Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo Already Anticipating Holiday Wii Shortages
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."
1.5*1,600,000 = 2,400,000
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.
Wiiagra? :D
This is the sig that says NI (again)
I've never really understood these arguments against the Wii. I don't really care about the resolution - the games are fun. I've played 4 player Mario Kart without any issues (other than the difficulty of finding quality opponents). I don't care if Zelda also came out for the Gamecube - it was still a very good game. You're clearly missing the point of the Wii - it's no longer about the joystick and all the buttons, and that's why people are buying it. They don't care if it has the same stuff as the Gamecube or if the resolution is 480p - they want the Wiimote.
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.
(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.