Nintendo Will Try, But Not Guarantee, Switch Availability This Holiday Season

Nintendo is a great company, but it's been known for not being able to come up with enough supply to fulfill demand with hardware in the past. Just ask anyone that tried to track down an NES Classic Edition when it came out last year, and still wants to get their hands on one even though the system has been discontinued.

This year, the company faces double pressure from this. Not only is it trying to make sure it has enough SNES Classic Editions to go around, but it's also ramped up its production of the Nintendo Switch, which is expected to be a hot commodity this holiday season, fueled by games like Super Mario Odyssey and Fire Emblem Warriors, amongst other releases.

That said, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, has noted that the company will make the effort to make sure Switch supply is hefty, but can't make any guarantees. Speaking at Variety's Entertainment and Tech Summit, he explained that the company will go all out to reach its ten million Nintendo Switch units availability supply goal…but, again, no guarantees.

"Certainly the demand is there, and our supply chain is there," he noted, but also added, "Are we going to have enough for the holiday? That's what we are focused on."

That's certainly optimistic, and Nintendo has the resources available to get the system in stores, as we've seen from GameStop's recent temporary restocking of the consoles. But the holiday season is going to be a bit rougher, especially as more top-tier titles arrive for the system, like the aforementioned games above.

It's going to take a lot for Nintendo to keep fans happy this holiday season, but it's apparently learned from its mistakes from the past. And hopefully, it'll allow the SNES Classic Edition to thrive a little bit on the market, instead of cutting off its production so hastily, as it did with the NES Classic Edition. Let's see it get some traction.

Meanwhile, if you need a Switch, it never hurts to get a jump on one sooner rather than later. Plus, hey, you can totally join our Splatoon 2 party. Plenty of ink to go around.