Wii shortage is intentional, according to Gamestop

Nintendo Sucks.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprise if Nintendo was manipulating the situation in order to ride the wave all the way to the bank. What bothers me just as many of you have mentioned is the quality of the games. Yeah yeah yeah...we've heard it all before...."it's still too early" , "you can't judge a console by launch titles or launch windows..." bullshit I says, yes you can and Wii is terribly lacking. My Wii is collecting a thick layer of dust but my PS3 is getting more love.

One of the selling points for the Wii was the ease of development and the familiarity of the development environment. I don't see it. I see piss poor ports, lazy development, and brain dead implementation of motion control. By Nintendo's own statements about the Wii, developers should have been able to take advantage of the environment and tools to deliver games that at least were better than last gen if not as good as current gen. Where is it? There are more than a few Wii games that look worse than Ps2 titles. Personally, Wii is quickly becoming nothing more than a ruse. The release list for the rest of the year is suspect and we still don't have a good idea of when SSBB is coming or Metroid and the lack of online play is a deal breaker.

So I believe Nintendo is riding the wave. Because once the public at large realizes that Nintendo ripped us off with the hype machine and under delivered on ANY titles that truly take advantage of the Wii, sales are going to slow and Nintendo will be sent back to the 3rd spot where they belong until they get their shit together. The sad part about this is, I AM a Nintendo fan from the NES days and I'm just sick of their bullshit after 20 years of it.

I think its kind a paradox to call this one an intentional shortage. I mean yes, the console is harder to find than a cookie at fat man's buffet.
But when you sell over a third of a mil, MONTHLY, and still have problems, that just means that the demand is outstripping your supply and there's nothing else to it. Make more factories to boost suply like Nintendo is, and hope that you don't get mobbed as you leave the store.

Nice too see all opinions here.
Over at Kotaku this doesn't exist. Their messages are edited out and users are banned so that all is left is a demographic that supports what they say.
They ran this article. Blamed Nintendo stating it as proof and everyone jumped onboard and agreed.

I use to be able to post there, but once I questioned a PS3 article all my posts were deleted and I was banned.

We do have our share of crazies posting here, but at least there isn't banning that forces everyone to agree with you. Maybe they should rename their site to Naziku.

Required,

I live in the Bay Area. I have been trying to find a Wii for a freind for weeks. I have been to Circut City on Van Ness, Best Buy SF and Marin City, Target in Walnut Creek and Bayfair and Daly City adn Novato. Haven't been able to find one. I haven't tried Wal mart I don't shop there(from San Francisco). Could you tell me where to buy one?

People have to understand that manufacturing Wii's isn't a matter of typing in amount and hitting enter. You have to build a complex production system. If you think people will only buy 1 million per month, you only want your system designed to produce 1 million a month. If you set up to make 2 million, but can only sell 1 million per month, you have to lay people off, shut down lines, and take a serious financial hit because you invested in twice the production line as you needed to. While there is money lost in not making enough systems, there is also money lost in making too many. Estimating the demand is something that Nintendo pays multiple people good yearly salaries to do.

Sure, there are some things you can do like build a line to run two shifts, then add a third if needed. Nintendo probably was being a bit too conservative. Or possibly not. If sales slow way down they are going to be happy they were only set up to produce what they are producing. With the DS Lite, they have to be kicking themselves, because that system was selling to exceed production for a long time.

Intentional scarcity only works on very non-hardcore gamers with lots of dough. People who go to blogs base their system purchase on either information about what the system has to offer or fanboyism.

I have followed the "Console Wars" with a lot of interest since last year. In this case, Nintendo has said for a long time that they plan to ship (or sell, can't remember) 6 million units by the end of their fiscal year March 31. All indications are that they met this. I work in a manufacturing company and I am sure that Nintendo, like all companies, make plan for production, then have all their subsuppliers line up their respective parts to meet the plans that Nintendo gives them. With the Wii selling like hotcakes, Nintendo probably realized in December/January that they needed to increase their manufacturing plans. Some recent comments from Nintendo says that they are working to increase supply. But this does not happen overnight. All parts suppliers, and that includes IBM and their graphics chip supplier have to rev up their production before they can actually produce more. I assume that Nintendo is having the manufacturing done by the big electronics manufacturers like Flextronics, Wistron etc so they need to build new assembly lines too.

