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Nintendo planning to milk its Wii shortage through the holidays

engadget.com — You know, we could understand a few months of Wii shortages, and perhaps we'd let Nintendo slip by the seven month mark with a mild slap on the wrist, but this recent announcement of shortages through the 2007 holidays is just plain annoying. "There is no guarantee that we are not going to have 'out-of-stocks' this holiday season,"..

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 13, 2007

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  • Saiing, on 10/11/2007, -3/+49One of the biggest problems is that they have two HUGE products right now. They're still selling the DS at a rate no one ever predicted (in Japan you get 'launch' style queues every time they get restocked) and now they have a huge hit with the Wii. They only really have two products and both have gone ballistic at the same time.

    There's a limit to how many of these things you can make in a month or the amount of factories they can contract to produce them. They've upped the DS production again and again to try and keep pace, and every time they damn things just keep selling out, so I don't think it's entirely deliberate by Nintendo.
  • sishgupta, on 10/11/2007, -6/+47Well what do you expect? At this rate it should eclipse the xbox 360 in sales by christmas.
    xbox 360 has a year long head start.
  • Beerduck, on 10/11/2007, -0/+29God damn people give them a break. I can't believe they have actually made them even this fast.
    They've sold over 9 million Wiis worldwide since launch. As there probably ain't any exact numbers available, I'll go with that.
    It launched on Nov 19 in USA and 2nd and 8th in Japan and Europe, so lets say it's been out since December last year. Thats almost 7½ month now, or approx 220 days.
    So, 9 million divided by 7,5 equals 1,2 million Wiis per month, or 40909 Wiis per day.

    Think about how much that is and then complain again.
  • jmpeagle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+27it's cheaper to produce at a constant rate than to increase significantly only to decrease significantly later when supply meets demand.
  • idonthack, on 10/11/2007, -0/+22Crikey! Now what we've got here is a very rare young Nintendo Wii. Right now it's in the typical habitat of the GameStop shelf. They never had many numbers, and now they've been hunted to near extinction by the common Holiday Shopper...
  • perkoff, on 10/11/2007, -0/+22Good for you. Hey everyone did you hear, this random guy is happy with his PC.
  • Smight, on 10/11/2007, -1/+23Nintendo rolled out more of their console than Sony during the whole ps3 shortage, and they continue to produce significantly more.

    If the goal was to make a shortage they have been doing a pretty crappy job by making more consoles faster then anyone has ever made them.
  • wildthing202200, on 10/11/2007, -3/+23If Sony can only make 11 million PS3s in a year then why is it that hard to believe that Nintendo can make only about 9 million Wiis in only 9 months. Besides wasn't there some sort of plastic shortage that caused DS shortages last year.
  • G001, on 10/11/2007, -4/+22I love the dumbassery of this logic. How the hell are they "milking" a shortage? I can believe companies do this for a short period to make their product look hot, but at some point you're supposed to cash in on the hype, aren't you? To have an intentional shortage last this long would be counterproductive. Yeah, I'm sure the people at Nintendo are just drooling over the possibility of not fully capitalizing on not one but two holiday seasons.
  • vhold, on 10/11/2007, -10/+26Here's how I see it.

    Nintendo has the capability to flood the market with Wiis, but no incentive to do so. They continue selling at a great pace, and it doesn't appear that they are -losing- customers to the shortage, they are actually creating more demand because a shortage creates the impression that the product must be great, since it is so popular.

    Why not just create all the Wiis up front and sell them at a normal rate? Because the cost of manufacturing keeps falling. The more Nintendo can slowly milk the rate of manufacture, the more profitable each sold Wii becomes, and they can only reasonably sell each household one Wii. One Wii sold now, is one less Wii that can be sold later at more profit.

    Most consoles have a fairly low and fixed attach rate, which is the number of games/junk sold over the course of the sold console's lifetime. Flooding the market early with consoles in the hopes that it will sell more games later doesn't necessarily work. I think this is doubly true in the case of Nintendo, who releases blockbuster games slowly, and mostly when they are most profitable to do so.

    I think overall there will be a -lot- more Wiis this holiday season than people will be able to notice, because they'll sell so fast and in such a controlled fashion. This statement from Nintendo is an effort to keep the hype levels high so that there will never be an accumulation of Wiis on the shelf that suggest it is safe to hold off on buying the Wii.
  • volscio, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15A shortage, economically, makes absolutely no sense if your product has a fixed price.
  • otatop, on 10/11/2007, -4/+19I've got to be careful. So, what I'm gonna do is sneak up on it and jam my thumb in its butthole.
  • KaiUno, on 10/11/2007, -5/+19Okay, so the GameCube sold about 13 million pieces world wide since 2001. So 13 million pieces in 6 years. Then it got replaced.

    Now, the Wii... at 7 million now, or thereabouts, in half a year... One Wii equalling 2 Gamecubes (according to you)... hold the three... divide by two... Right, that's the entire Gamecube production in totall over 6 years spread over 6 months.

