digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

Wii Preorder Demand Higher than Expected

wiiloaded.com — Wii preorders are selling out faster than the PS3 did!

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 13, 2006

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

280 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -19/+91***WORD TO JENA****

    you are ***** scum.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+68yep. just you.
  • underoath77, on 10/12/2007, -4/+61Thats insane but highly expected...the value of the system is just awesome for consumers...and hardcore gamers alike.....$250 seems like a small price to pay for a next gen console and a free game to start with...is it possible that The big N could take this next gen console war?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+60@Nobi-Wan:

    http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=212
  • Mudhoney, on 10/12/2007, -6/+64Both of my GameStop locations sold out before the store even opened because they were handing out tickets to people as they lined up.
  • blork1, on 10/12/2007, -5/+58@chris9902
    Okay, I will.
  • spyrochaete, on 10/12/2007, -10/+56I do other things at 4:20 so there was a schedule conflict.
  • wheaty, on 10/12/2007, -4/+48Usually it's young people who want to act like grown-ups. The Wii will probably have more adults playing it and less 15-16 year olds who are far too cool to be seen with a Nintendo. They'll all hold out for the PS3.

    @chris9902

    You may not be 5 anymore but I wouldn't be surprised if you were 13.
  • Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -7/+47They're selling out in under thirty seconds?
  • Guard, on 10/12/2007, -8/+50I waited outside Gamestop starting at 8am... I was the #3 ticket, my GF was #4.

    By 9:30 the line was pretty much full. The store opened at 10. Everyone asked us what was coming out today, our answer was "Nothing, we're just pre-ordering the wii"

    It seems each Gamestop was allowed to reserve 4 first preorders for employees of their store, and the rest were first-come-first-serve.

    While we waited, #3 (me), #4 (my gf), #5 #6 and #7 all played Meteos, Tetris, and Star Fox on the DS :p
  • NikoKun, on 10/12/2007, -1/+42They sell out with in minutes.
    In fact, they sell out before the store even opens, because of the lines.

    I was first (# 1) in line at my store, and I had to get there at 4:20AMish and it didn't take more than a few more minutes for other people to start arriving.

    There were 12 people in line before 8:30ish (maybe it was 7:30), and at that time the Manager's told us we all got Wii preorders, but that anyone else that comes wont get it, so we all got a number tickets handed to us (corrisponding to number in line) and got to wait in our warm cars, until opening(10am)... and everyone that came to wait at the door after that point was told to just go home because they 'already sold out'.

    Wii is in high demand right now... the moment the store opened phone calls were insane... and people cept walking in for Wii, and had to be told to go home... @_@ mean while, I'm first in line... XD happy me! ^_^;;
  • Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -4/+41I'm kind of curious why everyone is pre-ordering the Wii. Aren't there supposed to be upwards of millions of consoles available at launch?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+37Actually chris, if you knew anything about the Wii, you would know that it is still capable of 480p. Which is DVD quality. That's still going to look good on my HDTV.
  • KayinNasaki, on 10/12/2007, -3/+33If you really want one, why take the risk, eh?
  • Holmes89, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30My friends and I are 16-17 and we can't wait to get ours, we consider only the cool kids to be future Wii owners and everyone else just doesn't quite get it.
  • plastek, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30I'm in Ohio, and it was very cold this morning.
    I got the my local gamestop at around 4am, only to find a crowd of about 10 people.
    Shortly after it started snowing hardcore, and everyone got in their cars, and left!
    I quickly decided I didnt care, about hypothermia, I wanted a Wii.
    So I covered myself up with a blanket, and hunkered down at my new #1 spot in line.
    Around 6am other people started showing up, we waited in the freezing cold for another 4 hours to find out that Gamestop only had 12 preorders to go around. Luckily for me those other people weren't hardcore enough to sit in the cold, or I might not have gotten one.
  • 5thfreedom, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22Oh right, because "Next-Gen doesn't start until Sony says it does" right?
  • sinfree, on 10/12/2007, -4/+23We had 16 at the store close to where I live. I was #5 in line. I think the line was full by 9:30 AM (store opened at 10 AM) and they started sending people away. Why don't they do these pre-order things a few weeks earlier so standing outside is more humane? ;) At least here in Alabama it wasn't too awful cold (40's or low 50's).

    For comparison, there were 8 PS3 pre-orders there, and only exactly 8 people showed up. They were having to turn people away today, and they had twice as many Wii pre-orders. A sign of things to come?
  • Quix, on 10/12/2007, -4/+23"I'm quite happy playing Gears of War online" - chris9902

    Well, Mr. Hardcore Stud, some of us are sick and tired of the same old FPS games regurgitated again and again. Been there, done that, about a million times. Boring. And better on a PC anyway.

