Wii: "If you see one, buy it." I call BS [Archive]

kaedesdisciple

07-13-2007, 09:36 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/12/nintendo-planning-to-milk-its-wii-shortage-through-the-holidays/

Now Nintendo is telling us that the Wii shortages will only continue through to the '07 holiday season. A senior marketing VP is telling us "If you see one, buy it"? This is total garbage. Can they honestly say that they can't produce these things fast enough by NOW? You can rebut me all you want, but I believe that Nintendo is doing this on purpose. I'm not buying one for a long time now simply because of their horribly smug attitude.

Gamereviewgod

07-13-2007, 09:47 AM

Agreed. Working at a retailer that carries the thing, it's ridiculous that this is still going on. The constant calls are beyond annoying with people asking if we have them.

With the cheaper, more familiar weaker hardware, there's no reason for another damn season of shortages.

heybtbm

07-13-2007, 10:13 AM

While it can be dismissed as anecdotal evidence, I've never seen a Wii on a store shelf. Even when I bought mine back in February, I had to ask the greeter at Best Buy for a special ticket which I presented to the cashier. They brought one out to me and that was that. I only knew they had Wii's on that day because a friend's friend who worked there told him (who informed me). If I would've gone to the store unaware...I never would've been able to buy one.

jajaja

07-13-2007, 10:16 AM

Hehe, i actually thought about this some months ago, that if an item is hard to get and people see it in the store they buy it "just" because they know its hard to get.

mailman187666

07-13-2007, 10:20 AM

I know how you feel. Its annoying enough that every time a new system comes out, everybody has to wait outside the stores overnight and whatnot. Then a few months later you are able to buy the system outright. Nintendo I believe is doing this on purpose to make everybody want one more. There is no reason for them to have a hard time meeting the demand for 6 year old hardware. Come on nintendo, keep your rep as the good guys.

Clownzilla

07-13-2007, 10:26 AM

Nintendo should EASILY be able to make enough of these systems at this time. Even the most inefficient factory could fill up this much demand by now. Nintendo is starting to lose my support. Yeah, I can wait for a Wii, but I just don't like companies lying to the faces of their loyal customers.

Hep038

07-13-2007, 10:31 AM

I assume as soon as they able to "keep up with demand" they will release Wii's in retro schemes which then those units will be "hard to find". Up to this point I believed Nintendo really did have a hard time keep units on the shelf. Now at I am starting to think this was a marketing scheme all along. I have a hard time believing that a company like Nintendo who has been in the video game business for as long as they have would be this incompetent at releasing a new system. IF the "shortage" runs through to Xmas, I am willing to bet after the new year they will release new Wii's in different color schemes.

I have to think if sony pulled something like this, the DP boards would be full of people calling BS on the shortages, even if the PS3's were selling like hotcakes.

GM80

07-13-2007, 10:34 AM

While it can be dismissed as anecdotal evidence, I've never seen a Wii on a store shelf.

Ditto. I'm out gameshopping fairly often, and always frequent the electronics section of any store we visit, and I have yet to see a Wii in stock. Same for everyone I game with. I'm not convinced the dang thing actually exists. It's a conspiracy. ;)

exit

07-13-2007, 10:45 AM

We would get about 20+ Wii's in my store and they'd all get sold out within a few hours, so the demand is pretty high.

What he said may be an exaggeration, but it's not complete BS.

ubersaurus

07-13-2007, 10:55 AM

Yeah, my buddy who works in an EB games pretty much did tell me they sell out of theirs fast and then get a bunch of people asking about it until the next shipment comes in.

That said I have seen it on shelves here, so they must be improving something.

YoshiM

07-13-2007, 11:16 AM

I too do "Wii checks" when I'm at a department store. So far the space assigned to them is always empty. Friends of mine have seen a couple on a shelf but they are gone before they even leave the department. :eek:

jcalder8

07-13-2007, 11:25 AM

We would get about 20+ Wii's in my store and they'd all get sold out within a few hours, so the demand is pretty high.

What he said may be an exaggeration, but it's not complete BS.

Yeah, my buddy who works in an EB games pretty much did tell me they sell out of theirs fast and then get a bunch of people asking about it until the next shipment comes in.

That said I have seen it on shelves here, so they must be improving something.
The problem with both of these statements is that we don't know why they are still selling so many. Lots of people want Wii's which mean even more people who want to turn a quick profit want Wii's. It could be that out of the 20 Wii's a store gets in only 3 or 4 go to customers who want to keep it for themselves.

On a side note I have seen 3 Wii's in stores so far. Once when I bought the one I found for my brother which a nice lady at Wal-mart called be about and I saw 2 at a Roger's video.

