Nikkei: Nintendo to produce 30 MILLION Switch units this fiscal year, including a "better graphics" model!

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Electronics/Nintendo-raises-Switch-output-to-record-30m-on-stay-at-home-demand

Nintendo will ramp up output of the Switch to about 30 million units this fiscal year, Nikkei has learned, marking an all-time high for the flagship gaming device in a bid to capitalize on continuing stay-at-home demand.

The Kyoto-based company approached multiple parts suppliers about accelerating production. People with direct knowledge of the matter verified plans to expand output.

Nintendo is taking an unusual step for a device that is already in its fifth year of existence. The strategy will have to contend with a number of new rival offerings that have appeared in the last year.

In addition, Nintendo will release a follow-up Switch model capable of better graphics. This will be the first such offering since the 2019 release of the Nintendo Switch Lite.

If Nintendo ships 30 million units in one year, it would be only the second dedicated gaming hardware platform in history to do so (no SecretPolice, smartphones and mayonnaise are not dedicated gaming platforms), the first of course being the DS. The component shortages might make that a challenge though. This would also imply that the new model is not a new generation.

Nikkei usually gets this stuff pretty right, often being one of the first to leak revisions of Nintendo hardware.

I heard rumor that the upgrade could simply be a new dock capable of 4k output. I'd potentially be interested in upgrading the dock but won't bother if it's an entirely new piece of tech like PS4 Pro was to PS4.

30 million in a year is a stretch given the component shortage. Best of luck to them I guess.

Hear it will be a new architecture, so the Switch would have lasted just over four years as of now. Whispers suggest it will be based on Nvidia lovelace, massive update if true.

@Telekill: Just an improved dock with some sort of clever upscaler would be ideal. no point releasing a switch pro at this point. may as well wait and release a proper successor in 2022-2023 (or whenever it fits into nintendos crazy calender :P).

I think there was some talk of a qualcom media processor driver being added to the Switches OS but not much detail on that.

It can't be. The Switch's USB port doesn't have the bandwidth for it to be GPU in the dock.

It's not a successor. PS4 Pro and XBox One X technically used newer architectures too.

No they didn't.

The base models used GCN 1.0, while the upgrades used GCN 2.0. A minor upgrade, but an upgrade nonetheless.

If it's real, it's not a new system. You seem desperate to cut off Switch's legs, I assume so that you can claim it never passed 100 million or PS4 when all is said and done, but you don't get to decide if it's a new generation or not.

GCN is GCN.

Couldn't give a shit about PS4, I merely making a comment on speculation. You are the one who constructed it as Nintendo vs Sony, your problem.

It really isn't. AMD just tends to only change names when an architecture is changed completely. Nvidia just does it every gen, but Nvidia has just been improving the previous architecture each gen since Fermi, which is why they've been able to easily keep driver support all the way back to Kepler.

And if you don't care, then you have no reason to try and decide that Switch is being replaced just because of a more modern architecture in the upgraded model. It's based on what Nintendo says, and they've said that Switch will have a 6+ year lifespan.

Nintendo can increase the output easier than sony/ms as switch is still made with older fab node and thus has less competition vs sony/ms are both on tsmc 7nm that also amd cpu+gpu's use and nvidia is also getting some share of that not to mention the car industry

Still have to keep the fact that this includes the new model in mind, which will certainly use a newer process like Samsung 8nm. That said, there are three additional facts to think of here:

First of all, the shortage wasn't a massive surprise. A lot of people saw it coming, and I've seen rumblings that Nintendo ordered a crapton of Tegra X1+ chips in preparation for this shortage.

Second, if the new model really is using Samsung 8nm like Nvidia is with Ampere (the most likely architecture for the new model), it won't have to deal with as much competition.

