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

[GameDeals.ca]

Nintendo is making as many Wii's as they can... but even they didn't anticipate the enormous demand. Right now, Wii's can be found with a bit of searching as the demand has subsided a bit combined with the fact that everyone expects the stores to be sold out, so they stopped looking. They still sell out, just not as fast. With X-mas just around the corner and 3 major releases coming... you bet the Wii will be scarce this holiday season... and just in time for supplies to replenish in early 2008... bam... Mario Kart. Good times.

[Anthony1]

I can't believe it took you guys this long to figure out they've been doing this all along. The shortage might have been real last November and December, and even January, but since then Nintendo is creating this shortage from thin air. Is there huge demand? Hell yes there is. But a good part of the demand, is the hype that goes along with a hot item that is hard to get. If the Wii was extremely plentiful (like the PS3 is), then there wouldn't be this feeling of, "Man, I better buy this now while I actually have a chance.". That's the scenario that's going on. I know alot of friends and family members that aren't really interested in video games, but for some dumb ass reason, they find themselves looking for a Wii, primarily, because it's the hot ticket. People want what they can't get. It's human nature. When somebody finds an item that is very hard to find, they will sometimes buy it, even though it's something they might not necessarily need or even really want, but it's just a ego type thing. It makes them feel good to have something that people are desperate to get. It's hard to explain, but it's mostly psychological.


Nintendo probably looked at the whole situation like this:

The shortage was real for the first 90 days. The demand was strong. Even after Xmas the demand was very strong. They probably figured that they might as well string along this shortage a little bit longer. Why flood the market and end the run of hype? As the months have gone on, they figured that if it ain't broke, why fix it? I'm sure they have a pretty good idea right now, of exactly how many consoles to leak onto the marketplace, and when to leak them out there. They are managing the inventory brilliantly. They put out enough to sell alot of consoles per month, but not too many, where you would actually find 10 of them just sitting on a shelf somewhere. It's absolutely brilliant of them. I don't think anybody should blame Nintendo for this. They would be idiotic to not continue this for as long as humanly possible. Based on the statements they've made recently, it's obvious that they are going to continue this all the way thru the next holiday. They will probably finally give this up next March.

If you want to blame somebody, then blame the dumb ass consumers that are falling for this tactic.

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

Unless Nintendo has determined that the sweet spot seems to be right around 350K-400K units. Basically, they are leaking about 100K units per week into their channels, and that seems to do the trick.

[studvicious]

I don't buy that one bit.

[gepeto]

Nintendo has played the shortage game for years I remember when mike tysons punch out was very hard to find. That use to be their MO. With nintendo if its a seller you can bet on a shortage.

I use to get pissed but the past 10 years it hasn't bothered me at all. I figure it was due to there falling from the number 1 ranking. and not being my premire system.

[segagamer4life]

I know how you feel. Its annoying enough that every time a new system comes out, everybody has to wait outside the stores overnight and whatnot. Then a few months later you are able to buy the system outright. Nintendo I believe is doing this on purpose to make everybody want one more. There is no reason for them to have a hard time meeting the demand for 6 year old hardware. Come on nintendo, keep your rep as the good guys.

Amen, man, N, is creating hype by creating shortages...... wtf N is using these tactics to help move units....

[Icarus Moonsight]

I just don't see a rational purpose for a manufactured shortage. Lotsa tinfoil hats out there. I've heard this about Sony (PS2) and Microsoft (360) also... planned shortages seem to be the boogeyman of console gaming. lol

[skaar]

Nintendo is filling orders placed by retailers. Walmart here in town received 40 something Wiis as it was in the flyer, plus their regular shipment of 20 Wiis.

They lasted over the weekend and were gone by Monday morning. As far as I'm concerned, Nintendo is delivering what the retailers are ordering (the same thing happened at a few local EB Games and Toys r Us - the stores order X Wiis and they arrive then sell out)

You can't blame Nintendo if retailers aren't ordering enough. And it's stupid to expect retailers to order 500 Wiis - they don't want to be the one stuck with them when people finally stop buying.

Stop being childish by trying to "punish" a vendor by not buying their console for some self imposed judgemental reason. They could care less.

[Hep038]

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.

But you can look at it from MS and Sony point of view, since they lose money on units than they must sell even more units to sell more games. A shortage would not help them at all. Once they make the unit the money is spent. The only way to recoup the money is to sell games.

Some people wear tinfoil hats others drink Koolaid. Some people say we are both crazy.

