Nintendo: 6.5M Wii sold in 5 months

[Xisiqomelir]

Linka

Wii Shortages 'Could Last Months'
By Staff

Nintendo says there is no end in sight of retail shortages of its Wii console.
Image Although the machine launched five months ago units remain scarce at retail. Over 2.5 million units are estimated to have been sold in North America and a further 2 million in Europe.

Speaking to Game Theory Podcast, Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo’s VP of marketing and corporate affairs said, “There is a lot going on behind the scenes in terms of working on what we are producing and the numbers continue to rise but the product is so very popular that we may see a supply / demand situation last for some time.”

She added, “We are at absolute maximum production and doing everything we can. The number of units that we have been able to produce has far exceeded our hardware production in the past and the production levels of a lot of our competitors but demand continues to be really high. People are being really diligent about working with retailers to locate one but we are cognisent of the fact that a lot of fans are not able to get their hands on one yet. We are asking them to be patient and to know that we are working on this as fast as we can.”

Kaplan was asked if, given the high demand, Nintendo could have priced the machine at $50 higher than the $250. She said, “There was definitely that possibility. There are so many people who are very much liking the system and while the price that it’s at is very much mass market we probably could have folded at a higher price but I think that it was always Nintendo’s intent to make it a product that is appealing to the mass market.”

This week’s Game Theory Podcast – co-hosted by Next Generation’s editor-in-chief Colin Campbell and PC Gamer columnist Gary Whitta - also looks at the Game Media Awards, Uwe Boll’s 9/11 ‘joke’, core console systems, online gaming in China and the Guitar Hero franchise.

6.5 comes from the 4.5 EU/NA given above, plus 2M in JPN.

[Ace Pace]

6.5M in 4 months, compared to MS barely 10M in over a year, and Sonys what, 3M?

I think I'm seeing someone going for gold.

[Praxis]

6.5M in 4 months, compared to MS barely 10M in over a year, and Sonys what, 3M?

I think I'm seeing someone going for gold.

Microsoft SHIPPED ten million, but judging from the TWENTY-FIVE my local Best Buy had piled up, they certainly didn't sell all of them.

In fact, from what I've heard, Microsoft just overshipped them like crazy, to encourage stores to sell excess stock and to inflate their numbers.

Nintendo's going to be the true winner of this console war; at the current rate they are on track to outsell everyone, and even if they don't, they're actually making a profit off every system.

Ugh. I TOLD my family to invest in Nintendo stock. So many freakin' times.

[Xisiqomelir]

6.5M in 4 months, compared to MS barely 10M in over a year, and Sonys what, 3M?

I think I'm seeing someone going for gold.

Microsoft SHIPPED ten million, but judging from the TWENTY-FIVE my local Best Buy had piled up, they certainly didn't sell all of them.

In fact, from what I've heard, Microsoft just overshipped them like crazy, to encourage stores to sell excess stock and to inflate their numbers.

I have a link to a pertinent and timely blogpostregarding this topic. It got Rumourtaku traffic, too!

[The Kernel]

6.5M in 4 months, compared to MS barely 10M in over a year, and Sonys what, 3M?

I think I'm seeing someone going for gold.

If you discount Japan they are pretty much at parity with Microsoft in the US/EU markets. Impressive to be sure but hardly anything to declare victory over, especially given the price delta. It'll take another holiday season to see how things really stack up.

Of course I'm not trying to discount Japan in this, just pointing out that from a console perspective, Microsoft is a non-entity there.

[Tanasinn]

Nintendo needs to get some games in the pipeline. Not any Mario shit (though those games are generally great), but third-pary support. I hope they learned their lessons about the value of third-pary support from the N64 era and 'Cube era, otherwise they'll probably get raped in the long run by MS, who certainly have no problems getting developers (developers developers developers developers) on board.

[Vendetta]

They also need to release some VC games that aren't total shit. Because the virtual console is a non-feature at the moment, too many of the games on it are wank.

Third parties are gradually starting to cope with the Wii, but it's still the poor stepchild for everyone except EA in terms of quality. Only Ubisoft and EA seem to have figured out how to use the controller, and only EA have any games that are improved markedly by motion sensing.

[Xisiqomelir]

If you discount Japan they are pretty much at parity with Microsoft in the US/EU markets. Impressive to be sure but hardly anything to declare victory over, especially given the price delta.

What do you mean by "at parity"?