Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Amie admits that while the company tries its best to meet supply and demand, sometimes it gets it wrong.
Nintendo has been having a bit of an issue with supply over the last year. First, the NES Classic Edition, released in September, had some pretty awful issues. Then, even the Nintendo Switch (while no-where near as bad as the NES) still had trouble meeting shipment demand in a few places. Now, Nintendo has announced another new console, the New 2DS XL, and people are worried that the same thing is about to happen. The Verge spoke with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime about the intricacies of supply and demand, during which he admitted that yes, sometimes they get it wrong.
“We create a plan, we build our programs against that plan,” Fils-Amie said of the process. “But based on what we see in the marketplace we make adjustments, and we go from there.”
Speaking of the Nintendo Switch as an example, he explained: “As we began the ramp up with our communication activity, starting with the video we released in October, then the hands-on events that we did in January, clearly we began to see a consumer response that was very positive, and there was a lot of excitement. So at that point we began to improve on our production capability.”
He explained that a new console doesn’t necessarily affect production issues. The new 2DS likely won’t have a dramatic impact on Switch production, just as Switch didn’t greatly impact the NES Classic. “It’s not a direct, one-for-one effect,” says Fils-Aime. “Certainly there are some components that are common within a particular platform … But what we try and do, is manage the overall business to deliver as much financial results as we can, and also as much consumer satisfaction as we can.”
Finally, Fils-Amie talked about day one demand. “We get it right more times than we get it wrong. But sometimes we get it wrong,” he said, going on to promise that “We think we’ve estimated for New Nintendo 2DS XL pretty well, and we’re confident that the consumer who wants to buy it on July 28th is going to be able to do that.”
Source: The Verge
