Will a lack of Wiis help or hinder PS3 and Xbox 360 sales?

The Wii is carrying on its incredible stint as the must have console, and gadget of this year. Along with it, there’s a huge shortage of the Nintendo machines available, with Wiis selling out as soon as they hit the stores both in the US and UK. Will these shortages help sales of the PS3 and Xbox 360, or actively hinder them.

Everyone has seen an example of the demand for the Wii completely outclassing the supply. You’ll have either seen consoles being snapped up as soon as they are announced, or the amount of money people are willing to pay for one, especially on eBay.

I myself, in the UK, have witnessed the prices of second hand Wiis go up and up throughout the year. Even though they were £180 RRP when they first launched this time last year, you’d now have to shell out £250 to buy a year old used example.

Games retailer Gamestation, who offer a good line in retro, and second hand consoles, are selling them for well over the RRP, which means they are likely buying them from the customer for over the RRP too.

EBay sellers are doing even better out of the deal, having their year old consoles snapped up as soon as they are listed, sometimes for as much as £300 or more.

This means someone who bought their Wii a year ago, has had a great time playing it, and finished a few games, can now go and make a slight profit a year later. I’ve never seen this phenomenon happen in any previous console generation.

I can see why this is happening, partly down to the mentality of supply and demand, where the more hard to come by a product is, the more people, especially kids influenced by their peers, want one for themselves. Also, the fact that the Wii appeals to such a wide range of people, with a family ranging in age from 5 to 75 can all get something out of it. That’s brilliant marketing on Nintendo’s part.

Nintendo has insisted that the lack of consoles isn’t a marketing gimmick, and they have already ramped up production to try and cope with demand.

The problem is they expected to be able to stockpile consoles during the traditionally slow summer months in preparation for the Christmas rush. Unfortunately for them, and the millions of children who are going to be disappointed come Christmas morning, sales and demand for Wiis maintained pretty much consistently high throughout the year.

So the big question for me, is will the lack of available Wiis help or hinder sales of its main rivals, the Sony PS3, and Microsoft Xbox 360.

My first thought was that it will help them, as I can foresee desperate parents ending up buying one of the alternatives in sheer desperation as we get closer to Christmas. Although that may happen quite a lot, as parents struggle to keep their children happy, I can also see another possibility.

The less the Wii is available, the more the kids will insist on having one, and no matter how hard their parents push for them to accept an alternative (a more expensive one after all), the kids will dig their heels in to be the first in their group or class to actually get a Wii for Christmas.

The Wii has become the new must have for kids, and obtaining one against all the odds, will be like wearing an “I’m smarter than you” badge around school. This equals bad news for Sony and Microsoft, as their consoles are likely to be increasingly pushed to the sidelines of kids Christmas lists to Santa.

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• Three reasons why Nintendo won’t sell 35 million Wiis