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The shortage in Switch consoles can partly be blamed on bots

Nintendo wants to increase production by 10 per cent

The shortage in Switch consoles can partly be blamed on bots

The shortage in Nintendo Switch consoles can be partly blamed on bots.

As reported by Vice, due to the console shortage, many resellers are placing the hardware on Amazon on eBay for a much higher price than its retail cost. Many of these people use automated bots to purchase stock from retailers when they get more units.

One such bot is known as Bird Bot, a source specifically designed to purchase Nintendo Switches at a quick pace.

"I decided to make it as a joke, but I quickly realized just how powerful it could be," said Bird Bot creator Nate.

"Me and my friends were talking about reselling Nintendo Switches, and at one point my friend, nicknamed Bird, told me I should make a bot. And here we are today."

A second bot dubbed Phantom is also enabling resellers to buy the consoles upon restock, preventing those that genuinely want one from getting their hands on the hardware.

"Phantom currently supports Best Buy with more future sites to be added. In our first 24 hours we had over 500 checkouts of Switches," said a Phantom representative.

Increased production

As reported by Nikkei, the Japanese company will increase production to meet demands for its console better. Reportedly, it is expecting a 10 per cent increase this year.

"We hope [suppliers] will be responsive to the production increase, but for procurement of some parts, the outlook remains uncertain, and we can't forecast exactly how many Switches can be supplied," said a Nintendo representative.

A components supplier representative added."We'll do what we can to comply with the production increase request."

In February, Nintendo confirmed that the coronavirus outbreak had impacted global production for its hardware.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.