Reggie: Wii production up; holiday supply might not meet demand ... again

by Ross Miller { Oct 27th 2008 at 1:58PM }

So sayeth the immortal Pete Burns, "You spin me right round baby, right now, like a record baby, round, round, round, round." In an interview with Los Angeles Times, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has hinted that, yet again, the supply for the Nintendo Wii might not meet the demand this holiday. The Regginator (a nickname noted in the article) said that production is up 33% over last year, from 1.6 million consoles per month to 2.4 million.

We've talked about Wii shortages once or twice before. "One of our competitors' projects," he said (we're thinking he meant Sony), "they will sell 10 million consoles worldwide this year. For us, that's three months of production." By his numbers, it would actually be closer to four months, but when you're dealing with multiples of infinity all day long, math tends to get a little fuzzy.

We still find it hard to believe that there's still potential shortages after 708 days, but the sales numbers seem to suggest scholars will need to create a new number system for sales calculations.

Tags: demand, economics, nintendo, reggie, reggie-fils-aime, shortage, supply, wii, wii-shortage

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Dirty @ Oct 27th 2008 2:00PM

And how can people resist with a holiday line up like that.

xFenixKnightx @ Oct 27th 2008 2:22PM

"Mind-bottling, isn't it?"

Mr Khan @ Oct 27th 2008 2:33PM

Ahh, but a new platform buyer would have a few years worth of titles to work through before they had to worry, so that point is moot.

Xoviet chiK @ Oct 27th 2008 4:00PM

Well it already comes with WiiSports, what more can you need? :P

ryan @ Oct 27th 2008 4:52PM

Thanks Mr. Khan!
OMG, I simply MUST buy a Wii this Fall for LAST FALL's lineup!

Judging from LAST YEAR, I can't wait to play this yea---oh, I see...interesting...yes of course I understand...Mr. President.

Shagittarius @ Oct 27th 2008 2:04PM

Even if you don't believe in a manufactured shortage you have to at least admit they are limiting the resources the put into meeting demand.

Which wouldn't that just be a way of creating a manufactured shortage and being able to deny it.

We didnt want to spend more on production lines, is the same as we limited he number of units produced if you ask me.

Nintendo knows the hype is helping perpetuate sales. If suddenly these things were widly available on shelves I believe the number of sales would quickly decline.

Mr Khan @ Oct 27th 2008 2:32PM

Doubtful. Sales might decline over time if availability were maxed out, but then they would finally have a reason to drop the price, which would even out the system again

As i said below, with demand still high and the yen growing in strength, Nintendo almost has incentive to raise the price in America, if anything. It would be totally unprecedented, but they could do it

samfish @ Oct 27th 2008 4:12PM

Not really. Nintendo got screwed holding the bag with the Gamecube. They're probably worried about that happening again.
It's not like when you increase line production you can just say "make X more consoles now!" It's a long term thing. Once you add a new production line, you're basically stuck with it. Nintendo evidently thinks that if they boost the production rate, they'll be stuck with an excess supply in warehouses and stuff.

And while I don't disagree that the scarce availability adds to the Wii's mystique, I also think it's a bit over blown. In my experience, at least, when most (casual) people decide that they want a Wii, they're surprised to hear that it's hard to find still...at least that WAS the case. That'll probably change as we head past Halloween and hot Christmas item lists start making the rounds again.

konajinx @ Oct 27th 2008 2:04PM

Had one! Ah, but I sold it. The expecation far outweighed the reality.

xFenixKnightx @ Oct 27th 2008 2:26PM

Sold mine as well, haven't missed it either. Its at my mom-n-laws house down the street now so I play MK Wii every now and then when I go to her house for a weekend breakfast or whatever.

Cody @ Oct 27th 2008 5:50PM

Stupid Wii.... always gettin in the way of my GOW2 online tournys!

Stupid girls... always gettin in the way of me and my bros!

I honestly believe diehard 360 fans (not to be confused with PS owners, for some reason ppl keep lumping Microsofts crapfest with Sonys efforts) game it up with a "No Girls allowed" sign up somewhere around them. At least they act that young online.

SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Oct 27th 2008 6:25PM

i rarely play my Wii either but im not going to sell it. itll just sit in my entertainment center waiting for Nintendo's next big release.....which unfortunately hasnt even been announced yet.

the games ive played on Wii were great (their 1st party line up mostly) but those are really few and far between. that's why i have a PS3 and 360 as well, cause i have no shortage of games there.

Markez @ Oct 27th 2008 2:04PM

Went to the Gamestop nearby the new place since I've moved cross the ol' US, and it actually had a "Wii in stock!" sign. I was wowzed.

CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ Oct 27th 2008 2:20PM

I was at Best Buy the other night and saw 8 wii's on the floor next to each other. I had to kick one to make sure it wasn't just an empty box. It was the most wii's I've seen at once since I was at the Nintendo store.

joeybeast @ Oct 27th 2008 2:05PM

Good, maybe I can sell mine and make a profit.

KeenCommander @ Oct 27th 2008 2:07PM

How much longer until everyone on the planet owns one...?

Anyways, waiting outside stores is good for people - builds character. Though it's less fun when you're ridiculously sick at the time, but hey - my Wii was totally worth it.

