| *bleu-ocelot* said: Nintendo has been plagued with hardware supply problems since the launch of the Wii console in December 2006. The issues continued throughout 2007, with the company unable to meet demand for its latest console in both the US and UK. It would seem that a similar problem is now arising with Wii software. Last week, Wii Fit dropped out of the UK charts as gamers couldn't get hold of the title. Nintendo commented that there were "pockets of stock shortages" across the country, although it was continuing to supply stores with the game. Wii Fit comes with the Balance Board peripheral, and tasks gamers with a number of exercises including balancing and aerobics in order to improve their body mass index. Nintendo has not released figures as to how many copies of Wii Fit it has sold around the globe--the only official numbers available show that it has sold 2 million in Japan. Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter told the LA Times that according to his estimates, 2 million copies of the game have been shipped to Europe, but only 500,000 have made it to North America. He believes this is because Nintendo is strategically directing its stock to Europe to benefit from the strong euro. Pachter said, "The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar. We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere. They know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now." Another factor cited by analysts in the LA Times story is that they believe Nintendo is now wary of setting aside too many factory resources for its stock, after being burned by its experiences with the GameCube. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6191889.html?action=convert&om_clk=latestnews&tag=latestnews;title;1 Could they be using this same tactic for the Wii?Which would explain the constant shortages in the US. |
Don't know about Europe, but it's not a very good estimate when more than 500K have already been sold in America on the first day.
Did they manufacture/send enough to America (or even Other) to satisfy demand? I doubt it. Nintendo of Japan is too paranoid about over supply to have something like that happen.
Torturing the numbers. Hear them scream.
