Wii: "If you see one, buy it." I call BS

[djbeatmongrel]

Thinking about it i don't believe its a manufactured shortage. For the most part nintendo has to make systems no only for the US but all other regions to. Spreading out each batch across the regions like that would make it seem like a larger shortage than there is.

If I remember correctly, Nintendo ships Wii's by boat instead of plane to the US to cut down in shipping costs. My memory is foggy so i could be wrong but i believe i had gotten that info from a Nintendo rep when i was working at GS. Take that state meant with a grain of salt.

[Garry Silljo]

Why would any company manufature a shortage? That's just dumb. The demand is established and real, and they want to make money. So they are going to make sales if they can. The only reason there are no Wiis on the shlef is that the demand is too high. Nintendo has nothing to gain by sitting on them. It's not like they are going to be worth more if you sell them later. They want to make money. They want to push out units and make those sales.

[Chadt74]

With 'user base' driving licensing fees and 3rd party support, creating a shortage would seem text book stupid esp when you make a profit on every unit sold.

[Push Upstairs]

I guess everyone else is buying the "if you see it, buy it" line.


I believe Sony would create an artificial shortage....
I believe MS would create an artificial shortage....
Nintendo has created an artificial shortage in their past (but with chips) so I wouldn't be surprised if they are now.

[Hep038]

Why would any company manufature a shortage? That's just dumb. The demand is established and real, and they want to make money. So they are going to make sales if they can. The only reason there are no Wiis on the shlef is that the demand is too high. Nintendo has nothing to gain by sitting on them. It's not like they are going to be worth more if you sell them later. They want to make money. They want to push out units and make those sales.

People have blamed Sony for creating a shortage on purpose and no one blinked a eye.
And one reason Nintendo might hold them back is for quarterly numbers. Hold back production, increase consumer interest, release the units in a quarter where you normally have a hard time selling consoles, Stock price goes up.

[Nintendo Gamer]

.....

[Lothars]

I have seen so many Wii's where I live that it's crazy, I have seen at least 50 Wii's in 10 different stores in different cities, heck I could go and buy a Wii right now without a second thought.

The Wii is not that rare and I still think the shortage is not as big as it's made out to be.

[Poofta!]

you should ask a manager to check for you. dont bother asking worthless employess shit. they are working for shit wages and dont give a shit about you or the store. ive had managers go in the back and find Wiis when employess said there werent any. (twice). as for me, ive had my wii since day one, and its not getting much love to be honest.

[cyberfluxor]

I mean yeah - there could be a little bit of a delay in terms of updating inventory. But I'd be willing to bet that those 2 and those 9 were sitting pretty in the back for the end of the day when the employees could take them home and put them up for sale online at premium prices.

Sorry to say but this seems a bit off. There have been plenty of times I've asked about games, movies and music CDs being in stock at other locations and when I got there it's out of stock or even extras. Sometimes it's a mismatch in inventory, might have just been sold or simply misplaced in the back. It doesn't happen that often but things do happen especially if it's a hot item.

Now, if they were sitting in the back I'd bet someone earlier (maybe weeks ago) paid an employee in advance for dibs and offered some extra upon delivery.

Garry Silljo:
You're the closest to my opinion on the subject. When there's a demand they'll produce as much as possible. There are plenty of Wii games sitting on shelves not selling that I'm sure they'd love to unload some liabilities.

[bangtango]

I don't know if Nintendo is creating an artificial shortage just to give consumers a sense of urgency. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they are sitting on a stash of Wii systems a little longer until some more AAA games are released, like Super Mario Galaxy and the rest of the lineup.

"Hmmm, the Super Mario Galaxy game is just coming out, seems like a great time to start shipping some Wii's into stores just in time for that game (or another big game) to drop."

[WanganRunner]

We would get about 20+ Wii's in my store and they'd all get sold out within a few hours, so the demand is pretty high.

What he said may be an exaggeration, but it's not complete BS.

