Nintendo slip up points to Wii shortages? [update 1]
by Kyle Orland 
{ Dec 8th 2006 at 11:55AM }
It's not every day that a major video game company tells you not to listen to what it says, but that's just what Nintendo did today. Yesterday, the company issued a press release trumpeting NPD sales figures that showed healthy Wii and DS sales. The release also promised "well more than a million" Wii systems would be on U.S. store shelves by the end of the year, despite what the release called "spot shortages in some locations."Today, Nintendo issued a correction asking everyone to disregard the line about the million systems and the spot shortages. The company didn't offer any new projections for end-of-year domestic shipments, they just want us to know that the million unit target should go down the memory hole.
Given Nintendo's previous promise to ship four million systems worldwide by year's end, we find it hard to believe that not even a million of those system's would go to the world's largest video game market. So we have to wonder, does this retraction point to some Wii production problems that are slowing the planned deployment of the system?
Maybe Nintendo is just reapportioning it's limited supplies in light of crippling shortages in Europe, leaving the U.S. in the cold. Maybe the company just didn't want to tip its hand about regional distribution plans (although we think the damage has already been done if this is the case). Maybe Nintendo is scaling back Wii chatter in preparation for a planned merger with Apple (highly unlikely, but hey, anything is possible).
Read - Original press release
Read - Corrected press release
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Todd @ Dec 8th 2006 12:13PM
I think Nintendo under estimated their own popularity. People in Europe are scrambling to get the Wii. People in America are still scrambling to get a Wii. Good business for Nintendo, however they're falling behind in supplying the huge demand.
wiiare @ Dec 8th 2006 12:13PM
1st. everyone else is a loser.
theburn16 @ Dec 8th 2006 12:56PM
oh no! nintendo lied! this can't possibly be true, they would never overstate how many systems they would have
Author X @ Dec 8th 2006 6:35PM
It might not be problems manufacturing the systems, but delays caused by repackaging them with sturdier wrist straps, as reported on Nintendo Wii Fanboy. Then again, maybe department B just noticed department A said something exaggerated when department A really doesn't know shit, and B had to be the bad guy and cover for A. But, you know, why would a company like Nintendo have such gross organizational problems like that? *cough*region-lock*cough*
Author X @ Dec 8th 2006 12:19PM
@2: You just made my day :)
Derbeste @ Dec 8th 2006 12:22PM
Wiiare:
haha...ended up at #2.
Now you're a loser AND a piece of shit.
Next time, don't be so hard on yourself.
Keef @ Dec 8th 2006 12:21PM
hahahahahahahaha @2, you suck.....
i can sleep MUCH happier now, knowing a Wii boy just owned himself...
Juggy @ Dec 8th 2006 12:22PM
If Nintendo merged with Apple I would burn my Wii in the street.
chenry @ Dec 8th 2006 12:31PM
lol @ #2
now. Where are the wii remotes? I can't find one anywhere in the city it's insane.
Agent MOO @ Dec 8th 2006 12:33PM
So at http://www.nexgenwars.com/ their pants are on fire?
Paul P. @ Dec 8th 2006 12:31PM
Maybe the slowdown is from having to replace all those straps.
JohnQAnonymous @ Dec 8th 2006 12:50PM
At least SOMEONE in the media is calling Nintendo on their utter failure to hit their projected launch and other numbers.
Sony announces that they can't hit their launch objective, everyone makes fun of them.
Nintendo can't hit theirs, but doesn't tell anyone about it, and then releases numbers that show they missed their promised ship numbers, and everyone's like, "Woo, Nintendo's awesome, they sold out of everything!"
Freaking double standards.
Erwos @ Dec 8th 2006 12:59PM
#1:
Nintendo didn't underestimate their own popularity. They overestimated how many consoles they could put in the channel. Considering this thing is a die-shrunk Gamecube, I'm confused as to what could be the hold-up.
ackmondual @ Dec 8th 2006 1:10PM
PS3 is harder to manufacture even w/o the BR diode shortage. Does this mean that Sony's going to be in a world of epic supply-line hurting now that the easier-to-make Wii is having supply issues as well?
Aex @ Dec 8th 2006 1:07PM
John, even tho they missed thier target, their launch happened to be one of the best launches I can remember. I don't fault Sony for missing their launch so I can't fault Nintendo who had an even better launch :) You gotta give some slack to launching consoles, No matter who makes them.
dml @ Dec 8th 2006 1:10PM
Whatever happened to the predictions of upwards of ten million units being manufactured for Q4? There were even some analysts even predicting Nintendo had manufactured between 6 and 10 million units prior to launch.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6159406.html
crono141 @ Dec 8th 2006 1:10PM
Could be supply chain management. For all we know they've got warehouses full of the things, but no way to ship them out to retail fast enough.
Probably not, but its another part of the equation.
