Coronavirus Causing Switch Delays and Shortages? It’s Possible

The coronavirus outbreak in China may lead to manufacturing delays for the Nintendo Switch, Switch controllers, and other accessories. The news comes from a CNBC report.

It would seem Nintendo wasn’t able to move too much production out of China following the tariff kerfuffle from last year. Niko Partners senior games market researcher Daniel Ahmad told CNBC that 96% of consoles imported to the U.S. were made in China.

So even though Nintendo says the delays will only impact the domestic Japanese market, they could very well cause a ripple effect elsewhere.

However, Serkan Toto of Kantan Games also said the delays probably won’t harm Nintendo in the long term. Speaking of shortages in 2017, Toto said

Nintendo already had a similar supply problem domestically that lasted for months, albeit for different reasons. It didn’t hurt demand later.

I think you will see the same with the Switch, the Animal Crossing special edition and Ring Fit Adventure. People will buy these later.

That last bit is particularly good news for those of us who missed out on snagging those lovely Animal Crossing Switch systems before they sold out. Still, situations like these are probably one factor in why Nintendo started expanding its IP presence outside the gaming and tech world.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the situation, so stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Nintendo Switch news as it develops.