I'm also getting sick of Nintendo's self imposed shortage. I have little doubt that it is all being done by Nintendo. I was expecting this to end about 6 months ago but I guess there is still such a demand for them Nintendo feels it can squeeze more money out of people this way.

norkusa

07-13-2007, 11:46 AM

7 months and I still haven't seen a single Wii yet. I'm starting to think that the shortage is being manufactured by Nintendo, just like their "chip shortage" back in the early 90's.

If Nintendo can't put more Wii's on store shelves soon, I may start looking at PS3's. The price drop and the new games announced for it is making it look pretty good now.

classicb

07-13-2007, 12:06 PM

So out of the three consoles we have

Wii = "Wii: "If you see one, buy it." I call BS"

PS3 = "PS3 price drop NOT permanent?"

360 = "11.6 million 360 consoles are faulty"

seems like everybody is upset about something :)

edit: i will add that it is frustrating as a consumer that would like to buy one or more of these systems

kaedesdisciple

07-13-2007, 12:07 PM

Hep038

07-13-2007, 12:07 PM

We would get about 20+ Wii's in my store and they'd all get sold out within a few hours, so the demand is pretty high.

What he said may be an exaggeration, but it's not complete BS.

How often do you get 20 Wii's? I do not work in retail so I am not sure what a regular shipment of consoles would be. 20 a month? 20 a week? If stores are getting 20 a week and they are selling out, then I would believe it is not complete BS. I guess you could compare it to NDS units. I assume they are still selling well and Nintendo is not have a problem keeping up with demand. So how many DS's come in a month and how many are sold?

studvicious

07-13-2007, 12:09 PM

I really don't believe Nintendo is doing this on purpose. Aside from the one I bought on launch day I've only seen the Wii in a store ONCE. I was at a local Wal-Mart and they happened to have 7 of them on the shelf. Before I had left the store they were all gone.

Up until about 2 months ago I work at a Best Buy distribution center. We would get a boatload of Wiis about every 2 weeks that would pretty much go straight through. If we did stock any they would sit on the racks for a few days to a week at most. But for the most part as soon as we received them we would send all 3-5,000 of them out. (I think we serviced around 40-60 stores).

People are just nuts for it I guess.

Kid Ice

07-13-2007, 12:23 PM

I had my money out for a Wii in December. I might have picked one up in Jan or Feb. By March I had a 360 and I'm too involved with that to start spending money on another system. When I do it'll be the same time I get a nice HDTV for the living room, so the PS3 will be a pretty obvious choice.

I doubt my position is that uncommon. It'll be interesting to see the final outcome of this when the smoke clears.

calthaer

07-13-2007, 12:24 PM

I also believe, as mentioned earlier, that store employees (or friends) are holding some back and then putting them up on eBay (or Amazon, or wherever). It's an instant +$100 to their bank account - nice little perk, and I'm sure they can't be rolling in it by working retail. Maybe not the 25/30 that someone mentioned, but a fair number.

Best Buy recently got a bunch of them in, all on a Sunday. I had a friend check the store 20 mins south of me, and I checked the one 30 minutes north. The one up north got 30 in, the one south got like 10. When my friend got there, one store employee told him that there were 2 left in stock (they were not on the floor). But when he went to ask someone, they said they were "already sold." BUT they checked local stores, and the one up north still had 9.

Which were not there when I got there 10 minutes later, and apparently had been out of stock for 2+ hours.

I mean yeah - there could be a little bit of a delay in terms of updating inventory. But I'd be willing to bet that those 2 and those 9 were sitting pretty in the back for the end of the day when the employees could take them home and put them up for sale online at premium prices.

I don't need one; I certainly have enough of a backlog. The only one I'd really want to play is the Pokemon one, and that one doesn't even really have much to offer, as it's hardly a real game in itself. I can wait, and maybe by the time they get it in stock, I'll lose interest completely.

WiseSalesman

07-13-2007, 12:25 PM

Man, if you consider Nintendo's attitude to be "horribly smug" I'd hate to hear what you think about Sony.

djbeatmongrel

07-13-2007, 01:01 PM

Thinking about it i don't believe its a manufactured shortage. For the most part nintendo has to make systems no only for the US but all other regions to. Spreading out each batch across the regions like that would make it seem like a larger shortage than there is.

If I remember correctly, Nintendo ships Wii's by boat instead of plane to the US to cut down in shipping costs. My memory is foggy so i could be wrong but i believe i had gotten that info from a Nintendo rep when i was working at GS. Take that state meant with a grain of salt.

Garry Silljo

07-13-2007, 01:46 PM

Chadt74

07-13-2007, 01:53 PM

With 'user base' driving licensing fees and 3rd party support, creating a shortage would seem text book stupid esp when you make a profit on every unit sold.

Push Upstairs

07-13-2007, 02:40 PM

I guess everyone else is buying the "if you see it, buy it" line.

