The Nintendo Switch is the next major console release from Nintendo. Recently, last week we got a bit more insight look regarding the console, its features, the price point, and of course the launch date. Releasing this March, gamers may already be anxious to make a pre-order due to Nintendo’s lack of ability to meet the supply demands of their previous NES Classic release.
Wired had the chance to speak with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime who revealed that the Nintendo Switch will not see the same supply shortage demands that the NES Classic currently has. Instead, the Nintendo Switch will have two million units shipped worldwide during the first month of release. In Nintendo’s eyes, this should be enough units to cover gamers who wish to pick up the console right away.
“I know, because I read the boards and I read the comments, that there is concern about supply. From what I’ve read, the concern seems to stem from the lack of ability to buy NES Classic. So what I would say is this: Two million for essentially the first month is a huge number, especially when you look and see that this is not peak seasonality. This is essentially the first three weeks of March. Our focus is making sure that the consumer who wants to buy a Nintendo Switch can buy a Nintendo Switch. That’s how we build our supply chain, that’s how we think through the amount of product that’s available.”
Furthermore, going over the topic of the NES Classic, Reggie Fils-Aime admits that there was an unexpected demand for the NES Classic. Apparently, Nintendo felt that the key consumer for the NES Classic would be gamers between the age of thirty to forty years old. This would be a select amount of gamers who may have played video games regularly during the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System but has stopped playing.
Aimed more for nostalgia, Nintendo was surprised just how many younger gamers were interested in the console as well. Assuming that most of these gamers may have already purchased Nintendo classics on consoles such as the Wii or Wii U, the NES Classic sold incredibly well and caused a massive shortage, one that gamers are still suffering from today.
“We know the popularity of our classic games. That’s a known situation. The challenge for us is that with this particular system, we thought honestly that the key consumer would be between 30 and 40 years old, with kids, who had stepped away from gaming for some period of time. And certainly we sold a lot of systems to that consumer. But what we also see here in the Americas is that we’ve sold a lot to who just saw a compact, all-in-one opportunity to get the 30 greatest games from the NES generation. I think that incremental demand is what surprised us. Because again, how many times have you purchased the original Super Mario Bros.? We thought that the consumer that already had a Wii or a Wii U and had purchased those games once or twice already, we didn’t think that they’d buy the NES Classic. And they did.”
In other news, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime also revealed that the company will not be replacing the Nintendo 3DS with the upcoming release of the Nintendo Switch. Instead, the new console is aimed to be a home console with the added bonus of being portable.