    Enjoy your high-definition mediocrity. You sound like the type who gets his arse kicked in shooters anyway. All talk, no walk.
  • Insert31990, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15I called every Gamestop, EB Games, and Babbage's within 20 miles and everyone had a line almost double of their pre-order stock before the store even opened ...

    I knew I should've camped out.
  • DannyPage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Got there at 9 am... Only 10!! preorders. I was lucky number 10. Me and my friend breathed a sigh of relief... 1-8 were parents that were getting their kids PS3's AND Wii's.

    Spoiled brats.
  • chriskzoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Chalk it up to a few things:

    1) True excitement for the Wii
    2) People getting shut out for the PS3 on Tuesday. Not necessarily people "settling" for a Wii over PS3, but people that truely want a Wii not wanting to be shut out like many PS3 wanters were.
  • zorplex, on 10/12/2007, -10/+22Let me first apologize for abusing the response to the first post, digg me down if you wish, but I believe this needs to be brought to attention.

    Lets look at some simple numbers:
    North American Launch Numbers
    PS3: ~400,000
    Wii: ~2,000,000

    That is a 5:1 ratio of Wiis to PS3s. At my local Gamestop they offered 14 pre-orders on Tuesday. If one were to follow this line of logic it should be safe to assume:

    Expected Wii Gamestop Pre-Order Numbers
    PS3: 14
    Wii: ~5*14 = ~70

    But 70 is quite high, so one might assume that around 40 to 50 pre-order spots could be expected. The supply of the Wii is going to be much larger than the PS3 so it would only be natural for the number of pre-order slots to be much larger. But apparently Gamestop doesn't follow this logic at all.

    Actual Gamestop Pre-Order Numbers
    PS3: 14
    Wii: 14

    So....

    400,000 PS3 = 14 Pre-Order Spots
    2,000,000 Wiis = 14 Pre-Order Spots

    WTF?

    If you haven't deduced this yet, I didn't wait in line and I did not receive a pre-order. If I have to wait in line I would much rather receive the actual product after hours of waiting instead of a piece of paper, but that's just me.
  • consonance, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=214
  • dvddesign, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12No one ever got tired of the D-pad, analog joysticks, webcams, vibration, $70 a year online gaming services, etc... I think this new dynamic will hold on just fine. Remember, most of the stuff you do in gaming today is due to Nintendo's innovation.
  • LycoLoco, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14And neither would Nintendo. It's not "Next-Gen", It's "New-Gen".
  • jizzatch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12My friend got in line at 7am and was 7th in line at a store with 16 units available. The 14th person entered the line at 9:15, so 45 minutes beforehand. The same store had only 8 PS3's, of which this same friend and I were 1 and 2 in line by arriving at 5 am.

    So, roughly speaking, this means GS is expecting to have twice as many Wii's as PS3's at launch. This tends to jive with the prelaunch estimates of 400K PS3 and 1 million Wii at launch that I have been seeing, which is a 5:2 ratio of Wii:PS3.

    As for demand, the queue for the PS3 was full by 7 am, while the Wii queue did not fill until 9:15 as I mentioned. So, it would appear that the PS3 might be harder to come by, but I also see this as a sign of very strong demand for the Wii, even though there will be at least twice as many. So, at the current price points, it appears as though demand is roughly twice as much for the Wii. This means both will be popping up on ebay for at least 2x MSRP.
  • Lonecow, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14I love the smell of bitter PS3 fanboys in the morning.... or afternoon....
  • squirrelza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9At my store there were 14 Wii's available. Unfortunately I was number 15, so I silently slit the guys throat in front of me and moved forward.
  • dexbot, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Gamestop said yesterday they had 13 units. I waited in cold Michigan weather from 7AM to 10AM and was 7th in line. 2 minutes before the store opened a GS employee announced that there where 16 available. There where about 30 people in line at this point.

    I am glad for the 3 guys who waited it out "Just in case"!!!
  • Quix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I was about 15th in line and was shocked when the manager announced they ended up with only 9. Of course they didn't tell us that until the 9th person had arrived at the register. OK, um, couldn't you have found that out an hour before you opened and let us all know?

