Recap: The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many industries, hitting everything from manufacturing to logistics. Anyone who tried to buy a Nintendo Switch during the lockdown will know how difficult, if not impossible, it's been to find one. Now, however, the company says things will soon return to normal.
Nintendo's problems began back in February when Covid-19 caused Foxconn to cease almost all of its production in China. The disruption resulted in a shortage of Switch units and shipments of Ring Fit Adventure in Japan, and the same issues soon hit the West.
As the pandemic took hold and more people turned to gaming while locked in their homes, demand for Switch consoles went through the roof at a time when they were in short supply---a situation made worse by auto-purchase bots.
April saw Nintendo promise to address the shortages by upping production of the Switch by ten percent, but purchasing one of the hybrids never got any easier, leading to cheap copies hitting the market.
Speaking with CareerConnection (via Nintendo Everything), a Nintendo representative said that Switch production has finally returned to normal, though we still don't know when they'll be filling store shelves. The rep also said Nintendo was aware of resellers buying units in bulk and selling them at inflated prices, which is keeping them out of the hands of many consumers.
Despite the shortages, Nintendo has seen its share price jump during the pandemic. It's estimated that total Switch sales will have passed 75 million by March 2021, putting its lifetime sales around the same level as the 3DS family. The device has now proved so successful that Nintendo no longer needs to make smartphone games.