None of the three big console makers are dummies, even if they sometimes do/say stupid things. They are all aware that 3rd party support will make or break them in the long run. Since all 3rd parties are companies trying to make a profit by selling as manu games/accesories as possible, they tend to make more games for popular consoles. Therefore selling as much as they can early on is imperative to making the console succesful.

I would guess that Gamestop have not gotten a lot of Wiis lately, and that the Gamestop boss is unhappy about that. His coments can't be taken in any larger context. The fact is that all 3 consoles are selling pretty well, even if Wii seems to have the edge because of controller innovation and price.

One more thing: You can be sure that there are guys in labcoats both in Sony and in Microsoft right now playing with accelerometers mounted in controllers. We'll see how well Nintendo's patents hold up :)

I am SO over the desire to own a Wii.

Still haven't seen one at retail and I think that if I did see one, right now, all I would do is nash my teeth at it. Maybe flip it off.

Say what you will about the PS3, but at least I could go buy one right now, if I so choose.

They announced how much Wii's they were gonna ship before they knew the Wii was gonna be a smash hit, and that number was pretty damn high. Unless Nintendo had a crystal ball to predict the amazing success of the Wii, I call bullshit on this story.

This can easly be verified as true or false based on the March NPD sales numbers. If Nintendo intentionally held back the Wii in March then the sales will be dismal despite the 1% iTrackr availability.

Like 32, I also have the same insider information informing me that Nintendo is doing this intentionally (among other dismal practices that are throwbacks to the NES days). He also said few would actually believe it if someone came out and said it, and the responses here show it for truth.

I call BS on this article, Wii has already sold about 6 million, which is better than what Nintendo hoped for, and its been 4 months.

Compare it to the sales rate of the 360 and PS3 and you see it being phenomenal, there is also no reason for them to hold back as it is in their best interest to catch up and pass the 360 as fast as possible

Heh... Funny how so many of the amateurs are quick to call it BS, but pretty much everyone who does anything in the video game industry (Netjak writers, Joystiq bloggers, Gamestop execs) say it's true.

Look, I can understand doubting one guy who works in the industry... we've all be wrong. I can go on about the things I've been wrong about. But you know, when this many of us say something is true, and we say it not based on guesses but on conversations we've had with people in a place to know what's going on, You've got to think there's something behind what we're saying.

Now, I'll grant that the reasoning I've heard is different than the one Joystiq presents here. However, there's two things - one, both reasonings could be correct (companies can have multiple motives for an action) and two, it doesn't matter so much which reasoning is correct. It just matters that the conclusion is.

I hate to say it but I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to make a fake shortage. Everybody knows they do this so it's no surprise.

I also wouldn't put it past the public to be eager for Wiis. People are still wanting them and not just because they can't get one. But the Cartman's-Theme-Park effect probably has some effect on Wii-sire. (Phew! That was a stinker!)

@32_Footsteps:

You want to be believed than give something more than "in my opinion", or "things i've heard", give me some evidence, like explain why Wii sales are higher than 360 and PS3 when they are constraining supply, why did Japan see a rise in shipped Wii's, why were they able to sell 6 million in 4 months, with this constrained supply?

Maybe when you can show me something to back up your speculation then you will have some substance to your argument.

@32_Footsteps:

You want to be believed than give something more than "in my opinion", or "things i've heard", give me some evidence, like explain why Wii sales are higher than 360 and PS3 when they are constraining supply, why did Japan see a rise in shipped Wii's, why were they able to sell 6 million in 4 months, with this constrained supply?

Maybe when you can show me something to back up your speculation then you will have some substance to your argument.

No supply in March? Toy R' Us got one the day after St. Patrick's Day. When I got mine.

Avinash_Tyagi -

Just because it sold better than the others in February doesn't offer any evidence for March. In a couple of weeks we'll find out. Of course, all we have is hearsay on both fronts. The evidence is no one seeing a Wii in a store in March and anyone can check iTrackr to see the whopping 1% that has sat there statically for the past three weeks (trust me, been looking, trying to get one myself).

However, how we look at that evidence is conjecture. I'm willing to bet good money (wouldn't be fair, I do have insider information) that the March Wii sales are going to be dismal.