    I'm too old to be camping out on launch day. Here's hoping the rumors about huge production numbers are true. I find it VERY odd that they only had 9 pre-sell slots with the "at least 2-million at launch day" rumors.
  • fuchila, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Congrats to all who showed up early and got the preorder in. Together we will show EA and the likes that slightly beter graphics is not what next gen is.
  • jesusphreak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Doesn't matter, the machine is cheap and easy enough to produce that even if you can't get one launch day by just walking into a store, it'll only be a few weeks before you can.
  • captwnder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I checked with my GS and they had 8 PS3 pre-orders and 36 Wii pre-orders which doesn't quite line up with the expected launch numbers.
  • Raian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Well Wal-Mart here I come...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I can speak for the rest of us waiting for launch day to buy a Wii - we're rivited hearing about what # you got - made my day...
  • humbled, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10@zorplex

    Nice attempt to do it mathematically, but you got your starting numbers wrong.
    PS3 - 400,000 (US); 500,000 (Global)
    Wii - ~1,000,000+ (US); ~2,000,000 (Global)

    So I would expect that the number of units to per store to be on average about 3x what the PS3 was, not 5x. If you recall, some stores only had two or four PS3s to give away, so somewhere between 12 and 32 per store sounds about right for the Wii.
  • ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Koguma - Ebay's new rule states you must be able to have the item delivered within 30 days of the auction end. Seeing how the Wii won't be released for 36 days after the auction ends, you may have your account frozen.
  • mingistech, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Nintendo will sell every system they produce this holiday.... a pre-order guarantees you a system.

    not pointless... you douche :)
  • doubledangerbat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Most malls open the halls before the stores open. My mall opened at 6:30 and I was #1 in line.
  • dkdonuts, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I just got mine pre ordered at an eb games in lajolla. the store was getting 32 units and there were 40-50 people waiting in line..some were even camped out at 12 am. i didn't want to take the risk, but with the number of consoles nintendo says are going to be available at lauch...i wonder if pre-orders are even necessary? i also asked one of the employees if they had reserved one but he said that it was against company policy for employees to get one..sounded like he was lieing though
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Yeha i just sent my g.f to reserve ours like 15 min ago and she had to run a bit but got one, and Zelda ^_^ woot for luck! and loving gurlies.
  • gweedo767, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6They do more than just remove teh auction, they also suspend your account.
  • drewc1138, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9@koguma

    How much would it piss you off if I bid a million bucks on that thing?
  • xlocust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I think my story is the most likely the exception but I actually got very lucky and was able to preorder a wii after i arrived much later then i wanted to at EB games (got there at 9am ). I was number 10 out of 14. At least 7 or 8 people were turned away while I was standing in line(they handed you a number as soon as you got there). Anyway, the manager told us that it took about two hours! for them to sell out of their even smaller supply of PS3 preorders. That is pretty crazy but then again probably is just the exception.
  • MasterFunk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@ Guard
    Wow you got there at 8:00 and was 3rd in line! I got to my local Gamestop at 5:00am and was 5th in line! The first two kids in line got there at 3:30. Luckily for us we knew how many wii unit's that were able to be pre-ordered, one of the people in line worked at Gamestop (Only two employees got to be on the pre-order list automatically) and he was able to confirm that the store only had 14 units. It was amazing because for anyone who showed up after 7:30 was turned down. My guess is that a total of 30 people showed up before the store opened, all looking to get their hands on a Wii pre-order slip.
  • dspickes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Thank goodness for living in a relatively unpopulated state! I was preordering in Arkansas, and was able to sit at the #1 spot for only showing up at 6:45, AND I got to wait inside in the warm because it was in a mall! I'd hate to have waited outside in somewhere extremely cold and populated for even longer.

    It would definitely be worth it though to ensure getting your system at midnight on the 19th.
  • ElectricGrandpa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"Seeing how the Wii won't be released for 36 days after the auction ends, you may have your account frozen."

    The trick that 90% of the Ebay sellers are using is that they're selling the *pre-order* not the actual unit itself.
  • kweee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I arrived at the nearby EB Games at 8:30am today, person #8 in line for a Wii pre-order.

    The first dozen or so people in line were all like me: 18-25, male, gamer types. The first guy had been camping out since 6am. We all received pre-orders.

    The next dozen or so people in line were all mothers of 10-17 male gamer types. None of them received pre-orders and will have to explain this to their teenage sons.
  • intoranat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I live in Maryland and I went to stand in line at 7:30am. There were already 2 people a head of me, but the store only had 4 Wii Pre-order. Oddly enough, that same store had 16 PS3 to give out to pre-order. I heard a lot of people showed up for PS3 pre-order from the store salesman, but not many showed up for Wii at all. Only a hand full were turned away, because there were already 4 people in line.

    Then when the store opened, the manager at the store we were in got a call from another EB store. They didn't fill up their Pre-order list since they had like 30, but in my area it doesn't seems like a lot of people are interested in Wii as much as PS3
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 280 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.