    You think it's weird they can't keep up?
  • R3Dirkulous, on 10/11/2007, -4/+17I disagree..you know why microsof had no shortages with their 360's? cuz wii has almost sold the same amount in 7 months as it has in two years.
    Heres the math Xbox 360 ( will give the 360 3 more mil this year)- 13million/2 years.....6.5 million a year..
    wii (we'll even slow down their pace) 12million/1 year ..12 million a year..
  • MikeWanDo, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14Source?
  • knubo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12In Norway the shops are starting to have them. It is now not unusual to see "We got wii in stock" signs in toy stores.
  • Denzal, on 10/11/2007, -8/+20Yes Nintendo are manufacturing a shortage.

    They were also responsible for the Cubans getting them Missiles, were the troupe of shooters on the Grassy Knoll (Reggie was practicing with his zapper), and Miyamoto is secretly Lord Lucan who had facial reconstructive surgery.

    It's all a vast conspiracy. Nintendo are broke, the Wii doesn't exist, and even Mario is an alcoholic. They've fallen on some hard times.
  • Shawn4168, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11Wow...so much ignorance displayed in this article. If you do the math (and I believe that somebody who posted here already did), you'll see that Nintendo is already churning out an incredible number of consoles every day. Do they have the resources to ramp up production more? Sure. Is it a smart business decision to do so? Absolutely not.

    Unlike some mass-produced goods like food, clothes, and even computers, demand for video game consoles is not always consistent. There is always an initial surge in demand when the console is first released, and this demand slowly diminishes over time, as the console becomes older and older. This will happen to the Wii, too. Within a year, demand will eventually drop to the point that it can be met by Nintendo's current production facilities. It makes no sense for Nintendo to spend millions of dollars in order to build facilities to double their production of the consoles if it means that those facilities will no longer be needed in a year. Nintendo is doing the best that they can to meet current demand without needlessly wasting resources. Give them a break. Everybody who wants a console will get a console.
  • superfly007, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11"Wii to be in high demand through the holidays"

    I fixed your headline for you.
  • eplawless, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13Just think of the duct tape requirement, and the thousands of factory workers needed. These gamecubes aren't going to tape themselves together. Of course there's a shortage.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11I'm sure DSs take the same ammount of time and money to make as Wiis. *rolleyes*
  • scrolltom, on 10/11/2007, -3/+13In the UK, there's plenty of stock.
  • TheSolomon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10Indeed. Microeconomics theory tells you a shortage in the beginning may be good to spark increased demand ("I wasn't thinking about buying one before, but with all the shortages maybe I should just grab one the moment I see it on sale."), but once you have generated a frenzy, it's really in your best interest as a business owner to cure your supply problems, otherwise you lose-out on many potential sales from people who go to buy and can't. In other words: once people want what you're selling, you need to make sure they can buy it!
  • KaiUno, on 10/11/2007, -2/+12Geez dude, calm down!
  • silverwolfe, on 10/11/2007, -23/+32It makes sense. If you make it seem like your system is hard to come by, then whenever someone finds one, they're more likely to nab it since they don't know when they'll see one in the wild again.

    I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to do something like this to spur sales.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11There was a PS3 shortage? I never recall seeing them out of stock.
  • Elric77, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Considering this is THE fastest selling console in the history of video games, WHY are people surprised? If everyone wanted the XBox this bad, there's no WAY you'd get error free systems to meet demand from Microsoft (Or sony).

    As for the "2 Gamecubes taped together", You obviously never owned a GC OR a Wii.

    Maybe YOU'D be happy with a lesser quality system just to have one when YOU want it, but this is Nintendo, they are going to quality test them as much (or more) they do their games. No red ring of death or DRE.
  • Xerokai, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8So there is no way that the Wii is popular enough to just be selling out? It is all a plot to keep people down or something?

    I'm sorry but the Wii has shipped MORE units then PS3 worldwide, but somehow they are doing something to pull the rug out from under us... Yet you guys maintain that sony is great because you can find their systems every where you look... Nintendo is just a victim of it's own success right now and they are not trying to "Milk every last drop out of the hype". It's easy to say they should be making the systems quicker because it's just "two gamecubes taped together" but the fact is that they have to be produced just like any other system including the 360 or the PS3.

    This whole idea that nintendo needs to create artificial demand all comes from sony fan boys who refuse to believe that more people have bought a wii then a PS3. They make excuses like this to convince themselves that their 599 dollar PS3 is the real deal and worth the 2.33 wii or the Nintensoft wii60 they could have bought. I'm sorry but if nintendo has shipped more systems then sony and you cant find a wii but I can go to best buy and find 5 PS3s then that has to count for something doesn't it?
  • KingGoonie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Um... thats not illegal.... and a lie anyway.

    If that was illegal then the courts would be fulled with people suing companies that release movies in limited edition, games in collectors edition limited release, shoe companies, clothing companies, handbag companies, etc...

