Topic: Report: Nintendo To Double Switch Production For Next Fiscal Year

[Shaymin]

If Switches still sell out on Amazon in a couple of seconds, it won't be for lack of units.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/44327/report-nintendo-to-double-switch-production-for-next-fiscal-year

The Switch has launched with sales not seen since the Wii, and Nintendo appears to be ready to take advantage.

A report from the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has indicated that Nintendo is doubling their existing Switch production plans for the next fiscal year (April 1 - March 31/18). According to the report, Nintendo originally planned to ship 8 million units which will expand to 16 million, following an increase for the launch month beyond an initial 2 million unit shipment.

Nintendo has not officially confirmed the reports, and is not expected to give their projections for fiscal 2018 until their 2017 financial results are released on April 27. Should Nintendo actually ship the reported units, the Switch would outship the Wii U in its first 13 months of sale and would be within striking distance of the Gamecube.

[Ian Sane]

Zelda is a killer app.  This game has serious buzz so I'm not surprised with these results.  Several people at my work are playing it and those without a Wii U or Switch are envious.  Nintendo will hopefully take note how an ambitious game like Breath of the Wild is moving systems while a play-it-safe launch title like NSMB U did not.

Though I think a minor strategy which seems to have really worked is that you can't find Wii U's anywhere.  With Zelda not being a true exclusive I figure that would hurt things but Nintendo were smart enough (or lucky enough; never know with them) to not have discounted Wii Us in stores everywhere.  The Wii U version is strictly for the existing Wii U owners.  For the most part if you want Zelda you're buying a Switch.

[nickmitch]

Has to be a matter of luck.  Nintendo would've had to pay retailers to mark them down to below their margins.  Not to mention trying to convince them to maintain the inventories.  Instead, they just stopped making new ones.  I wonder if they actually bought any inventory back though.

However, I would think that factored into the decision to discontinue the console.  If people are willing to buy a new console for Zelda, it had better be the hotness.

[Khushrenada]

Well, there was talk of Wii U's being recalled in December and being hard to find on store shelves so Nintendo may have been making sure that Wii U's were off the market to push more people to purchase the Switch for Zelda. Of course, used games stores like Gamestop / EBGames offered discounts on Switch consoles if people traded in their old Wii U's so there probably would be some Wii U's available but not at a large quantity. Furthermore, it seems that Nintendo has published far fewer Wii U versions of the game limiting the availability of stock for the Wii U as well. Thus, I think there was some smart planning and some luck involved.

I find the Switch launch interesting compared to the Wii. Both systems had a Zelda title at launch which was also released on the previous console at or close to the same time. Even though Twilight Princess received a lot of praise and was a popular launch title choice for many users, it was Wii Sports that had the buzz and basically sold the Wii console for a year or two even. This time around, Zelda is clearly the killer app and the reason people are purchasing the system. Even if 1-2-Switch was packed in, I doubt people would be buying the Switch for that title. It would still be about Zelda. In that regard, along with other changes, BotW and the Switch launch seems more comparable to the Nintendo 64 launch to me right now than the Wii. Yes, the mobility of the console has gamers interested like motion controls but the coverage and press and Zelda is getting right now seems to be a bigger motivating factor as well as the fact that the retail line-up of games to get released for the system for the first little while is a bit low like the N64's launch but more good stuff will be coming.

[King of Twitch]

Well, there was talk of Wii U's being recalled in December and being hard to find on store shelves so Nintendo may have been making sure that Wii U's were off the market to push more people to purchase the Switch for Zelda.

Maybe they took them apart so they could build more Switches!

I find the Switch launch interesting compared to the Wii. Both systems had a Zelda title at launch which was also released on the previous console at or close to the same time. Even though Twilight Princess received a lot of praise and was a popular launch title choice for many users, it was Wii Sports that had the buzz and basically sold the Wii console for a year or two even. This time around, Zelda is clearly the killer app and the reason people are purchasing the system. Even if 1-2-Switch was packed in, I doubt people would be buying the Switch for that title. It would still be about Zelda. In that regard, along with other changes, BotW and the Switch launch seems more comparable to the Nintendo 64 launch to me right now than the Wii. Yes, the mobility of the console has gamers interested like motion controls but the coverage and press and Zelda is getting right now seems to be a bigger motivating factor as well as the fact that the retail line-up of games to get released for the system for the first little while is a bit low like the N64's launch but more good stuff will be coming.

