Nintendo Has Some Good Switch Stock News Amid Global Shortage

Those of you looking to buy a Nintendo Switch at the moment are probably hitting a lot of dead ends. The standard Switch is sold out in many regions around the world, leaving those on the hunt for one with the choice of either picking up a Switch Lite or waiting for stock to return. Thankfully, according to Nintendo, it may not be long before stock of the standard Switch is refreshed.

Speaking to GamesIndustry, a US representative for Nintendo said that more consoles are heading to retailers. "Nintendo Switch hardware is selling out at various retail locations in the US, but more systems are on the way," the representative said. "We apologize for any inconvenience."

Unfortunately for us, that Nintendo representative didn't give us a timeframe and didn't say how many Switches would be landing at retailers. If, however, you've been trying to find a standard Switch, it might be worth holding out for a little while longer to see if retailers get restocked. Of course, there's nothing wrong with opting for the Switch Lite if you don't mind playing only in handheld mode.

Nintendo's Switch stock problems are due to a combination of factors related to the coronavirus outbreak. The virus disrupted Nintendo's supply chain in China, leading to supply shortages in Japan as early as February. It wasn't long after that some started predicting stock shortages for the US and Europe in late March and early April, and the launch of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and various stay at home orders throughout the world even led to stock selling out faster than anticipated.

One UK retailer GamesIndustry spoke to indicated that people are buying Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles instead of waiting for the Switch to become available again, so Nintendo definitely wants to get these issues sorted as soon as it can. Still, with the coronavirus outbreak restricting supply and increasing demand, Nintendo may not have much choice in the matter. We'll let you know when more is revealed, so stay tuned for that.