARE Random gibberish explaining why you should install my spyware. Spyware.link

  8. Consoles are easy by tepples · · Score: 1

    The console advantages, as I understand them, revolve around ease of use.

    • No mods means less cheating in online pickup matches.
    • Software whitelist means no need for an antivirus.
    • Developer and game approval process means less chaff to sort through in the console's app store, avoiding analysis paralysis and cheap knockoffs.
    • Standardized hardware means less chance of game misbehavior due to inadvertent reliance on un- or underspecified driver behavior.
    • Games tend to be more integrated with a single platform-wide achievement tracker.
    • Though same-screen multiplayer has become less common than it was in (say) the Nintendo 64 era, it was still more common than on PC last I checked.
    • Some entire genres tend to be underrepresented on PC. Take platform fighting: The PlayStation 3 counterpart to Super Smash Bros. series is PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, but what's the PC counterpart?
    1. Re: Consoles are easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PC has Skullgirls, Streetfighter, Tekken etc.

    2. Re: Consoles are easy by tepples · · Score: 1

      Some entire genres tend to be underrepresented on PC. Take platform fighting

      PC has Skullgirls, Streetfighter, Tekken etc.

      Those are flat-stage fighting games. A platform fighter, by contrast, includes tactical use of the terrain (the "platforms") for aerial attacks and the like.

  9. Wait Till Revision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe when they revise it a billion times...no rush in getting one.

  10. Re: TRUMP IS A COCKSMOKING QUEER YOUTH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump is 71 therefore he is not a youth thus disproving your statement. Have a nice day!

  11. believe it when you see it.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    there also won't be any "fires" or "floods" affecting hard drive manufacturing plants or dram and flash memory fabrication facilities, either, and availability will soar while prices plummet.

    the switch being "slightly-difficult-to-acquire" is right where nintendo wants it to be. keeps it in demand, keeps it in the news and in internet posts, keeps the market from getting saturated with them, and keeps prices at (or above) msrp.

  12. Hardware update... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 1

    I was planning to get one once they update the hardware, increase internal space, store savegames in the cloud, stuff like that.
    But with it's explosive success, I'm not sure if it'll happen anytime soon...

  13. The Nintendo Console by RyoShin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Especially with no other news (AFAIK) regarding their handheld side, which has been their bread-and-butter since the N64, it appears more-and-more that Nintendo is just going to have "the console" which straddles the gap between handheld and TV-only machine.

    This actually places them in a very interesting (and good) position, where they are no longer competing directly against Xbonex/PS4, but act more as a "secondary" option. As the DOOM port shows, while the system does have far less power that doesn't preclude hefty games from running on it, and the games that look or run better on the main two consoles can't be played portably with them. I think you'd have a hard time even getting a laptop to be as convenient, as you couldn't pull it out for a few minutes of gaming while on the bus and then stash it away again.