Analyst James Lin of the MDB Capital Group believes that Nintendo could sell twice as many Wiis as it's making each month. Since 1.8 million consoles are produced on a monthly basis, that means Nintendo might be missing out on a heck of a lot of sales. Just because it's not making as much money as it could be, though, doesn't mean that the company is hurting for it. In fact, we think Nintendo will be just fine.
[Via NeoGAF]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-19-2007 @ 8:26PM
Adv2k1 said...
well its not Nintendo's fault. I mean in November they almost sold a Million. They have sold 300k + every month this year. DEMAND IS EXTREME WORLDWIDE.
Wii's don't have hardware problems unlike other consoles no red rings, no overheating, its better for having consoles that work perfectly than have billions of units that don't work right
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12-19-2007 @ 11:33PM
vidGuy said...
Here's the thing: to have that many Wii's on hand now, Nintendo would have had to make twice the investment in production facilities before (or very shortly after) launch. If the Wii tanked, we'd be talking about how stupid it was for Nintendo to produce 1.8 - 3 million more consoles a month than they could sell. Hindsight's 20-20, right?
Another thing, Nintendo can't really up production facilities now. Most likely, by the time those consoles would hit store shelves, demand would be lower than it is now, making the extra investment a costly error.
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12-20-2007 @ 4:04AM
Brendon said...
Agreed. Eighteen months ago everyone was poking fun at the "Revolution" and it's "gimmicky" control scheme. All bets were on Sony and Microsoft who jumped on the gaming bandwagon only because there was money to be made. Once SEGA abandoned making hardware, there was only one true gaming company left. I'm sure Nintendo was hoping for the best, but had no idea just how popular their console would become.
12-20-2007 @ 9:03AM
Victor Agreda Jr said...
The question in my mind is when's the tipping point where the consumer falls out of favor? I've seen nothing but lines for the Wii when they magically appear, and my wife nearly gave up until she lucked upon one just the other day (happy early xmas to us!).
But will consumers go with something like a 360 instead, partly because it is available, but also because it is clear MS got the whole "play online with friends" thing way better...
Anyway, if shortages continue through the first 6 mo's in '08, Nintendo may be in a bit of trouble, i think.
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12-20-2007 @ 11:49AM
Gorei Bushi said...
This is bull, two years in a roll, they are now doing it on purpose. Look at a the higher price for the system, believe me, they are not taking a loss here.
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12-20-2007 @ 6:02PM
vidGuy said...
Last I knew, the Wii had only been out for 13 months, not two years. They aren't taking a loss on the systems like MS and Sony, that's true. But if they really wanted to curb the high demand and lines for the Wii, they'd up the MSRP to $499 or something. Not a PR friendly move, huh?
My point above was there's never been a good time for Nintendo to increase their production capacity. If they do it now and demand dies, they lose. If they don't do it now and demand stays strong, they lose face with consumers. The shortages are "on purpose" in the sense that they have purposely refused to increase production capacity (probably a smart business move). I highly doubt that Nintendo's production facilities are running below their full capacity.