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z64dan on 13 December 2007
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Vizion said:

Nintendo could have capitalized immensely if they weren't so conservative and had more Wiis produced. I wouldn't doubt there could have been 10-15 million more Wiis in people's homes today if there were that more many available.

If the userbase was that much larger even more developers would have shifted more of their resources to the Wii thereby creating an even higher demand for the Wii and decreasing demand for the 360 and PS3.

 All year long the Wii was selling like hotcakes and Nintendo still didn't increase production to meet demand especially for the holiday seasons. What a huge opportunity Nintendo missed.

Don't get me wrong, Nintendo is still greatly successful even with this huge mistake. But they could have been so much more successful and dominant in the console market if they had more Wiis produced.


Here's the thing: Nintendo started writing out contracts for the manufacturing process probably in February, 2006. That was 9 months before the Wii's release. They actually started producing them in September / October 2006, 8 months later. They released a TON of Wiis in the first 4.5 months (something like 5.84 mil). They did not realize that this was insufficient until around February, 2007. They then realized, "Oh My God We Are Selling 1 Million Wiis Per Month And The Demand Is Not Dying."

They then needed to write up new contracts for manufacturing (through Chinese Manufacturing Plants). It is not as easy as it sounds, and it took another 8 months for them to increase production to 1.8 mil/month.

You probably weren't checking videogame boards in October 2006, but HARDLY ANYONE EXPECTED THE Wii TO DO THIS WELL! THEY WERE THE MINORITY!

Most people assumed, "Oh, PS3! That will sell like hotcakes! Why is Nintendo predicting 5 million sold in the first few months? LOL! Nintendo is hilarious! How can they sell that much when the Gamecube sold like 3 consoles."

The Wii was already a gigantic risk in Nintendo's eyes... They did not want to multiply the risk by getting production going that they would end up NOT needing.