18 replies to this topic

[Gregory DG]

It cracks me up that everytime I go into a retailer (Wally World, Toys R Us, EB Games, etc.) just browsing around they they have PLENTY of Wii games and accessories available, but no systems! What's the point of having all this stock of games if there are no systems to play them on! I'm starting to wonder if Nintendo is purposely holding them in a warehouse somewhere to build up demand.

I'm not in the market for a Wii just yet, I just think it's rather strange to see so much stock with nothing to play them on.

[Crazy Climber]

I've been told April.....C'mon Nintendo....I want to play

[jetset]

I really don't understand the logic. Do they really think they (still) have to hype the system up by continuing the shortage? I'm sorry but I don't believe a juggernaut company like Nintendo would have any problems banging out these things on and off the assembly line enough to meet demand. Maybe they're holding of in fears of the kinds of problems Microsoft had with all the 360's bugs?
I just dont get it.

[Scumdogg]

I like to think that the distraction of all the nimrods who can't play Wii Sports without shattering a tv has been holding Nintendo up. They *could* ship us more, maybe they just feel bad about it. And rightly so, we've proven ourselves unworthy of innovative control, as a country.

[jbanes]

jetset, on Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:36 AM, said:

I'm sorry but I don't believe a juggernaut company like Nintendo would have any problems banging out these things on and off the assembly line enough to meet demand.

Q: How many Gamecubes were sold in its 5 year lifetime?
A: About 21.5 million.

Q: How many Wii's have been sold in its mere 4 months of it's existence?
A: Estimates are placed at about 5 million.

5 years = 12 months * 5 = 60 months
21.5 million / 60 months = 358 thousand GameCube sales per month

5 million / 4 months = 1.2 million Wii sales per month

1.2 million / 358 thousand = 3.35 times as many Wii sales per month as Gamecube sales

Yeah, I'm sure that a juggernaut like Nintendo can handle the increase in volume.

[jetset]

jbanes, on Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:34 PM, said:

jetset, on Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:36 AM, said:

I'm sorry but I don't believe a juggernaut company like Nintendo would have any problems banging out these things on and off the assembly line enough to meet demand.

Q: How many Gamecubes were sold in its 5 year lifetime?
A: About 21.5 million.

Q: How many Wii's have been sold in its mere 4 months of it's existence?
A: Estimates are placed at about 5 million.

5 years = 12 months * 5 = 60 months
21.5 million / 60 months = 358 thousand GameCube sales per month

5 million / 4 months = 1.2 million Wii sales per month

1.2 million / 358 thousand = 3.35 times as many Wii sales per month as Gamecube sales

Yeah, I'm sure that a juggernaut like Nintendo can handle the increase in volume.

I'm not sure whether you're agreeing or disagreeing with me. You point to dispariging sales numbers between the Gamecube and the Wii, but of course there was NEVER even close to the amount of buzz surrounding the release of the Gamecube as there was to the Wii. I can understand the initial shortage, but now that they know of the demand, they could certainly bang out more than 1.2 million units per month if they chose to. It's just a shame they are choosing not to.

[MCHufnagel]

Raising production is a lot easier said than done. The people who own manufacturing facilities would want some kind of contract guarantee and if sales drop, then Nintendo is left holding the bag. If sales stay this strong for the rest of the year, then Nintendo should raise production capacity (probably for the holiday rush). But the console has only been out for a few months. I would let the dust settle before making any large/long-term commitments.

Blaming Nintendo for failing to see the Wii's popularity is plain wrong. NOBODY but Nintendo fanboys thought it would be this popular.

[AtariJr]

hes trying to freakin tell you that the wii is selling a crap load more than the gamecube did in the same amount of time. nintendo isnt sony.. they dont make false shortages to fake demand. when the ds had shortages in japan they tried to bat them out asap ... why? cuase they want money! they never THOUGHT the wii woudl be this popular, so now they are making as many as they can. technically if you watch you find roughly the same number of wiis and ps3s shipped to retailers.. its just that the wiis sell out in the first 1 or 2 hours after the truck comes in. it was 1:30 when i got the last wii at walmart and thier shipment was at 12, they were JUST putting them in the case and restocking the game shelf when i grabbed it. its just a hot item.

and back to the original question, its easier to produce games than the systems. and there are going to be more games made than the systems, so of course the shelves are going to be full and ready to go. seriously.. when was the last time you saw 8 zillion systems waiting to be bought and no games.. its either few systems and a lot of games, or lots of systems and lots of games.

Edited by AtariJr, Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:21 PM.

[compacho]

Me also wonders if this shortage is still caused by people buying them up immediately to resell them on ebay.

It's hard for me to believe that Nintendo at this point in time is willing to risk holding back Wiis when there's 2 other competing consoles consumers would buy. Heck, people just might buy a low priced PS2 instead of waiting for a Wii.

Like someone said before, Nintendo is also having trouble supplying the DS lite. Is Nintendo holding them back? Hardly. No need to build up DS hype when it clearly has won this portable console war.

Edited by compacho, Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:26 PM.