    There is no law that says "you must product 10 million units every 6 months"
  • ICSU, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10GBA is selling strong too.
  • MikeWanDo, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9Cause a zombie killing rampage with RE4 sucks, and I'm sure that Umbrella Chronicles will suck too.
  • howie, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Useless whining buried.
  • KingGoonie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7grumbel... I think he was going by year end... 360 is a full year ahead of wii and will be 2 years old at year end.
  • KingGoonie, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6so are teenagers, twentysomethings, thirtysomethigns, hardcore gamers, new gamers, casual gamers, men, women, etc... Since ALL are buying the wii...
  • Rodman930, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6If the Wii was available they're more likely to nab it whenever they feel like it.
    (I know I would)
  • Dracker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6They're not PLANNING a shortage. There is no way this would benefit them.

    Demand, not supply, is responsible for it being out of stock everywhere.
  • chadwn, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8Are you kidding me? They can crank out at least 10X more Wiis in a given time then compared to the ps3 and xbox360. Everything in the Wii is much easier to manufacture compared to the PS3 and 360. They are just restricting supply to keep the demand high. The scarcity is keeping the hype up and it is wise of nintendo to keep this up. When you sell this many consols while making a profit on each one... you definitely have the resources to crank up production they just choose not to.
  • KingGoonie, on 10/11/2007, -1/+613 million? Cube sold double that..
  • spykez, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4That's funny, considering the 4 most highly anticipated games for the Wii haven't even been released yet, and the sales have already doubled the PS3 and will soon enough surpass the 360 also.
  • brufleth, on 10/11/2007, -3/+7Exactly. Especially with consoles where the total life of the product isn't all that long and eventually the market demands you bring out a replacement. It isn't like people ten years from now are still going to be buying millions of Wiis. Maybe a company will initially have shortages to create press for their product but this far in I think Nintendo would prefer to just meet demand. There are still millions of casual players who'd probably pick one up if they didn't require over paying on ebay or waiting in long lines.
  • Septimus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Not sure why you're dugg down. It's true.

    Especially in the channels between retailers.
  • avidlinuxuser, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4The Wii will likely surpass 360 lifetime sales this year. How the hell is that a shortage? It's beating almost every single sales record in almost every single territory. Does anyone realize that the demand for the Wii is insane? Hell, the Wii is setting Japan on fire. Dragon Quest Swords just sold over 200,000 copies in one day.
  • KingGoonie, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Actually its not that hard to get one, find out when target, etc is gonig to get them, go an hour before they open and you got one...
  • R3Dirkulous, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I agree with the wii not having enough quality titles after this holday season..but this holiday season should be HUGe for nintendo. Mario galaxy, metroid prime corruption, super smash brothers, Nights, Resident evil umbrella chronicles..and then right after the holidays comes mariko kart. So as far as the near future is concerned Nintendo is set...we'll have to see about the distant future, I know N will have something up their sleeves.
  • Shirt, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5What the hell is this site talking about? The reason there are "shortages" is not because Nintendo is manufacturing shortages, it's because the second they go on shelves they are sold. They will most likely be just as available this holiday season as they have always been (perhaps more available) and if somebody can't find one it's because they weren't fast enough.
  • jubalharshaw, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5What shortages? Here in the UK, everyone I know who wants a Wii (lots of people, especially non-gamers) has been able to find one pretty quickly. There were problems when it was initially released, but I haven't heard of anyone having difficulty in the last few months. Is this only in the US?
  • Xerokai, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Yeah but you're acting like the 9 mil units that have shipped is nothing. One of the posters above said that they have been shipping somewhere in the realm of 41k a day since launch. They have exceeded the amount of PS3s that have beens shipped and are withing 1.5 mil of matching the sales of 360 which was released a year earlier. Also Nintendo doesn't have the financial backing of sony/microsoft so their consoles have to be produced with cost efficiency in mind. They cant afford to loose money like the others because they don't have other huge market devisions they can leach cash off of till the hardware department becomes profitable. If Nintendo looses money then there will be no more nintendo games, no more hardware, no support or anything else. Even so they have out paced sony's production rate and shipped more consoles. If that doesn't show dedication then I don't know what does. It isn't so simple to open more factories because at some point console sales will slow and at that moment the new profit/loss has to be at least equal in console sale profits to the cost of opening/maintaining the new factory for nintendo.

    Nintendo is just being too successful right now and is having a hard time keeping up with sustained demand. In all honesty I doubt they even expected this level of popularity when they launched. they probably expected PS3 to dwarf the wii with it's launch but instead the Wii took off running and they are just trying to keep up. Sooner or later they will catch up and things will settle down but for right now I'm sure they are enjoying seeing the support for the Wii, after all this isn't artificial, people really do want this system and they are buying them as quickly as possible.
  • mywhitenoise, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Only 360 has a problem with failure rates, the other 2 don't.
  • Mrstupid7, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5Because manufacturing processes are magical. Once something is on an assembly line, it's on an assembly line. You can only manufacture things at a certain speed before it becomes impossible and Nintendo probably does it a little slower to make sure their systems work. Also what's the point of buying a factory to manufacture the hell out of something for about a year or two and then having to close the factory and waste millions if not billions of dollars on fabrication?
  • qwerty1024, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Last I checked they actually made money off the Gamecube
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