UPDATE: February 6th, 2020, 11:30 a.m. PST: Added confirmation that the Animal Crossing: New Horizons-themed Switch is affected by these delays in Japan.
Reuters has reported that Nintendo is experiencing delays in both production and shipping of Nintendo Switch consoles and peripherals to the Japan market due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
According to Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa, these setbacks were “unavoidable” due to the virus’s spread in China, where part of its hardware production is done.
In addition to Nintendo Switch consoles themselves (including the special edition Animal Crossing: New Horizons-themed Switch), accessories like Joy-Cons and the Ring Fit Adventure Ring-Con are also affected by these delays.
Although Nintendo had moved part of its production line to Vietnam from China in 2019 due to the China-United States trade war instigated by the U.S. government, its Chinese operations remain vital to its supply chain.
Since the virus’s outbreak in Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019, it has infected over 28,000 people worldwide and caused the deaths of 565, with most cases being limited to mainland China; at least 1,387 recoveries from the virus have also been reported.
No word yet if these delays will also affect markets outside of Japan, but stay connected to Nintendo Wire for more news as it becomes available.
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Written by Daniel Dell-Cornejo
Daniel is an editor at Nintendo Wire. Always with his head in the clouds, he is never apart from his creative thoughts – a blessing for an aspiring fiction writer. As a journalist and lifelong gamer, he aims to provide readers with the very best in Nintendo coverage.
