Nintendo Already Anticipating Holiday Wii Shortages 246
As we approach the holiday season, Nintendo has already said that they don't expect to keep up with demand for the Wii console. In an interview with the LA Times, Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime said they're ramping up production by 33% already, with further increases planned. They're hoping to avoid the scarcity of Wii's that occurred last year, which cost them a great deal of money in potential sales. "We're now producing 2.4 million units a month worldwide. Last year, we made 1.6 million a month. So we've made a 33% increase. One of our competitors projects they will sell 10 million consoles worldwide this year. For us, that's three months of production. We're producing an unprecedented level of hardware to try to meet demand."
They're actually making 50% more (Score:4, Informative)
1.5*1,600,000 = 2,400,000
The maths don't stack up. (Score:1, Informative)
Let's see. Three months of production, at 2.4 million units a month, is ... carry the one ... 7.2 million units.
Now if they'd said four months of production, I could accept it - they'd be slightly out, but it'd be within a reasonable margin.
Re:I am a wii owner so spare me condemnation.. but (Score:5, Informative)
Now, I find myself losing faith in the Wii. With all the Mario lineup accounted for and Smash Bros done, a "not completely awesome" Metroid. What do we have to look forward to?
One thing I am looking forward to is the MotionPlus wiimote attachment. You know those lightsaber games we where promised? All the great game ideas that turned out lackluster because the wiimote's motion detection isn't that great? This will make all that possible. The MotionPlus gives 6 degrees of freedom, registering motion and rotation.
Re:Who doesn't have a wii at this point? (Score:5, Informative)
Wiiagra? :D
It's Christmas (Score:2, Informative)
Stop pussyfooting around with the phrase "holiday season". If you mean Christmas, say Christmas!
Re:In other news... (Score:4, Informative)
Regarding good games, you skipped over Super Mario Galaxy, but you have a decent point regarding the games - I want more non crappy games. Yes, I'm somewhat contradicting my first paragraph here, but there have been several good games for the console, enough to get me to buy it and enough to prove the point that the new controller is fun. Now, it just needs more of them.
Re:In other news... (Score:5, Informative)
(sigh)
Here we go again... slashdotters that appear to have no clue with math and/or real-world economics. I'll try to make this brief...
1) Using your numbers, the ps2 has been in production ~ 100 months now, for an avg. of 1 million/month. The SNES sold 50 million over over5 years, averaging ~ 1 million/per month. Wii production WAS 1.6 million/month last year, and is NOW at 2.4 million/month. Wii production started around 1 million/month and has only been increasing, thus Nintendo is already putting units out at an unprecedented rate compared to any system current or past.
2) Factories and production capability don't just appear out of thin air. They take time and money to build. A built factory with no demand is a bad investment, and Nintendo rarely makes bad investments. Building more manufacturing lines just for the holiday rush is bad business. Good business is to stockpile over the summer.
3) When people buy a product as fast as it is produced you can't build up a stockpile for holiday sales. Thus, more shortages when demand spikes. THERE IS NO DELIBERATE SHORTAGE. JUST STRONG SALES AND PREDICTABLE ECONOMICS.
Sorry for the yelling, but its a bit annoying that every Wii story that pops up is filled with people claiming conspiracy. When the demand is high and production is down, then you might have a point.
Re:In other news... (Score:1, Informative)
I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the 360 Arcade is already slightly cheaper than the Wii in North America, and has been that way in Europe for some time now. The price argument no longer holds water.
Let's use Metacritic (Score:3, Informative)
Ok, let's use Metacritic...
Wii
First available: November 19, 2006
Scores 80 and above: 36 games
Scores 85 and above: 13 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/wii/scores/ [metacritic.com]
Xbox 360
First available: November 22, 2005
Scores 80 and above: 122 games
Scores 85 and above: 47 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/xbox360/scores/ [metacritic.com]
PS3
First available: November 11, 2006
Scores 80 and above: 79 games
Scores 85 and above: 34 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/ps3/scores/ [metacritic.com]
PS2
First available: October-November, 2000
Scores 80 and above: 319 games
Scores 85 and above: 149 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/ps2/scores/ [metacritic.com]
Nintendo DS
First available: November, 2004
Scores 80 and above: 64 games
Scores 85 and above: 25 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/scores/ [metacritic.com]
"Good" Game per Month (GGPM) Ratio
Since most consoles were released in November, lets round up their ages by year. And assuming the score of 80 qualifies as a "good" game:
- Wii: 36/24 = 1.5 GGPM
- 360: 122/36 = 3.39 GGPM
- PS3: 79/24 = 3.29 GGPM
- PS2: 319/96 = 3.32 GGPM (*)
- NDS: 64/48 = 1.33 GGPM
*) The PS2 probably doesn't have many new games anymore in the past few years.
It seems the NDS and Wii are filled with a lot more family and kids-friendly games, and these games tend to not favor the critics, and possibly most hardcore gamers.
Re:In other news... (Score:2, Informative)
If the Wii continued at its previous rate (1.6 million units/month) it'd reach 100 million 5 months faster than the PS2.
If we assume Nintendo shipped 1.6M/month up to now, and will continue at 2.4M/month from here on out, then the Wii will hit 100M within 4 years 1 month of its launch (1.6M * 23 months + 2.4M * 26), a whopping 21 months faster than the PS2.
Also, to be clear, I am comparing Apples and Apples here. The link above was for shipments, not units sold, and the story is about shipments, not units sold. However, if the Wii continues at it's unprecedented rate, they will certainly sell 100 million units a lot faster than the PS2.