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Forums - Sales Discussion - Wii NA sales plunge, can anyone give me an explanation why?

Avinash_Tyagi on 05 February 2008

Nintendo probably made the decision to send extra shipments to Japan for Brawl, they probably did it a few weeks back



 

Predictions:Sales of Wii Fit will surpass the combined sales of the Grand Theft Auto franchiseLifetime sales of Wii will surpass the combined sales of the entire Playstation family of consoles by 12/31/2015 Wii hardware sales will surpass the total hardware sales of the PS2 by 12/31/2010 Wii will have 50% marketshare or more by the end of 2008 (I was wrong!!  It was a little over 48% only)Wii will surpass 45 Million in lifetime sales by the end of 2008 (I was wrong!!  Nintendo Financials showed it fell slightly short of 45 million shipped by end of 2008)Wii will surpass 80 Million in lifetime sales by the end of 2009 (I was wrong!! Wii didn't even get to 70 Million)

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ikilledkenny on 05 February 2008

The Wii is probably low in North America this week so that Nintendo could supply Japan for Super Smash Brothers Brawl.


Desroko on 05 February 2008
SlorgNet said:
TheBigFatJ said:

Also, there is no strong signs of a ression. The ISM index was low, which means that supplies used in service industries were purchased less than usual. This doesn't indicate a recession, this indicates the opinion that a recession may be looming. And if you look at the US media, the opinion is undeniable.


It's much more than the ISM. The housing bubble has imploded, Wall Street is taking a beating, banks are declaring hundreds of billions of losses, lots of people are losing their homes, etc. Job growth has been terrible, especially recently.

That said, the recession shouldn't affect the game market. Mass media always does well during downturns - people want escape.

Not sure why the Wii was so low - probably just a weekly blip. 


The US just recently lost jobs for the first time in four years, actually



wiiforever on 05 February 2008

^that has absolutely nothing do to with this



Renar on 05 February 2008
Zucas said:
Probably cause some supplies that were normally allocated to America on this week were allocated to Japan. However though I see that theory as unlikely as why didn't Europe/Other lose allocations. I think we are undertracking sales in America for Wii. Or overtracking in Europe/Other.

 Or perhaps it was actually a business decision on Nintendo's part.  Japan needed the Wiis for SSBB launch.  They can be taken from America or Europe/Other.   That is, you can either take them from a very strong market that you figure you can sell to at any time you get the produce there.  Or you can take them from a market that is more in flux, between sales of Wii, X360 and PS3.  

I think that Nintendo choosed to take more from America to purposely keep their sales high in Europe/Other.  At least for the past week.  I suppose it is possible that more may need to be diverted to Japan, and the current week will have some diverted from Europe/Other.

Another reason could be how the shipments go by containers.  Rather than shipping a 1/2 containter to America, and a 1/2 to Europe, so that 1 extra containter load can go to Japan, just swipe the whole container from America and send it to Japan. 



Torturing the numbers.  Hear them scream.

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I like Bacon on 05 February 2008

Probably shifted to Japan. Hopefully next week will be much better.



Zucas on 05 February 2008
Renar said:
Zucas said:
Probably cause some supplies that were normally allocated to America on this week were allocated to Japan. However though I see that theory as unlikely as why didn't Europe/Other lose allocations. I think we are undertracking sales in America for Wii. Or overtracking in Europe/Other.

Or perhaps it was actually a business decision on Nintendo's part. Japan needed the Wiis for SSBB launch. They can be taken from America or Europe/Other. That is, you can either take them from a very strong market that you figure you can sell to at any time you get the produce there. Or you can take them from a market that is more in flux, between sales of Wii, X360 and PS3.

I think that Nintendo choosed to take more from America to purposely keep their sales high in Europe/Other. At least for the past week. I suppose it is possible that more may need to be diverted to Japan, and the current week will have some diverted from Europe/Other.

Another reason could be how the shipments go by containers. Rather than shipping a 1/2 containter to America, and a 1/2 to Europe, so that 1 extra containter load can go to Japan, just swipe the whole container from America and send it to Japan.


You know I"m going to say I disagree.  Nintendo with both DS and Wii is in complete control of Japan.  But I think as a whole as wwell, I'd say that Nintendo is in complete control of Europe/Other as well.  I think that even for Wii, they have nothing to worry about there.

I personally think America is the market that they haven't secured dominance in, and this is shown, as week by week, America is the only place where with DS and Wii they don't get a 50% majority of sales.  I personally think that Nintendo would recognize that not only is America still a work in progress, but the place where they can gain the most, so I question why they would take anything out of that market.  



Hamister on 05 February 2008

Nintendo is struggling to keep up with the demand. They can't ship enough systems to feed all markets at once. Instead spikes and dips in sales happen in waves. When one market has a spike, another dips. That is the main explanation to the sudden drop in sales of Wii in America, compared to other markets. Expect a reverse scenario within a few weeks (as Wii Fit and Smash Bros reaches american shores).

The high demand of hardware, is also the main reason why Nintendo is hodling back Wii Fit and Smash Bros in the west. Releasing those games over here right now, would only worsen a situation that is already "bad". Who would have though recordbreaking sales could be bad?? hehehe



--OkeyDokey-- on 05 February 2008

it could be a combination of many things. as others have already said, nintendo has probably focused its manufacturing on japanese wii's this week for the launch of smash bros.

or maybe, considering that the wii was in incredibly short supply a few weeks ago (selling only 40k in the second or third week of the year) may have caused a spike in sales last week, with the arrival of a fresh shipment, which in turn, would have resulted in there being less consoles on store shelves this week.

did that paragraph make any sense?



ChichiriMuyo on 05 February 2008
kingofwale said:
isn't Wii region locked? How can they shift all those units on a weekly basis?

And for that matter, if they can actually predict user buying trend for once, why couldn't they make more SSBB on launch?

*facepalms*

Please, please, please, please, please tell me you are making a joke.  Please?

Seriously, do you think executives being paid millions of dollars are just going to be like "oops!  we forgot to make enough Wiis for the Japanese SSBB launch, better steal some from the US."  They plan these things out months ahead.  Let me repeat that:

Nintendo plans their sales in each region months ahead of time

They prepare for which region will need how many units long before they even make them so that by the time they do, they will have exactly the units they need for the launch event in question.



You do not have the right to never be offended.