Finally, You have to account for the fact that Switch uses a much smaller chip than most other products. This means that you get a lot more dies per wafer compared to other products, such as the PS5. Here's a video about the subject:

Here, it's calculated that Sony likely gets about 131 usable dies per 300mm wafer. Switch gets about 435 good dies per 300mm wafer using the same calculator he does in this video. That's a massive difference, and means that, effectively, Nintendo gets 3 Switch chips for every one chip Sony can get for PS5. Thus, even with the silicon shortage, if Nintendo can get capacity similar to Sony they can make 3x as many Switch units as as Sony can make PS5s, and I'm sure that Sony plans to make way more than 10 million PS5s over the next 12 months. Of course, the new model might use a larger chip than the current one, but the majority will be the current models.

lolno. Nothing is coming in the next two or so years. what you're using is here to stay. enjoy your sub 720p visuals in 23fps.😊Its a portable system, its no big deal anyways.

That's a made up theory I haven't seen anywhere. It also seems like a waste of resources, and would still require HDMI 2.0 support from the console either way.

EDIT: You were talking about this article, right? https://www.tweaktown.com/news/75046/switch-4k-gaming-could-be-added-with-new-dock-chip-swap-ai-upscaling/index.html

That's 100% speculation based on the idea that Nintendo would obviously go with the cheapest solution, because Nintendo.

If it have enough exclusives that the older models can't play, I dont think its fair to put it in the same category. I personally have issues with grouping Gameboy Color together with original gameboy considering like 500-600 of the 900 gameboy color game is not playable on original Gameboy.

Now you're grasping. Just going "all rumors are made up lul" is a cop-out.

Ah, but you constantly say that third-party games on Switch don't matter, and according to the rumors Nintendo games will all be made to support all models while some multiplats that the current models can't run will be exclusive. So, by your own attitude that's irrelevant since all of those games are going flop anyway and there will be barely any of them. Or will you suddenly change your tune in this instance? :)

Regardless of what I think on Nintendo sorry ass hardware and milked games, if games is not playable on base console I personally dont think it deseves to be in same family.

I got 512gb cart on my console its more than the ps4 and xb1 have an there small and can be replaced really easily and it wasn't expensive.

Think about that i got more storage than the ps4 and xb1 in the palm in my finger...what were microsoft sony thinking here ninty is on something with these carts being so small an easy and fast

Which will, of course, be your excuse when Switch outsells PS4 (and I assume you'll just go insane if it outsells PS2).

Sure, it can outsell all it wants but it still trash in 3rd party content 🤣🤣.

No, I just like it when people try to advance the conversation. Just saying "all rumors are made up" is untrue and doesn't advance anything. Like, what am I meant to respond with at that point? You'll just claim that any counterpoint is "made up" until we have confirmation from Nintendo and Nvidia anyway.

i think luke skywalker can feel your butthurt from earth to tatooine.

many games on switch have 60fps. if it wasnt for the ps4 pro patches. switch would have more 60fps games than playstation.

Comparing it to last gen, a system that was outdated from day one and could barely handle 30fps is impressive? At least the PS4 offered visuals, while the Switch fails at visuals, frames and resolution. Failure on all fronts, but its a portal system, its fine and expected 🤦‍♂️

I hope it's true cause then it would give Sony the middle finger for their lack of PS5 producing before the water drought.

There’s just got to be some kind of upgrade for the Switch coming up. There’s just too many things pointing that way. From code in their Switch updates to rumours bouncing around on a variety of things. Nintendo themselves have said that they feel they are at the halfway point in the Switch’s lifecycle and I definitely can’t see them going on in the second half with no kind of upgrade. I fully expect it to be revealed at this year’s E3 myself. Whatever kind of upgrade it turns out to be I’ll welcome it.

It's not going to be revealed at E3. With a revision like this, you want to reveal it as close to release as possible so that sales don't slow down in the meantime. Rumors point to production starting around June, so E3 is way too early. September or October is more likely.

Something, something, eh okay fine, I won't. lol

:P

Give me a reason for the upgrade *cough* XSX/PS5 *cough*. Otherwise, I'm content staying with what I got.

Breath of the Wild 2 optimized for the next piece of hardware would do it.

30 million with a serious lack of semiconductors? Seriously? Is this news a marketing stunt?

In other news Sony will produce 30 million PS5s in the next 6 months. The semiconductors will be supplied from a secret lab in my basement.

ps5 and switch chips dont come from the same manufacturing line, switch uses older node so has less competition for the chips