Nintendo is likely to suffer global Switch shortages from virus

Nintendo apologised earlier this month when it announced that Switch hardware and accessory shipments to Japan would be constrained by a virus-imposed production shutdown in China. — Bloomberg

Nintendo Co is likely to struggle to supply sufficient Switch consoles to its US and European markets as soon as April due to a production bottleneck caused by the coronavirus outbreak, according to people with knowledge of the company’s supply chain.

Limited component supply coming out of China is affecting output at a Nintendo assembly partner’s factory in Vietnam, which the gaming giant primarily uses to build consoles for the US, said the people, asking not to be named because the details are private. A shortage of components this month would affect Switch units scheduled for arrival in April, after existing inventory and current shipments of the console have sold through.