And this is nothing like what Sony did. Nintendo didn't reneg on a worldwide launch, and then provide half of what they said they would on launch day. There are lots of Wii (lol at all the "don't bother to pre-order wii" people, BTW), but the demand outstrips supply. This alwasys happens, but with Sony its 100 times worse.
DrkMatter @ Dec 8th 2006 1:09PM
I always thought that the 4 million unit forecast was for Nintendo's fiscal year, not the calendar year. Was I wrong?
SuperChuck @ Dec 8th 2006 1:19PM
I read it to mean 1 million ADDITIONAL units by the end of the year... Maybe that's why they pulled it...
HardScores @ Dec 8th 2006 1:37PM
Joystiq slips up by not just posting the press release, thus proving they don't have a press.nintendo login? I mean, even I have one.
TheOptimist @ Dec 8th 2006 1:21PM
Maybe they should pull off any Gamecubes left in the shelf, rip it off and repackage it as new Wiis. Sans the controller, SD card slot, internet connectivity and nunchuk, nobody is going to be able to tell the difference.
crono141 @ Dec 8th 2006 1:23PM
Who wants to sign my petition to force "TheOptimist" to be change his name to "TheIdiot"?
sploy @ Dec 8th 2006 1:44PM
There must be quite a big production or shipping problem, since the site I ordered my Wii from have given me £10 ($19.50) off my next order and a free Wii game (a joint goodwill offer from the retailer and nintendo apparently)
As happy as I am to be getting a free game and £10, I can't help feeling this means a hefty delay in getting my console :(
dml @ Dec 8th 2006 1:32PM
As someone with years of marketing and PR experience, I read the strike of that one line to be an admission of an error on the part of Nintendo's PR department. It's bad form to say something like "spot shortages" in this kind of release. That kind of information should be left to one on one interviews or not mentioned until well after it's been resolved.
The Wii appears, by all accounts, to be well on its way to shipping 1,000,000+ units to the US by the end of the year. It's already well past that point in sales, and each of the next two weekends will see major national chains with major marketing campaigns mentioning stock of Wiis. (Best Buy, Circuit City, Toys R Us) In the past week alone, Target and Wal-mart each had large shipments of Wiis, and the word is there will be at least one more round at each store before Christmas, if not more.
It's possible Nintendo is recalling those items in the supply channel, but I don't think that's what this correction means. Sometimes tea leaves are just dried leaves.
JohnQAnonymous @ Dec 8th 2006 1:37PM
crono141: This is pretty much EXACTLY what Sony did, only at least gave people a heads up about it.
Depending on which numbers you're going with, the "1 million at launch" or the larger "2 million at launch", Nintendo either only hit 60% of their target, or 30% of it.
But everyone was laughing at Sony for 50%.
Yeah, laugh at the people who didn't line up, thinking there'd be no shortages. That'll show them. Stupid fools who actually put faith in Nintendo's PR machine.
> @ Dec 8th 2006 1:38PM
If Nintendo has shipped 2 million units as of today (a high estimate), they would need to produce and ship an additional 100k units per day for the remainder of the year to meet their 4 million unit target (most of those initial 2 million units were stockpiled and ready for launch).
crono141 @ Dec 9th 2006 11:59PM
The launch is still going on. Nintendo didn't say 1 million at day 1 for the US only, nor have they said 4 million by '07 for US only. They said 1 million at launch worlwide (which they've hit) and 4 million worldwide by '07. If it keeps selling like it has been, that number is extremely likely to be reached, as long as production and supply chain are in order.
>, you're assuming that there aren't still wii already made (and stuck in a warehouse, or in transit) for your estimates. There are also factories all over the world producing wii, so even if there aren't any in storage waiting for shipping, 100k units a day isn't unlikely.
ForcedSterilizationForAll @ Dec 8th 2006 1:48PM
@crono
Great comeback, you should have spent more than 3 minutes to come up with that one.
NintendoFanbot @ Dec 8th 2006 2:09PM
John Q. Anonymous said:
"Depending on which numbers you're going with, the "1 million at launch" or the larger "2 million at launch", Nintendo either only hit 60% of their target, or 30% of it.
But everyone was laughing at Sony for 50%."
Going by Nintendo's target of 4-million by year's end, even the crap statistic of 30-40% would out number Sony's 100% PS3 1-million quota. Comparing percentages alone is bullshit.
For the record, Sony's launch was worse than the 360's. Although now, 360s are plentiful now so I might want to get one after I get Wii.
----------------------
The Optimist said:
"Maybe they should pull off any Gamecubes left in the shelf, rip it off and repackage it as new Wiis."
Okay, let's settle this once and for all. If the Wii REALLY used CUBE parts, wouldn't you think the Wii would be more, I don't know, CUBE-SHAPED? The GC was a very compact design, and the way the parts were arranged used its interior space pretty efficiently.
