Wall Street Journal has reported that Nintendo plans to double the production of its latest console hybrid, the Nintendo Switch in the fiscal year, ending March 2018.
In the report, Wall Street Journal states that in the coming fiscal year (April 2017, all manufacturers under contract with Nintendo are planning to produce 16 million or more Nintendo Switches, raising the number from the initial plan of 8 million. The rising of this number suggests that Nintendo expects to sell over 10 million units within the next 12 months. Nintendo hasn’t revealed the Switch’s March launch sales but will be reporting on them along with the outlook for the coming year on April 27, 2017, though this may serve as an indication that Switch sales have been performing favourably.
So far, the production pace of the new console has been related to be similar to the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo’s seventh generation console that released in 2006. Launching by the end of 2006, the Nintendo Wii sold 20 million units within the first year, going on to sell over 100 million units in its lifetime, marking it as one of the top 5 selling consoles of all time. Nintendo chief executive Tatsumi Kimishima has stated that the company would be shipping 2 million units of the console globally each month. The Wall Street Journal, however, believes that the company is more likely to ship 2.5 million units.
The Nintendo Switch launched March 3, 2017 of this year with a number of different titles available day one for early adopters. Notable titles so far have been The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which also released on the Wii U at the same time, Snipperclips, a quirky puzzle game perfect for local co-op play and 1-2 Switch, a party game that shows off a variety of different ways to use the Switch’s unique JoyCon controllers.
