Nintendo to increase the number of Switch consoles ahead of ‘Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom’

Nintendo is reportedly set to increase the number of Switch consoles it makes this year, ahead of the release of The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom.

The report comes via Bloomberg, with sources telling the publication that Nintendo has informed suppliers and assembly partners that it plans to increase production in the next financial year, so from April 1 2023.

The ramped-up production is also a result of years of microchip shortages, with those issues now being slowly resolved.

In 2021, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa warned of a possible shortage of stock for the Nintendo Switch. The November of that year saw Nintendo confirm it would be missing the targeted number of Switches made by roughly 20 per cent due to the “global shortage of semiconductors and the turmoil in logistics,” following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Things hadn’t improved by August 2022, as Nintendo admitted that supply issues had “hurt” sales.

Despite these issues, Furukawa has revealed the company has no plans to increase the price of the Nintendo Switch, despite rising manufacturing costs. “In order to offer unique entertainment to a wide range of customers, we want to avoid pricing people out. Our competition is the variety of entertainment in the world, and we always think about pricing in terms of the value of the fun we offer.”

“[The Switch] is in its sixth year since its launch. All I can say is that we’ll try to keep up sales at the same pace. Having hit software also gives a boost to hardware,” he continued.

It comes as 2023 sees the release of the long-awaited sequel to 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is due for release May 12.

According to a new patent filed earlier this week, it seems that Nintendo is working on a new version of Nintendogs that could include Augmented Reality technology to virtual pets into the real world, in a similar fashion to Pokemon Go.

In other news, publisher Hooded Horse has announced a new tactical space strategy game Breachway from Edgeflow Studio – check out the announcement trailer here.