[Bilnick]

Nintendo (and other console makers) traditionally staggered thier console launches by a few months for the 3 major markets. Generally Japan would see the new console first, a few months later North America, and then a few months after that Europe. In each market there would be the initial surge of early adopters, and by the time the console was released in the next market, the demand in the existing market should have leveled off.

For some reason Nintendo decided to launch in all three markets within a couple weeks of each other, now they have huge demand in three markets simultaneously and are left looking stupid. They could have planned the launch schedule better.

I bet if they had launched in Japan in Aug/Sept 2006, in North America in November 2006, and Europe around now, People in Japan and NA would have no problems finding consoles.

"AtariJr" said:

nintendo isnt sony.. they dont make false shortages to fake demand.

Hah you must not be old enough to remember the NES days when there were mysterious "chip shortages" for some popular games..... I remember cheking game stores for a couple of months before finding Super Mario 3

[nathanallan]

If you really want one (I do but I'm holding out) there were TWO at EB Games in the Las Cruces, New Mexico mall at 700 Telshore Dr. Call them. I don't know if they'llmail it out to anybody or not. Just a tip for you all.

Nathan Allan

[AtariJr]

Bilnick, on Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:10 PM, said:

Nintendo (and other console makers) traditionally staggered thier console launches by a few months for the 3 major markets. Generally Japan would see the new console first, a few months later North America, and then a few months after that Europe. In each market there would be the initial surge of early adopters, and by the time the console was released in the next market, the demand in the existing market should have leveled off.

For some reason Nintendo decided to launch in all three markets within a couple weeks of each other, now they have huge demand in three markets simultaneously and are left looking stupid. They could have planned the launch schedule better.

I bet if they had launched in Japan in Aug/Sept 2006, in North America in November 2006, and Europe around now, People in Japan and NA would have no problems finding consoles.

"AtariJr" said:

nintendo isnt sony.. they dont make false shortages to fake demand.

Hah you must not be old enough to remember the NES days when there were mysterious "chip shortages" for some popular games..... I remember cheking game stores for a couple of months before finding Super Mario 3

actually i am. i got mario bros 3 for my nes when it came out, i actually remember getting it from toys r us that day.

and im talking about system launces, sony is notorious for making thier systems "not there"... it worked for the ps2 as it made the demand seem greater. they tried to pull the same stunt and now they have nothing to sell while the 360 , unlike the dreamcast is selling strong, and the wii is gaining momentum. shortage is the LAST thing nintendo wants. its one thing to delay a game to create hype, its another to delay a system when you want as many out there as possible when your system is the new hip thing. if microsoft and nintendo want to take over the playstation this generation, im sure they are both smart enough to realize holding off on shipments of games or systems would be absolutely foolish. that is what i meant.

[dalton4life]

I had my 4th Wii sighting ever 2 days ago. Sams Club had one left in stock when I was in there. It wasn't a bundle either. It was just the Wii console for $249.99.

[Crazy Climber]

compacho, on Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:09 PM, said:

Me also wonders if this shortage is still caused by people buying them up immediately to resell them on ebay.

rjchamp3 just PMed me trying to sell me one for $700.....what a dumbass

[bones]

Crazy Climber, on Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:24 AM, said:

rjchamp3 just PMed me trying to sell me one for $700.....what a dumbass

Ha! That's pretty funny. I could part with my slightly used one for $600, sound good?

[Avid Fan]

The Wii is ridiculous. I'm always in game stores and have only seen one ONCE, and that was being kept behind the counter so when the clrerk clocked out, the other clerk sold it to him.
I also once saw a Wiimote, 1 wiimote, and that was it. This system launch I think has surpassed all expectations

[ewing92]

i still havent seen a wii yet i dont think, but i see plenty of Wiimotes around here, i might have to start selling a couple things to buy a Wii....but i cant! oh i love the stuff so much!!! No, I will not part with my Vader and that is final! *goes through drawers to see what he can find*

[AtariJr]

ewing92, on Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:43 PM, said:

i still havent seen a wii yet i dont think, but i see plenty of Wiimotes around here, i might have to start selling a couple things to buy a Wii....but i cant! oh i love the stuff so much!!! No, I will not part with my Vader and that is final! *goes through drawers to see what he can find*

oh god i know that feeling. dont give in! ive sold so many games and systems like that that i now regret, and have had to rebuy and recollect for. im just glad i didnt get rid of my Gundam game for my n64 when i sold that system.

[Room 34]

Now that I have one (finally!) I think the key is that yes, they do sell out as soon as they're stocked, OR, the stores get them in and horde them in the back so they'll have a few on hand for when a big promo comes out in the Sunday paper. That was the key for me. I was at Toys 'R' Us on Friday and asked the guy if they had the Wii, and he said, "No, but we will on Sunday."

Hmmm... So of course I showed up an hour before they opened on Sunday and got ticket #20 out of 30. So yes, they had 30 on hand that they held until Sunday for the ad... but all 30 of them were STILL sold by the time the store actually opened. (They let all of us with tickets into the store 15 minutes early.)

So my advice to anyone who really wants one... check with the clerks at your store of choice near the end of the week, and see if they're going to have any on Sunday. (FWIW, I was in a different TRU on Saturday and they actually had a small sign in the "R Zone" that said they'd have a limited number of units available on Sunday.)