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."
Who doesn't have a wii at this point? (Score:3, Interesting)
What, are they EATING wiis? They've been selling out for over a year now, by my calculations that's 3 wiis per everyone.
I am a wii owner so spare me condemnation.. but.. (Score:5, Interesting)
I've not checked many review sites so if I'm bringing up a biased, poor review site by all means, reject what I'm saying:
2 years in and according to Gamespot [gamespot.com] only 8 games have made a score over 8.5 - 12 if you count 8.5
This is woeful. You go to the Wii section in any store and the shelves are stocked with what I deem "exploitware". That is, poorly designed games attempting to sucker the Wii mass market into buying games based on advertised novel mechanics (that rarely work).
A year ago, you could forgive this type of situation on the industry having not caught up with the prolific popularity of the console. 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?
Url may or may not work for you (localised) http://au.gamespot.com/reviews.html?type=reviews&platform=1031&mode=all&sort=score&dlx_type=all&sortdir=asc&official=all [gamespot.com]
Re:In other news... (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think you understand how many Wiis Nintendo is producing. Let me draw a comparison for you.
In the eight years that the PS2 has been available, it has sold about 140 million units. That's a lot by game console standards. In fact, it's a lot by the standards of pretty much any electronic device ever mass marketed. The PS2 is the most popular console in the history of video games.
To reach that lofty level of 140 million in 8 years, it would have taken a manufacturing capacity of ~1.5 million units per month. Nintendo is producing 2.4 million units per month. If Nintendo maintains that rate, they will produce 115.2 million consoles in the next 4 years. That's in addition to the 30 million consoles already on the market. That right there is over 145 million consoles in 6 years.
I will reiterate that the assumption is that production stays steady. However, Nintendo has already promised additional increases in production! Unless there is a massive and sudden drop-off in demand, Nintendo will not only be exceeding the record set by the PS2, they will shatter it to pieces.
I hope that clarifies the situation.
Re:I am a wii owner so spare me condemnation.. but (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:In other news... (Score:2, Interesting)
"Unless there is a massive and sudden drop-off in demand, Nintendo will not only be exceeding the record set by the PS2, they will shatter it to pieces."
So far, they've sold 30m units in two years; and have yet to be able to keep them in stock.
And yet, the PS2 in eight years sold 140m. 140/4=35m units in the same window as the Wii. And the Wii is in its infancy and prime, when most attention will be focused on it.
And yet still, the PS2 was not difficult to find in-stores after roughly one year.
Not saying it won't exceed PS2 sales ... that's hard to say, and depends on what Nintendo does in the future. But I think you're being a bit over-optimistic. I doubt production will keep steady at 2.4m units/mo for the next six years. But we'll see ...
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Interesting)
That is odd.
I know vgchartz isn't the most accurate site, but according to this [vgchartz.com], the Wii is about a year ahead of the PS2.
Re:It's Christmas (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I am a wii owner so spare me condemnation.. but (Score:2, Interesting)
I can't speak for all of us, but the Wii was the only system I was excited for in this generation.
360 and PS3: more of the same. I've played all those games to death. There was a chance for something new with the Wii, and while it hasn't been completely realized yet, there are still possibilities.
Generic FPS Sequel 4 (now with XBox Live micropayments and in-game ads!) is neither new, nor exciting.
--Jeremy
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Interesting)
For the record, it looks like [seekingalpha.com] the PS2s best selling year was when it sold about 22 million units in 2003. In 2004 it sold about 20 million. Notice that the console came out in 2000 and 2003 was it's third year out. The Nintendo Wii looks like it'll sell 20-24 million a year beginning with its second year. I think it could sell 100 million over five years thanks to the prohibitively high cost of the PS3 and the 360 providing enough competition this generation in the EU and US against the PS3 to keep one from being a runaway success.