Nintendo plans to double Switch production to keep up with demand

Nintendo will double production of Switch units at the start of its fiscal year on April 1, per a new report.

According to The Wall Street Journal (thanks, Gematsu), Nintendo's initial plan was to produce 8 million Switch units starting this fiscal year; however, according to “people briefed on the plans," the company has upped production to 16 million units. The WSJ report caused stock in Nintendo to jump 4.65%.

This is due to strong demand for the console, which has sold out at many retailers since launch.

Nintendo has yet to release sales figures for Switch, but it's known to have shifted 80,000 units during its launch weekend in the UK. In Japan, it moved 329,152 units its first three days on the market.

Over in North America during the same period, Nintendo said Switch sold more units than any other Nintendo console in its first two days on the market.

With the lack of concrete global sales figures, we turn to industry analyst firm Superdata which this week estimated Switch sales at 1.5 million units worldwide.

That figure includes 500,000 in the US, 360,000 in Japan, 85,000 purchased in the UK, and 100,000 in France.

Nintendo said previously it wanted to ship 2 million units of Switch before the end of its fiscal year on March 31.

The likelihood of it reaching said goal is high going by SuperData's figures, and one person familiar with Switch told WSJ the current sales estimate is closer to 2.5 million units.

Hopefully, Nintendo will provide information on Switch’s March sales when it releases its year-end financial report on April 27.