MindTheGap76 @ Oct 27th 2008 2:07PM

1.6 million to 2.4 million is an increase of 50%, not 33%.

XtremeD623 @ Oct 27th 2008 2:14PM

That picture reminds me of Subway. Five Dollar Foot Loooooong! :-p

dwhite @ Oct 27th 2008 2:16PM

Five..............Five dollar............

Five dollar foot long..............

l---------------------l

BigD145 @ Oct 27th 2008 2:24PM

You want Happy Ending?

oolz @ Oct 27th 2008 2:18PM

as always, just go to craigslist. You'll find plenty of people trying to get rid of them.

Roto13 @ Oct 27th 2008 2:41PM

You'll find plenty of people looking looking for someone to eat their feces, too.

Courtney @ Oct 27th 2008 2:21PM

Dude looks angry that they've made a magic money printing machine.

xFenixKnightx @ Oct 27th 2008 2:27PM

Angry face is angry.

deaftly @ Oct 27th 2008 2:22PM

Demand will be fine because like the other jerks here, im damn sure selling mine finally.

Mr Khan @ Oct 27th 2008 2:28PM

We won't miss you, bye.

DangerMouse @ Oct 27th 2008 2:39PM

One less Wii friend code to remember?

Mr Khan @ Oct 27th 2008 2:41PM

Nope, one less person to bitch about "the dust layer" or some other FUD

Makes for a cleaner world

Vidikron @ Oct 27th 2008 2:44PM

LOL... that's like your stock response to anyone ditching their Wiis.

Mr Khan @ Oct 27th 2008 2:53PM

Exactly. I have declared that it shall be my response to any and all who make that statement. If people find it annoying, that's all well and good, because it mirrors the annoyance that i feel at their little elitist proclamations

Blazur @ Oct 27th 2008 3:02PM

It took me a long time to come to the same conclusion, but haven't doubted it one bit.

tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 27th 2008 3:14PM

It has nothing to do with being elitist. What do you expect people to do with a system when there's no games for it? Might as well sell it to some moron casual who will pay $400 for it this winter.

TwEE @ Oct 27th 2008 4:08PM

Um arnt you a big PS3 guy tmacairjordan87? M

aybe you shouldnt be talking about lack of games..

tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 27th 2008 4:12PM

No that's a big misconception about me. Some of the people here confuse wii hating to ps3 loving, don't ask me why. I guess for as many people who come here and post here you can't expect everyone to be smart.

samfish @ Oct 27th 2008 4:19PM

"Some of the people here confuse wii hating to ps3 loving, don't ask me why."

Maybe if you'd ride to the rescue when people are dissing 360 instead of only PS3 games, people would say otherwise.

Sorry, tmac, but you're a member of the SDF.

TwEE @ Oct 27th 2008 4:19PM

tmacairjordan87, people think that only because you shit on anything that isnt Sony..

Though you're not as retardedly bad as Killjebus or anything, so thats something.

tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 27th 2008 4:25PM

I hated on Infamous and White Knight chronicles during TGS. You either choose to see what you want to see or you're part of the group of morons I described above.

deaftly @ Oct 27th 2008 4:27PM

Go Phillies!

ed @ Oct 27th 2008 4:28PM

Bwhahah! Hang on a second, did Tmac actually just say that?

Hahahaha! That's possibly the most epic pot-kettle-black disaster I've probably ever read on Joystiq!

With that said isn't Tmac the person who also says "this game should be on the PS3/360" whenever a good Wii game is out, whilst also saying it has no games?

Oh I'm going to keep a record of all this. Tmac just talks out his ass so often it'd make for great reading!

TwEE @ Oct 27th 2008 4:29PM

Its ok to love Sony with all your heart tmacairjordan87..

samfish @ Oct 27th 2008 4:35PM

"I hated on Infamous and White Knight chronicles during TGS."

So what? Lots of Nintendo fans hate Wii Music, too. All that means is that you aren't the kind of blindly devoted fanboy like KillJebus is.

The Fatass of Kickassness @ Oct 27th 2008 4:37PM

Uh, Ed, when he says that he means it with the idea that the game would end up better on the 360/PS3.

I don't see what you guys are talking about - perhaps Tmac prefers the PS3, I don't know/care, but he doesn't seem like a PS3 fanboy at all.

samfish @ Oct 27th 2008 4:44PM

It's just hard to see because he's too busy shitting on Nintendo fans all the time.

Although he's gotten slightly better about not being as much of a troll as of late.

samfish @ Oct 27th 2008 4:46PM

Well, Nintendo, I should say. Not Nintendo fans.
...usually.

Mr Khan @ Oct 27th 2008 2:30PM

With the strengthening yen, they now have even less incentive to boost supply, unfortunately. Sell more to the Japanese, make more money. It's also helping to discourage NoA from localizing titles

nonpareil @ Oct 27th 2008 2:53PM

Transparent Wii fanboy is transparent.

The Fatass of Kickassness @ Oct 27th 2008 3:51PM

Mr. Khan said something bad about Nintendo, he must be a Nintendo fanboy!

oh wait what?

heh, it's as though some of you don't even read the posts before you bash anymore... seems as though Khan is becoming the new Fernando in the eyes of the rest of the commenters.