+1


They're still selling every single unit they can get to market within hours, I don't think this is an engineered shortage. They brought a bazillion units to market at launch, more than any company ever has, so that demonstrated a genuine desire to get the things available, but it's just a runaway demand that I don't even think they anticipated.

I mean c'mon, it was a risky new idea, and I'm sure they didn't think it would be quite the crazy immediate success it has been.


On the downside....I really want one and I haven't been able to find one yet.

[Richter Belmount]

Re to topic title : http://youtube.com/watch?v=nLI7bJGLv_0

[diskoboy]

I'm a Wii owner, myself, and I'm beginning to wonder why the Wii is selling so well. My 360 gets far more attention.

If it wasn't for RE4, my Wii would still be collecting dust, as it was for almost 4 months.

[Hep038]

Well thats utter shit, you know how many articles whined about shortages for PS3. Then when they had enough for UK, they whined that they weren't sold out. Can't make anybody happy. :l

I do not know if this makes a difference but I was talking about the launch of the PS2. What I was saying was that people seemed to believe that Sony made a artificial shortage with out questioning it.

[zektor]

I get completely different information from NOA administration. I recently had my Wii have some issues with reading discs (just my luck) and of course Nintendo's excellent customer service immediately sent me a brand new advance replacement unit. When I spoke with someone else in the admin department, he was quite shocked that the Wii was hard to find in my area. Kind of odd if you ask me.

[Niku-Sama]

i really dont see it as a shortage, i see it as people are going DAMN i like this thing and buying one of their own.

i saw for the first time before i left for japan a Wii in stock at a local store how ever it didnt take long (the time for me to get to the store and leave) and it was already gone.

i see a Wii every day so its no big deal to me!

[FoxyGamer]

I too work in a game store and I can tell you a couple of things for sure.

A) in the beginning, there really was a Wii shortage. I don't work for an EB or a Game Stop, so my store doesn't get a whole bunch at a time like the bigger retailers, but we had a mere 25 to sell at launch. We only took 20 "preorders" from the pool of our most fierce and loyal customers, and we have 6 employees and obviously not everyone got one.

B) Do you remember the DS shortage? that was real, too- right around the time Nintendo was trying to get more Wii's out DSs were as scarce as maracas for Samba De Amigo. I swear parents would call every day for Wiis or DSs- it was Christmas, after all. My point is I believe Nintendo was really making an effort to get Wiis manufactured to meet demand, so much so their other manufacturing duties got neglected.

C) recently my store manager won a preorder contest and we got in 50 Wii's, our biggest shipment ever, and they were sold out in two days. This was like last month, not even last year.

In conclusion, I guess my view on the matter is skewed since we don't really ever get more than 2 at a time when they do come in, and that's in drips and drabs, but when they come in, they sell, and it's not the employees holding them back, either- if we have them, we sell them.

[gepeto]

The way I see it the wii had a small showing of games at es super mario galaxy,metriod,wiifti,mariokart. After that. What else. I believe it is just a strategic ploy to divert gamers from that fact and focus on the shortage because if there is a shortage it must be good right?

[j_factor]

If the Wii were experiencing an artificial shortage, it wouldn't be selling 375k units a month.

The reason it's more believable that Sony or Microsoft created an artificial shortage is that they take a loss on every unit sold. Nintendo doesn't; thus, they have no incentive to restrict supply.

[Icarus Moonsight]

If the Wii were experiencing an artificial shortage, it wouldn't be selling 375k units a month.

The reason it's more believable that Sony or Microsoft created an artificial shortage is that they take a loss on every unit sold. Nintendo doesn't; thus, they have no incentive to restrict supply.

Bingo! It's also better to keep the supply constant and steady rather than ramping up for demand now and getting into trouble latter - it's like what happened to Sega with the Dreamcast. Sold like mad for awhile... then , all the sudden, nothing. Leaving them with millions of units of unsold product slowly eating your company alive.