Nintendo: We aren't deliberately short on Wiis

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 29th November 2007
Comments (13) Stumble
Nintendo: We aren't deliberately short on Wiis

"No, the Wii shortage isn't deliberate. Yes, it is a compacted perm" Says Reggie Fils-Amie.

Nintendo is a bit of a cash cow at the moment, as you might have heard, and the little Japanese company-that-could has already been compared to Apple for it's phenomenal successes of late.

Still, it could be even more of a cash cow if they could get the Wii on shelves fast enough - but they just can't and the factories are currently only able to churn out 1.8 Million Wiis a month for the whole planet, it emerged recently. This naturally leaves a lot of people sceptical about the whole supply and demand thing.

Surely Nintendo would have known that they could make even more oodles of money if they made more Wiis to sell this Christmas?

No, don't be stupid - that's pretty much Reggie Fils-Amie's reaction and he should know; he's the president of Nintendo of America.

"There is no secret plan to store Wiis in a warehouse to spur demand. The company, after all, is trying to reach out to women and 40 and 50-year olds who aren't avid gamers." Said Reggie to GI.biz.

"They aren't going to sleep outside of a store overnight or visit a retailer five or six times. It is literally a missed opportunity."

Sounds reasonable enough to me - but can you really trust a man with a haircut like that? Let us know what you think in the forums.
Quote DXR_13KE 29th November 2007, 10:58
that man has a strange hair style......

NINTENDO!!! how about you build more factories or license factories to build them?
Quote steveo_mcg 29th November 2007, 12:09
Its a bit late for that kind of action, beside is cost money to set up a factory and what's the point when it can keep up (mostly) with demand all year its just having problems now. TBH if you wanted to get a wii for Christmas you should have bought it much earlier it was obvious to any one with a brain it was going to be this years Tracy Island or teletubies.
Quote Major 29th November 2007, 12:13
Quote:
Originally Posted by steveo_mcg
Its a bit late for that kind of action, beside is cost money to set up a factory and what's the point when it can keep up (mostly) with demand all year its just having problems now. TBH if you wanted to get a wii for Christmas you should have bought it much earlier it was obvious to any one with a brain it was going to be this years Tracy Island or teletubies.

For people who knew about the situation, yes, but like my parents, or my relatives, who want a Wii, they had no idea on the shortage.
Quote Bladestorm 29th November 2007, 12:54
They've said before that they are setting up new factories, but that these things can take years to come online, not too surprising that they don't have any finished what 11 months ? after they realized they needed them.
Quote -equilerex- 29th November 2007, 13:20
shortage? where? i can go to any bigger electronics store in here and buy one XD
Quote Paradigm Shifter 29th November 2007, 13:38
Better to blame lack of supply on bad planning rather than malice. ;) At least, until someone finds a huge warehouse chock full of the things. :)
Quote Major 29th November 2007, 13:50
Quote:
Originally Posted by -equilerex-
shortage? where? i can go to any bigger electronics store in here and buy one XD

You are from Estonia.
Quote themax 29th November 2007, 13:57
Then maybe Nintendo should shift units from territories that aren't selling out and redistribute elsewhere. Nintendo can license another factory, and could have built on up in the time they spent "talking" about their shortages, instead of acting on them. Nintendo may not have created the shortage intentionally, but they sure aren't trying to rememedy it by just "increasing" production of their current factories and talking about it so much.

I can walk into the Wal-Mart here regularly and see Wii's on the shelf. But that is just my area (Tampa Bay) which isn't small either. And this is on the weekends.
Quote Angleus 29th November 2007, 14:27
Quote:
Originally Posted by themax

I can walk into the Wal-Mart here regularly and see Wii's on the shelf. But that is just my area (Tampa Bay) which isn't small either. And this is on the weekends.

Well there's definitley a major shortage in the UK, I don't think there's anyway you can just walk in and buy one, apart from Cex well they sell for ₤ 295 second hand with no wii sports
Quote dognosh 29th November 2007, 16:44
Quote:
Originally Posted by -equilerex-
shortage? where? i can go to any bigger electronics store in here and buy one XD

Estonia has an average monthly wage of EUR 650 and a Wii price that takes 10-15 days of work to pay for
UK has an average monthly wage of EUR 3265 and a Wii price that takes 2 days of work to pay for
Hence why there is no big shortage of Wii in Estonia;)
Quote Icy EyeG 29th November 2007, 16:49
Quote:
Originally Posted by DXR_13KE
that man has a strange hair style......

Reminds me of Home Simpson after taking Dimoxinil (is that how you spell it?) and going for his first haircut.... :|
Quote completemadness 30th November 2007, 03:18
Quote:
Originally Posted by themax
Then maybe Nintendo should shift units from territories that aren't selling out and redistribute elsewhere. Nintendo can license another factory, and could have built on up in the time they spent "talking" about their shortages, instead of acting on them. Nintendo may not have created the shortage intentionally, but they sure aren't trying to rememedy it by just "increasing" production of their current factories and talking about it so much.

I can walk into the Wal-Mart here regularly and see Wii's on the shelf. But that is just my area (Tampa Bay) which isn't small either. And this is on the weekends.
Well said IMO

Apparently at the start of the year they were making 1m Wii's, and they've bumped that up to 1.8m over time

Also, apparently the shortage is due to the fact is has been selling like hotcakes all year, so the august period (where they usually build up some stock) was still all sold out
Now we are coming up for Christmas and they still don't have any on shelves

But surely Nintendo could have seen this coming, if you are making 1.8m Wii's a month, and are constantly selling out, you clearly aren't making enough, they have had over a year to ramp up production to fill demand

Anyway, IMO, if they limited it to 2 per household (At least for this shortage) they could stop these damn eBay scalpers who are buying 15 at a time and selling them on for 100% profit (and leaving none in the shops in the process)
IMO, the whole situation is just being handled badly, and Nintendo wont admit they are majorly pissing off _a lot_ of people
Quote Amon 30th November 2007, 04:36
The Wii shortage has actually improved PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sales in Nippon.
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