Wii in short supply this Christmas

Wii in short supply this Christmas [NGC]
Monday October 1, 12:53 PM



The upshot is ‘form an orderly queue’ if you don’t already have yours. Nintendo lays it on the line for everyone still waiting on their Wii.

Demand for Wii will continue to outstrip demand this Christmas. What’s more Nintendo’s US president Reggie Fils-Aime says the company is still getting to grips with the unexpected degree of interest.

Speaking to Mercury News, Fils-Aime explained that Nintendo of America is “not even close to understanding where the threshold is between supply and demand” for Wii, as global sales continue to climb. “Every time we put more into the marketplace, we sell more,” says Fils-Aime, “typically, our inventory is lasting a day ... I don't think we will know when supply crosses with demand till after the holiday season.”

Does this definitely mean Wii will be hard to come by again this Christmas? Fils-Aime spells it out to the Mercury News as follows: “We're working very hard to make sure that consumers are satisfied this holiday, but I can't guarantee that we're going to meet demand. As a matter of fact, I can tell you on the record we won't.”

Of course you might still wonder if this is some marketing ploy from Nintendo, especially given that Wii consoles are becoming readily available on the UK high-street. That said, it is just as likely Nintendo is preparing consumers for a Christmas rush on on unpredictable scale (Fils-Aime admits Nintendo didn’t plan ambitiously enough for the new console and that it is basically playing catch up). Wii Sims has already picked up momentum ahead of Mario Galaxy arriving which arrives this November.

We're guessing Nintendo will go after a big US success story this year, versus Xbox 360 that continues to sell exceptionally well across the pond. This could mean UK stocks will be even more limited. Admittedly this is all conjecture, so we’ll be pushing Nintendo UK for comment as the gift-buying season draws near.



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