[Bronty-2]

well said. way too many conspiracy theorists on these boards. nintendo (and sony and ms for that matter) wants nothing more than to get their consoles into people's homes asap so that they can increase their market share and software sales.

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.

[swlovinist]

From a business standpoint, I dont think that Nintendo is manufacturing the shortage. I think that the Wii is beating their expectations of popularity and is selling that well. I hear that it is on track to outsell the Xbox 360 by the release of Halo 3. Nintendo wants third party support, as well as have enough systems available for demand so that they can make money on software. While they make money on their hardware, their true profits come from software. Less hardware available, less software sold. If Nintendo is manufacturing a shortage, this would in turn only hurt profits for themselves. The stores around here are getting shipments weekly, they are just selling them that well. I dont believe that the Nintendo Wii is such an awsome system yet, I just think that the Competition of Microsoft and Sony are totally missing the boat with the casual gamer market.

[skaar]

As an addendum, I visited Walmart earlier this morning and there were 6 Wiis on the shelf, and a returned open box PS3 with a free copy of Click on Blu-Ray. No 360s.

[j_factor]

Unless Nintendo has determined that the sweet spot seems to be right around 350K-400K units. Basically, they are leaking about 100K units per week into their channels, and that seems to do the trick.

I don't think anybody at Nintendo could possibly be crafty/calculating enough to determine such a sweet spot, and manage production and distribution accordingly. Perhaps Nintendo gains a little by the Wii being seen as in short supply, but the amount of meticulousness you're talking about to be able to precisely deliver just the right number of Wii's to sell the maximum amount while still coming just short of supply would require ridiculous micromanagement on Nintendo's part, to an extent that I don't think any business would ever attempt.

And anyway, the way I see it, 100k units a week is in no way an inadequate supply for a game console. If the demand is exceeding it, then, it just has an exceedingly high demand. But the supply isn't short.

[skaar]

6 hours later, went back for some gym clothes and poked my head into the video game section. All Wiis gone, the PS3 gone...

[Lothars]

Unless Nintendo has determined that the sweet spot seems to be right around 350K-400K units. Basically, they are leaking about 100K units per week into their channels, and that seems to do the trick.

Completely True

Nintendo is holding back Inventory but also the fact that Wii's are becoming really common, I think that the "Shortage" is fake

In fact I bought one today and they were telling me they had at least 20 in the back for at least 2 weeks

I have seen so many Wii's the last month it's just telling me it's Nintendo creating the false Shortage.

[Poofta!]

With nintendo if its a seller you can bet on a shortage.

dude. its like that with everyone. if its a seller... it sells out... there arent anymore in stores. dur.

with game consoles beign the single best selling device or item in the world, wtf do you expect. if Canon had to produce their newest camera to meet those demands, theyd be short too.

[kainemaxwell]

Well if the Wii is a more popular and wanted system then the PS3, then Nintendo should be trying to fill orders as soon as they can...

[smokehouse]

I don’t know what in the hell is really going on but they are scarce…be it intentional or otherwise. I found one at a K-Mart and bought it for a friend…that was a few weeks after launch. Since then I look often just for the hell of it and have seen only 2 others. I’ve checked everywhere from Circuit City, Best Buy, Wal Mart, Target, K-Mart…game stores. You name it, I’ve looked there. Either Nintendo is up to something or they really are gobbled up the second they hit the stores. Either way, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a system take so long to be plentiful on the shelves.

[cyberfluxor]

Since launch I've never seen a Wii in a retail store. Going to pawn shops and indy game stores I've stumbled across about 3 used systems. Everyone I know got a Wii from online via eBay or other online stores. I've seen more NeoGeo Pocket Colors and Turbo Graphix systems in the past year than Wiis.

[bangtango]

Since launch I've never seen a Wii in a retail store. Going to pawn shops and indy game stores I've stumbled across about 3 used systems. Everyone I know got a Wii from online via eBay or other online stores. I've seen more NeoGeo Pocket Colors and Turbo Graphix systems in the past year than Wiis.

In this day and age, I'm curious as to who is bringing a video game system that is still less than a year old into a friggin' pawn shop? How much would they possibly give you for it? Nowhere near the price someone paid to get one new, that is for sure. Someone should have thought about Ebay first. What did the pawn shop have for a price on it?

[Neil Koch]

Someone might have needed the cash right away or it might have been stolen.

I've seen a Wii in a store around me once. I went to get cash out of an ATM to buy and by the time I got back to the store, it was gone.