Nintendo faces possible Switch shortages in Japan due to coronavirus
Company postpones domestic hardware shipments and Animal Crossing console pre-orders
Nintendo has delayed Switch hardware shipments to Japan and Korea due to the coronavirus.
The company has also postponed plans to begin taking Japanese and Korean pre-orders for the recently revealed Animal Crossing Switch hardware bundle, though its March 20 release date remains unaffected.
Other products impacted by shipment delays include Switch Joy-Con controllers and the Ring-Con required to play Ring Fit Adventure, which topped the latest Japanese software chart following recent supply constraints.
While the virus has impacted the Chinese production site which supplies Japan and Korea, a Nintendo spokesperson told Bloomberg that US and European shipments are unaffected.
If the situation worsens, Nintendo said it may consider redirecting some hardware shipments from its production site in Vietnam, which primarily supplies the US, to Japan.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa first said in late January that Switch production in China had seen some impact from the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
As of midnight Wednesday, China’s national health commission said there were 28,018 confirmed coronavirus cases throughout the country, with 24,702 more suspected. The number of deaths from the coronavirus has now reached 563.
Epic recently confirmed it will no longer be giving away outbreak simulation Pandemic free through the Epic Games Store later this week as originally planned, presumably due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has also delayed gaming events across China and Hong Kong.