--------------------
For this post overall:
I don't see where Nintendo's TARGET QUOTA means PROMISE. We really have to stop using that word if it's being used to twist other companies words around.
But I guess it's only 'apologists' like myself who are capable of spin-doctoring, huh?
Grant @ Dec 8th 2006 6:30PM
"Sans the controller, SD card slot, internet connectivity and nunchuk, nobody is going to be able to tell the difference."
Hahahaha. Yeah, sans all the IMPORTANT STUFF, no one is going to be able to tell the difference.
JohnQAnonymous @ Dec 8th 2006 2:40PM
Look, NintendApologist, nobody's saying Sony's launch didn't suck, and nobody's saying Nintendo's launch sucked. If you read the origial post I made, the complaint I have is that there's an obvious double standard involved.
One side: Ostracized for their announcement of a smaller number.
Other side: Celebrated for selling a smaller number than announced.
Any moron can see that Nintendo did better at the end of the day. But any moron should also be able see that Nintendo screwed up this aspect just as much as Sony did.
As ">" has stated, Nintendo needs to crank out 100K unites PER DAY assuming they already made 2 Million at this point in order to hit their more recent "4 Million by the end of the year" mark.
Odds point to them falling well short of that, too.
Don't try to spin semantics into this, either. The word "promise" has many meanings. Drafted rookies that show "promise" aren't actually showing that they're making an agreement to be good.
The term "Campaign promises" is not restricted to phrases where the candidate uses the term "promise" in their pledge.
They said they'd have 1-2 million at launch. That's a launch promise, same as it was billed for Sony.
jc @ Dec 8th 2006 2:53PM
Sounds like Nintendo just lied about their production capabilities. How is this a big win for them? They are losing holiday sales, and next year it'll be much harder to compete with PS3 and Xbox360. The Wii desperately needs this holiday season to establish itself with a userbase of 3-4 million, or else it wont have enough units to justify major 3rd party development.
It'll succeed in Japan. Thats the only thing we can be assured of. But who cares? They need to step it up if they want to compete for the major European and US markets.
Gonzo @ Dec 8th 2006 3:54PM
That's okay.
I can wait. I got plenty of ps2 games to play anyway. Besides, (though nintendo is notorious for making machines with the survivability of a cocroach) I don't think the wrist strap is going to be the worst thing to happen to the launch models.
Sometime next year the mood will hit me to pick up one, and I'll do it then, when there will be one waiting on the shelf; even at Gamestop: which, those fruitcakes should really change their name to GamePreorder.
Moogle @ Dec 8th 2006 3:05PM
I've never been clear on what exactly the numbers being spouted for nintendo mean. North America or just US? Calendar year of fiscal year? Even what exactly this press release means (the joystiq titles says 'points to' shortages). I think others are jumping to conclusions to back up whatever nonsense they'd like to believe.
A friend just went to gamestop to try to get a Wii from their shipment today (they sold out before he got there). They apparently told him next week they're expecting a shipment larger than the original launch allocations, and that there's 3 million units being pumped out (presumably to North America) total.
Hypothesis if this has any basis in fact - the first shipment was testing the waters for demand, and as a result they've invested a lot in ratcheting up production levels and we'll be seeing the first wave of it soon.
Dave @ Dec 8th 2006 3:15PM
I agree about the double standard. Before either system launched, I was all about the Wii. I bought into all the bullshit about actually being able to get one unlike PS3.
Now...fuck Nintendo, fuck Sony. How do they expect me to buy all those games on the shelves if I can't even find the fucking system?
crono141 @ Dec 8th 2006 4:26PM
Too bad joystiq likes to eat comments lately. lets try again. (part 2)
People are getting confused about promised number. Nintendo never promised 1 million units for NA launch only, they promised 1 million at lauch worldwide. Since we just got done with the worldwide launch, and they've sold MORE than a million consoles, I'd say they've met that one. Likewise, they never promised 4 million by jan for NA only, it was 4 million worldwide. I know we americans like to think we are the world, but we're not.
Nintendo hasn't screwed anything up. Even if they did launch with less than promised (which they didn't), it's no where near the kind of shortage shared by the PS3 launch (which caused riots and violence litterally everywhere).
With factories world wide producing wii as fast as they can, 100k units a day isn't unheard of.
NintendoFanbot @ Dec 8th 2006 3:28PM
"One side: Ostracized for their announcement of a smaller number.
Other side: Celebrated for selling a smaller number than announced."
The only reason there's a "double standard" is because you aren't considering what each company looked like going into this phase.
Sony gained an infamous reputation for using shipped numbers to claim that it had outdone its competitor. (Prominent example: PSP)
However, even with 'an unsatisfactory 30%' of their supply, nearly 1 million SALES was still reached by Nintendo.
