Wii supply finally matching demand – but who is buying?
Ever since the Nintendo Wii arrived on the gaming scene at the end of 2006, it’s been flying off shop shelves at a faster rate than Nintendo could cope with. Supply has now been ramped up substantially so that it finally matches demand. But with most people’s Wii’s gathering dust on their floors, who the hell is still buying what is essentially a very short-lived toy?
Christmas 2006 and Christmas 2007 saw the Wii top most kids wish lists. The problem for parents eager to please their little cherub was that the Nintendo console was hard to come by. Ever since it was released, demand for the Wii has outstripped supply by a fair margin, particularly around the holiday seasons.
Nintendo has tried to keep up with the demand, and Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo of America, recently told The LA Times what his company had done to achieve this goal. He said:
Nintendo has continually raised the production levels of the Wii hardware. We’re now producing 2.4 million units a month worldwide. Last year, we made 1.6 million a month. So we’ve made a 33 percent increase. One of our competitors projects they will sell 10 million consoles worldwide this year. For us, that’s three months of production. We’re producing an unprecedented level of hardware to try to meet demand.
However, as impressive as those production rates are, Fils-Aime still warns against complacency for anyone determined to buy themselves or their children a Wii this Christmas. He said:
We’re flowing products into stores on a very regular basis. Once you see it on the shelf, you ought to buy it. While we’re bringing 50 percent higher level of supply into the market this holiday, we don’t know if the demand will be even higher than that.
And you know what? I think Nintendo will still fall short of supplying enough Wii’s this Christmas to meet demand because the Wii bandwagon shows no sign of stopping rolling any time soon. Worldwide sales of the console are already at almost 30 million and are likely to continue upwards to the 100 million mark over the next few years.
But the question has to be why? Nintendo has done an amazing job marketing the Wii. But haven’t the majority of people now realized that the Wii is of very limited appeal to anyone over the age of about seven?
The first time you play one, you’re intrigued by the change of control system from the one you’ve been used to using for years. Then after a couple of hours playing you’re impressed by the fun that can be had from games such as Wii Sports. But then it all goes wrong. The Wii gets abandoned, left to gather dust in the corner as you realize it doesn’t really offer any long-term appeal.
Brice Morrison spells out the problem very eloquently in an essay on Gamasutra, and while he praises the Wii for making us think differently about gaming, he thinks it’s really let us down in the end. But this truth doesn’t seem to matter to the millions buying a Wii every month around the world. I just wish they’d put the money towards a PS3 or Xbox 360 and get a real games console.
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10 Responses to “Wii supply finally matching demand – but who is buying?”
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October 29th, 2008
Only a idiot will buy a Wii this Christmas instead of buying a PS2 or PS3.
October 29th, 2008
Mario, Zelda, and Metroid were all great games. Unfortunately since Nintendo has been so successful this generation, they could care less about quality software. Nintendo is more than happy to left the console drown in shovelware, while throwing out a mediocre Nintendo title here and there. Just take a serious look at this year’s holiday game line up. You’ll notice that the second and third place consoles both have tons of quality games to choose from. What does Nintendo offer? Nothing.
And you’re correct; the masses will still keep throwing there hard earned money at Nintendo. This obviously gives Nintendo no motivation to actually provide quality games.
October 29th, 2008
DAVE PARRACK,
“But with most people’s Wii’s gathering dust on their floors…”
As much as I agree with that statement, I still can’t condone stating it like it’s a fact. Is there any reliable, authoritative way to quantify that belief?
-Arvis
October 29th, 2008
LOL!
Oh Parrack, you page hit whore!!!
October 29th, 2008
Brawl, to date, has offered me more play time than FF7, 8, and 9 together (admited I got bored of 9 and quit before the end).
Sure, the Wii itself, even, offers more fun than the PS3 or 360 without games (because the Wii alone has old school). So in what world are we comparing the Wii to the other consoles?
Are we saying the consoles alone, without games? I don’t think most 7 year olds can really love OoT like someone that was a gamer even back then could.
Or maybe we are talking with games, but the Wii shines there, too. I mean, we are talking about a console with Brawl, MP3, Zelda, Okami, Zack and Wiki, Paper Mario, Mario Kart, Trauma Center, Battalion Wars, FE, and dare I say…Tiger Woods (EA at its best), and we should not forget Mario Galaxy, one of the best games this generation so far.
All of those games are gems, for hard core gamers (there are many more if you’re not afraid of trying a fun little party game).
So if YOUR Wii is sitting there collecting dust, I feel sorry for you. Either your missing out on a lot of good games, are not entertained for long enough by good games, or are judging the Wii not based on the console alone and not based on the games…and I don’t know how else you would judge it, from a gamers perspective.
Now you reminded me of Trauma Center…oh well, Yoshi’s Cookie was getting a bit old anyway.
October 30th, 2008
parents will buy, newly weds will buy, grandparents will buy, those who want to try and get slim by gaming will buy. and gamers will buy because of the potential of the motion plus.
see this vid in ign.
http://media.wii.ign.com/articles/895/895294/vids_1.html
once it is out, it is as if there’s a new console. with new and fresh games.
so, I really think many will still buy a wii.
October 30th, 2008
Gotta go with Arvis. One must assume that Blorge pays by the page load, and as also stated Parrack is whoring the system. How long can Blorge continue to let Parrack post such unsubstantiated articles with inflamatory flame-bait headlines? So far one has to assume Blorge doesn’t care, since they let him continue both here and over at Tech (where he does the same but with apparently smaller viewership).
October 30th, 2008
I agree with Matt. Great post Matt.
The Xbox may have an attach rate of 8 but the Wii has more then 8 Must Have games. Sure there is a lot of crap on the Wii but there is a lot of Crap on every consol past and present.
My Wii does not collect dust. If you get board that fast you probably have ADD.
If you get some friends you would have an excuse to play the wii more. Instead you are a loaner playing on XB live cursing at the rest of the loaners LOL.
October 30th, 2008
Well guys if your going to slam Dave you might as well throw Mike in there too.
October 30th, 2008
I actually like Dave’s articles, he sometimes posts balanced views. FERRO on the other hand has won the ‘Sony – Golden Kneepad’ award.