Nintendo will shortly begin producing Switch consoles in Vietnam for the first time, after US-China trade tensions put the gaming industry’s reliance on China-based production in jeopardy.
Analysts said rivals including Sony and Microsoft may follow Nintendo’s move depending on how Beijing manages its trade dispute with Washington. Any shift out of China would mark a significant break for the industry, which has long struggled to find alternative manufacturing sites due to both cost and quality reasons.
Following a report in the Nikkei newspaper, Nintendo said on Tuesday that it had been considering diversifying its China-heavy Switch production before trade tensions flared. Analysts said the decision was likely to have been influenced by the US threat of additional tariffs on Chinese products.