Your reasoning for the 'double standard' was based on comparing the percentages and not the respective companies in context.
I'm paraphrasing your statement: "Nintendo is celebrated for selling only a million units out of 1-2 million while Sony is ostracized for saying they would ship less".
I'm pretty grateful for Sony being honest in the first place, but then they shipped EVEN lesser than what they said.
Microsoft's launch was a joke as well. 1 million for the entire world? Are these companies kidding? That's not enough. Of course they're going to be laughed at. And even moreso for only bringing around 500,000 at launch. WORLDWIDE. And the company will actually suffer for at least a small period of time, justifying aforementioned scrutiny. None of the companies gave enough time to build up supply (not even Nintendo). Still, they manage to build enough to have a decent instant userbase.
"The word "promise" has many meanings."
But saying something that might have the same 'meaning' is not as near as effective as actually saying the word itself. If they do something that MIGHT sound like a promise it's still not a promise. They always talk about target expectations and quotas but it turns into the verb promise and takes on the definition as a solid statement. A target is NOT something that is percieved as definite, while a promise IS.
Nintendo often changes their forecasts, usually for the better. Rarely for the worse, but it's an example that forecasts/targets DO change.
"As ">" has stated, Nintendo needs to crank out 100K unites PER DAY assuming they already made 2 Million at this point in order to hit their more recent "4 Million by the end of the year" mark."
Wii is also launching just recently in other countries. They probably CAN manufacture at that rate but probably want to ship it all at the same time, or have greater bulk with less frequent shipments.
JohnQAnonymous @ Dec 8th 2006 5:53PM
crono:
Don't try and re-write history. Nintendo said 1 million for North America ALONE. Here's the quote to prove it:
"We're looking at a million (units) for North America at launch," said Bertram. "When Sony came out (with their PS3 announcement), they said 300,000.
"If we get what we're supposed to get, this will be our most plentiful launch in the 15 years I've been at Nintendo. All signs are actually extremely positive."
So to break this down:
Made fun of Sony's numbers.
Said 1 million.
Said North America alone.
Said this would be bigger than all prior Nintendo console launches.
If you're still in denial, it's up over here:
http://www.mackenziefinancial.com/en/pub/media_centre/news/includes/ztechnology/060914/z091450.shtml
There were fewer Wii launched in North America than the GameCube, and it was under a million. That's a direct quote to a financial magazine by the head of Nintendo Canada.
Nintendo screwed up. They launched with fewer than they promised, they've never admitted it, and a lot of people are pissed about it.
justchris @ Dec 8th 2006 11:09PM
@JohnQAnonymous,
Okay, you win this argument. I'm not sure where you pulled that quote from, but I admit I never saw it before today. Ask anyone else here, at slashdot, at digg, at gamespot, at IGN and they probably never saw it either.
Can you show any other instances where Nintendo made a specific numeric claim for a launch number, because the first, last and only thing I heard is what they've repeated since May (at E3). 4 million consoles by the end of calendar year, 6 million by the end of the fiscal year.
So I suspect the double standard is caused not by forgiveness, but because no one actually knew how many units Nintendo planned to ship at launch. The only thing I ever saw was analyst's comments that they could ship as many as 7 milliion units this year, likely with 2 milliion at launch, but Nintendo never commented on that.
Luckydob @ Dec 9th 2006 12:00AM
Doesn't matter...to hit a million they had better pull some
Wii's out
of the woodwork really quick for North America. As it stands now.PS3
- None availableWii - None available360 - Yep, they are available and
selling more than the other 2 guys.Tell me who wins Christmas this
year.
monk @ Dec 17th 2006 5:24PM
Here's what I know. I'm thirty years old, and the last video game system I owned was the original NES purchased in 1987. In addition, I owned around twenty titles for it. Almost twenty years later, when I'm a single, working adult with considerable disposable income, Nintendo recaptures my interest in console gaming with the Wii. Only I just called seventeen retail stores in a fifty mile radius, all of which received Wii shipments this morning and all of which were sold out within the first couple of hours.
I'm annoyed, Nintendo, and I have a long memory. You might've missed your chance.
SPACEMEATfromNAPKINS @ Mar 5th 2007 8:10AM
I Think all of the major console companies are just in it for themselves nowadays, I mean in the days of the old NES, there wasnt really too huge of a market for gamers, now there are multiple companies, all of which are competing for the best quotas, sales figures etc. It's become more about making money and superceding the competition, than it is about actually having good systems, reliability. The only company I really admire right now is Microsoft,don't get me wrong, I hate the xbox and halo and Bill Gates. But c'mon they are the only people I consider to have souls, they released their console way the heck ahead of the competition, and I bet they still come out ahead because they are waiting to launch Halo 3 later to spike sales, sickening, how brilliant their scheme is.