Gamestop expects at least six more months of Wii shortages

Must we explain this again? Nintendo is not creating a shortage but rather refusing to invest in new production lines to increase their capacity. This is the smart business move considering the cost of investment and the fact that demand will eventually subside. If Nintendo gets more production lines to produce more consoles, they will likely end up losing money on the deal.

Similarly, Nintendo is making a profit on each console sold. Restricting supply only loses them potential revenue because Nintendo does not see any of the money made in the secondary market (Ebay, Craigslist, etc). If Nintendo were restricting supply, their shareholders would have to be mighty pissed. Considering the fact that Nintendo is producing and selling more consoles each month than its competitors, they are very unlikely to be voluntarily restricting supply.

Lastly, consider the possible business move that would be the most profitable for Nintendo: raise the Wii's MSRP until demand is balanced with supply. In this case, Nintendo would be maximizing profit while satisfying demand. Of course, raising the MSRP of a $250 console to, say, $450 isn't exactly consumer-friendly and Nintendo refuses to do this because of the value of consumer loyalty and future purchases.

Face it, the only reason there is a Wii shortage is because at USD$249.99 the Wii is a very attractive product for a large number of consumers. Supply is not excessively low; demand is just extraordinarily high.

Hmm. Rumor said that they would be upping production next month, I wonder if gamestop's accurate on this

Wow, what a bunch of bologna. This is just ridiculous already. WTF Nintendo, stop BULLSHITTING!

Nintendo every month outsell both the PS3 and 360... for almost two years, it's been outselling both.

Why create a fake demand? They would be the only perjudicated.

Last year in april thet ramped up the production from 1 million to 1.8 million a month.

Now, at the end of this month, starting in April, they will increment the production again (maybe because they are going to start selling the Wii in Korea)... http://www.gamer.tm/news.php?id=2010&filtr=wii

Now, with this increment, they are going to sell more every month, and even more in the holidays...

And when the sales start to slow down, they can do one thing that both Sony and Microsoft have done, TWICE... a price cut.

And then different colors...

Nintendo is not going everywhere... the sales are real... people still go to stores at 6:00 am to make a line to get a Wii.

Everyone who complains of the shortages just wants a Wii but can find one, and for that they are very bitter. They are making 1.8 million units PER MONTH.

Six more months of shortages?

Does this have anything to do with Reggie seeing his shadow a couple days ago?

-Dante
http://www.gamestache.com/

Heck, even in the distant future, Eric Cartman had trouble finding a Wii...

Gamestop knows all! *FEAR*

Buying a Wii was the WORST gaming purchase I ever made. Only good times I have had with it are No More Heroes, RE4 and Galaxy. Everything else is either not my cup of tea (Smash Brothers) or for friggin babies. My advice to anyone still waiting, buy a PS3 or 360.. And if you are trying to get one for your kids, get them a PS2 instead. It has a much better library of games.

Count me in as another who has lost interest. Seriously, I have yet to actually see a Wii in any of the stores I frequent around here. Plenty of peripherals and games, but no consoles. It's funny, I remember the days not so very long ago (pre-PS2) where anyone could basically walk into a store anywhere and anytime and get the console they wanted. As much as I'd like to play a Wii, the ol' gut instinct is telling me it's not worth even half of what this continued shortage would suggest.

"What people here seem to want is for Nintendo to produce and sell enough consoles to meet current demand. While that's a rational desire, it would be a seriously stupid business move."

I thought that was the definition of an artificial shortage...

Metroid isn't for babies, but I definitely thought the controls were bad. Better than the abortion that was Red Steel, but still not good enough for a FPS.

'Lost interest' because you don't see Wiis on shelves? wtf?

1.8 million units a -month-.... That's like one fifth of the PS3s -total- install base (not meant as a bash). However simple the Wii may be in contrast to the 360 and PS3, it's still a sophisticated piece of electronics. They're not making birthday cakes here, it's not as simple as saying 'just make more'.

As for quality games, there's plenty. Alot more than the PS3 has imo, and just as many as the 360 did in the same point in it's life.

LIARS

I went to them back in mid january, asking them when their next wii shipment will be, and they told me february.

Meanwhile, here in NYC, the nintendo world store gets DAILY SHIPMENTS that are first come, first serve.

DAILY SHIPMENTS

Gamestop is going to kill the gaming industry.

Good points bro. One part stood out for me though:

"For me personally, I've never been a big fan of Nintendo's franchises, so they aren't something I usually pursue."

Now, these are some of the most critically acclaimed games in the history of the industry. You've had a lot of experience playing games, yet you do not like these particular ones. At least you can admit that they are quality titles, and Nintendo has produced a fair amount for the Wii at this point.

Not all hardcore gamers are rational when it comes to determining if a game is good. Many are way too elitist and fail to give games the chances they deserve. Likewise, many are attached to one particular genre, or one particular franchise and can not see the beauty outside of their personal preferences. Basically, it's very hard to meet an objective hardcore gamer - especially fanboys. You are not a fanboy, btw.

THANK YOU BRAWL. =_+

There are a lot of logic challenged people on these boards. They're creating an artificial shortage by producing more units than they ever have before? WTF kind of sense is that suppose to make?

By that logic they also created artificial demand by limited production of nes, snes, n64, GC, and gameboy because they produced each of these systems in far smaller quantities per month than Wii. This would also apply to playstations, xbox's, and sega's consoles basically the entire game industry because no game systems has ever sold 1.8 million of month for over 6 months... it simply never happened before.

Those still harping on the artificial shortage conspiracy has to at least admit Nintendo is much smarter than them.