Nintendo Switch Shortages Could Continue All Year Long

The Nintendo Switch has been hard to come by.  Whether you’re looking at online or brick and mortar retailers, the console is always sold out.  Demand for the console is still out there and will likely continue to increase if Nintendo keeps popping out games in their most popular franchises for the new console.

Nintendo Switch shortages could continue though, and the console could be hard to find for the entirety of 2017 — that’s according to the former editor-in-chief at Weekly Famitsu, Hirokazu Hamamura.  In response to a recent Forbes Japan article which was touting the US sales figures for the Nintendo Switch, the former Famitsu editor says that he believes the console is still growing in popularity in the United States and that the shortages could persist for the rest of the year.

Earlier this month, Nintendo revealed that they were shipping Switch units by plane to try and get more consoles on store shelves more quickly.   For both March and April the Nintendo Switch was the top-selling console according to NPD.  They’ve also had the top selling games for both months as well.  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild actually sold more units than consoles were sold in the month.  While Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was simply the top selling game last month, while only being available for the last few days of the period.

It’s hard to tell if Splatoon 2 and ARMS will draw the same sort of attention that Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 did, but looking beyond that, there’s a new Mario game on the horizon which very well could kick demand into high gear again.