Only differences I can think of:

• WS and BOTW are completely new experiences that hadn't been done before.
• They both grab attention and attempt new art styles. When you first saw it, you knew you had to try it. NSMB U was just another 4-player Mario game that looked exactly like the first. Launch day is just that--you gotta LAUNCH it into the hypemosphere.
• Nintendoland's fireworks show at E3 ruined it for everyone

One thing we can learn from Switch is that every single console generation is an anomaly. There were no Switch hands-on previews, no ads, few trailers or release dates, it uses motion controls which everyone hated, its accessories are wallet rape-y, and it's more complicated than Wii U, despite people saying the Wii U was too complicated. It's launching with a minigame collection and the only thing on the horizon are tons of ports and sequels, which would have caused mass seppuku only 5 years ago. *shrug*

Political reference removed

[pokepal148]

For perspective, they've committed to shipping around 3 million more Switches in the next year than the Wii U has sold LTD.

[King of Twitch]

I was gonna call bull but wow it's true and quite a number.

[Enner]

Someone's feeling confident!


Hope this pans out well.

[Ian Sane]

One thing that I think really makes BotW stand out is that it's a really ambitious and cutting edge game from Nintendo.  For the last ten years Nintendo has stuck mostly to making great games that don't come across as particularly ambitious.  Nintendo has been trying to push their games on quirky gameplay or unique control schemes.  Skyward Sword was the last console Zelda and it's whole hook that made it stand out was its controls.  We weren't getting a bigger world or a grander adventure than the Cube (or arguably N64) games, the innovation was in the controls.  BotW is more like A Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time in that it's raising the bar and it's bigger and grander and has more things to do.  It's a leap forward instead of a lateral move.  Games like BotW come across more as must play titles instead of "merely" a great game for the fans of the series.  The Wii U really lacked for most of its life those kind of must play titles.  It had lots of great games for fans of the series or genre or general Nintendo fans but little that any gamers outside of those niches would feel compelled to play.

What's really encouraging is that Super Mario Odyssey looks to be in the same mold.  It's not a another great but unambitious Mario game, it looks more like in the Super Mario Galaxy "set-the-standard-for-the-genre" mold.  For the Switch to get two games like that in the first year will really help.

[ThePerm]

BOTW makes fanboys question why they hate Nintendo.

Also, I remember a ton of people who didn't buy Wii U because they A were going to wait till Zelda came out and B think that wii u was an accessory for Wii. I watched a teens react video recently and this girl you could tell, she didn't say it outright, but she was like "why would you spend more money?" Which implied she thought it was an accessory. There was also a typical Nintendo is for kids guys.

This hurts the Nintendo negativity fanboys brains. Its too GTA like for them not to like it.

I also hear a lot of people who are confused. They don't understand BOTW is a system pushing game. Just because games are cell shaded does not mean they are cutting corners. Nintendo chooses the style so that their designs are all homogeneous. I was reading an old interview and I think it was Aonuma who was saying one of his biggest disappointments with Twilight Princess was going too realistic. Zelda has some pretty flamboyant characters that just look creepy when made realistic.

[Luigi Dude]

The Wii U really lacked for most of its life those kind of must play titles.  It had lots of great games for fans of the series or genre or general Nintendo fans but little that any gamers outside of those niches would feel compelled to play.

It also didn't help that many of these games had 3DS versions released before their Wii U counterparts giving many of the more casual Nintendo fans a much cheaper alternative for the same experience.  Right now, something like Breath of the Wild can only be played on the Switch for anyone that didn't buy a Wii U so many of those 3DS owners actually have a reason to buy a Switch while the Wii U never gave them too many reasons to upgrade.

[Mop it up]

This seems like an uncharacteristically bold prediction from a historically conservative company.

[Phil]

I just think it didn't matter what games Nintendo put out on Wii U, as the hardware itself was just unappealing to a lot of consumers.