There is no company or person in the world that hasn’t been impacted to varying degrees by COVID-19, and Nintendo is not an exception either. The Japanese giant has said in the past that due to the pandemic, everything from sales and manufacturing to development schedules for upcoming games may be impacted going forward, and recently, it re-iterated that in its annual report.
Directly addressing the spread of COVID-19 and how the pandemic might affect business going forward, Nintendo wrote in its report that various fields might be affected, depending on how the situation developers. When it comes to production and shipping of hardware and software, the company noted that “product supply may be impacted if issues involving the procurement of necessary components persist.”
Sales might also be impacted, with Nintendo noting that lockdown measures “to prevent the spread of the virus, including restrictions on movement outside the home and closure of retail stores” may adversely affect the same.
Notably, development schedules might also be impacted, with Nintendo mentioning that work from home requirements might affect productivity, and as such upcoming products and services might not be able to launch as planned.
“Development schedules may be impacted due to the difference in development environment between working from home and in the office since teleworking is implemented at the Company and its partners,” the company wrote. “As a result, we may not be able to proceed with the release of Nintendo products and the start of services as planned.”
“Nintendo will continue to conduct business operations by taking necessary measures so that it can continue to provide an environment in which consumers can enjoy its products and services, while giving due consideration to the health and safety of its consumers and employees,” Nintendo wrote in conclusion.
Just last month, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa noted that production pipelines were returning to normal, but that further impact would be determined by how the COVID-19 situation develops. One would imagine that that will be the case for everyone for some time to come.