@LaughingTarget

Then please do give me the numbers so i can compare when the NPD comes out in three weeks

Tyagi, you'll note that I express two opinions. One is that people should believe it when several disparate people with experience in the video game industry are all saying the exact same thing, and nobody with experience is disputing the claim at all. The other is that while I do honestly believe Nintendo is doing this, it's a pointless maneuver on their part.

To some extent, you're falling for a logical fallacy. Namely, that the only way Nintendo would do such a thing would be if they completely shut off Wii sales for a period of roughly a month, to be followed with an explosion of units once they released more.

The truth is, Nintendo doesn't have to do that at all. In fact, it's quite possible they were building towards this all along.

Let's take a mythical example. Let's say that Nintendo has been able to mass-produce two million Wiis a month (for worldwide distribution). If Nintendo actually shipped each two million as they were produced, then their sales would obviously be huge.

But let's take our theoretical Wii supply and only send out half of them. They'd then sell a million a month. Great sales, sure. Enough to put you as a serious contender for top sales. But you'd still be deliberately shorting retailers and could then perform a massive relaunch at a time of your choosing, thereby making your sales figures explode at a certain point. So it's quite conceivable that Nintendo could be leading sales for March *and* pulling this stunt.

Moreover, if you were to do such a thing in North America, the beginning of April is the absolute best time to do it other than Christmas. Early April is when most Americans get a sudden influx of available cash, from income tax refunds. Most people like to spend those on luxury items - which includes video game consoles. You get an influx of potential consumers in April, when most people file their taxes (because most Americans wait until the last moment). It makes a certain level of sense to make sure you have an increased stock in April.

Ultimately, it won't be March's numbers which show whether or not Nintendo held out consoles, but April. If we see a huge spike in the April numbers compared to the March numbers, even if March's Wii sales are consistent with previous months, then we (as in Netjak, Joystiq, GameStop, and several other companies that don't wish to talk publicly about the matter) will be correct.

Nintendo's strategy was to launch as many systems possible in major retail stores then intentionaly holding back further instore shipments, while at the same time focusing sales on online bundle packs. This way they'll have their sales numbers, while making the system appear selling out everywhere creating a lot of hype. But not only that, they created a duct tape shortage. They sure fooled a lot of people.

@Striderhayasa: Nintendo is making their money off hardware. So long as people buy the console, they make their money, so they don't really need to sell games.

Does anyone care if Wii games look worse than PS2 titles? Nah. Game quality isn't what makes money.

People used to call it "mass market", and it wasn't a good thing. Now they call it "casual gaming", and it's the savior of the industry. It's amazing what a few euphemisms will do.

I was one of the "lucky" ones who got one before xmas 2006. I played through Zelda, Red Steel, Excite Truck and Super Monkey Ball and aside from the occasional Wii Sports game with the wife I am not playing with the Wii at all now. I am just about ready to sell it, which is sad because I was very pleased with it in the beginning. I was going to purchase Metroid before giving up on it entirely but then they had to push it out even further and there is just no other game out yet that appeals to me. The only good thing in all of this is that Zelda and Red Steel garnered me enough in trade to finally pick up Battlefield 2142 for my PC. So the only video game I am playing right now is on my PC while my "Next gen" system sits there completely unused.

Nintendo, you can suck my Wii!

This is true, I have confirmed it...

I talked to a rep at D&H , one of the biggest electronics distributors in N.A. and they said that Nintendo has indeed been holding back stock. The reason, according to them, is that the way Japan's quarterly reporting works, they can't count hardware they have 'shipped' only hardware they have sold. Have hardware shipped out but not sold looks bad for the end of the year. Nintendo is waiting on April 1st and will then ship everything out... this is pretty much similar to what Gamestop is saying.

If you've been walking past the 'Wii Shelf' at a retailer and it's had the same stock level for the past four months, here's something to think about:

Maybe those boxes are *EMPTY*, for display only?

And maybe they're *just* boxes, not magically linked to store stock levels in any way?

(And the notion that a store would keep stock in a location that isn't selling, in lieu of a location where it would sell instantly, is insane.)

Well, it's April 16, and still no Wiis. Another theory bites the dust.