Nintendo Plans To Increase Switch Production To 16 Million Units Due To Demand, According To Report

Citing sources who were briefed by Nintendo’s plans, the Wall Street Journal reports that the company is intending to increase its production numbers for the Switch console in the financial year starting this April through March 2018. From 8 million units, Nintendo has increased that number to 16 million.

Takashi Mochizuki said in his article, “In the fiscal year starting April 2017, assemblers under contract with Nintendo are now planning to manufacture 16 million or more Switches, up from an initial plan for eight million, said people briefed on the plans. Even after accounting for inventory, that suggests Nintendo believes it can sell significantly more than 10 million units during the 12-month period, they said, beating expectations of many analysts.”

Kyle Orland of Ars Technica explains why this is a record for Nintendo:

“Nintendo only sold 13.5 million Wii U units in that console's entire four-year run on the market. The original Wii, meanwhile, shipped roughly 17 million units in its first full calendar year on the shelves (following a holiday-season launch), amid massive long-term retail shortages and on the way to selling over 100 million units over its lifespan. The PS4 sold just over 14 million consoles worldwide in 2014, after selling about 4 million units during its 2013 holiday launch.”

Nintendo is expected to release its earnings for the current fiscal year by April 27. The Verge believes that the company will not be making any comment about the report before then, and that the company may provide an optimistic forecast for the next fiscal year.