I believe Sony would create an artificial shortage....
I believe MS would create an artificial shortage....
Nintendo has created an artificial shortage in their past (but with chips) so I wouldn't be surprised if they are now.

Hep038

07-13-2007, 02:59 PM

Why would any company manufature a shortage? That's just dumb. The demand is established and real, and they want to make money. So they are going to make sales if they can. The only reason there are no Wiis on the shlef is that the demand is too high. Nintendo has nothing to gain by sitting on them. It's not like they are going to be worth more if you sell them later. They want to make money. They want to push out units and make those sales.

People have blamed Sony for creating a shortage on purpose and no one blinked a eye.
And one reason Nintendo might hold them back is for quarterly numbers. Hold back production, increase consumer interest, release the units in a quarter where you normally have a hard time selling consoles, Stock price goes up.

Nintendo Gamer

07-13-2007, 03:36 PM

.....

Lothars

07-13-2007, 03:37 PM

I have seen so many Wii's where I live that it's crazy, I have seen at least 50 Wii's in 10 different stores in different cities, heck I could go and buy a Wii right now without a second thought.

The Wii is not that rare and I still think the shortage is not as big as it's made out to be.

Poofta!

07-13-2007, 06:10 PM

you should ask a manager to check for you. dont bother asking worthless employess shit. they are working for shit wages and dont give a shit about you or the store. ive had managers go in the back and find Wiis when employess said there werent any. (twice). as for me, ive had my wii since day one, and its not getting much love to be honest.

cyberfluxor

07-13-2007, 06:46 PM

I mean yeah - there could be a little bit of a delay in terms of updating inventory. But I'd be willing to bet that those 2 and those 9 were sitting pretty in the back for the end of the day when the employees could take them home and put them up for sale online at premium prices.
Sorry to say but this seems a bit off. There have been plenty of times I've asked about games, movies and music CDs being in stock at other locations and when I got there it's out of stock or even extras. Sometimes it's a mismatch in inventory, might have just been sold or simply misplaced in the back. It doesn't happen that often but things do happen especially if it's a hot item.

Now, if they were sitting in the back I'd bet someone earlier (maybe weeks ago) paid an employee in advance for dibs and offered some extra upon delivery.

Garry Silljo:
You're the closest to my opinion on the subject. When there's a demand they'll produce as much as possible. There are plenty of Wii games sitting on shelves not selling that I'm sure they'd love to unload some liabilities.

bangtango

07-13-2007, 06:51 PM

I don't know if Nintendo is creating an artificial shortage just to give consumers a sense of urgency. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they are sitting on a stash of Wii systems a little longer until some more AAA games are released, like Super Mario Galaxy and the rest of the lineup.

"Hmmm, the Super Mario Galaxy game is just coming out, seems like a great time to start shipping some Wii's into stores just in time for that game (or another big game) to drop."

WanganRunner

07-13-2007, 07:40 PM

We would get about 20+ Wii's in my store and they'd all get sold out within a few hours, so the demand is pretty high.

What he said may be an exaggeration, but it's not complete BS.

+1

They're still selling every single unit they can get to market within hours, I don't think this is an engineered shortage. They brought a bazillion units to market at launch, more than any company ever has, so that demonstrated a genuine desire to get the things available, but it's just a runaway demand that I don't even think they anticipated.

I mean c'mon, it was a risky new idea, and I'm sure they didn't think it would be quite the crazy immediate success it has been.

On the downside....I really want one and I haven't been able to find one yet.

Richter Belmount

07-13-2007, 07:59 PM

Re to topic title : http://youtube.com/watch?v=nLI7bJGLv_0

diskoboy

07-13-2007, 08:22 PM

I'm a Wii owner, myself, and I'm beginning to wonder why the Wii is selling so well. My 360 gets far more attention.

If it wasn't for RE4, my Wii would still be collecting dust, as it was for almost 4 months.

Hep038

07-13-2007, 08:47 PM

Well thats utter shit, you know how many articles whined about shortages for PS3. Then when they had enough for UK, they whined that they weren't sold out. Can't make anybody happy. :l

I do not know if this makes a difference but I was talking about the launch of the PS2. What I was saying was that people seemed to believe that Sony made a artificial shortage with out questioning it.

zektor

07-13-2007, 09:29 PM

I get completely different information from NOA administration. I recently had my Wii have some issues with reading discs (just my luck) and of course Nintendo's excellent customer service immediately sent me a brand new advance replacement unit. When I spoke with someone else in the admin department, he was quite shocked that the Wii was hard to find in my area. Kind of odd if you ask me.

Niku-Sama

07-13-2007, 09:41 PM

i really dont see it as a shortage, i see it as people are going DAMN i like this thing and buying one of their own.

i saw for the first time before i left for japan a Wii in stock at a local store how ever it didnt take long (the time for me to get to the store and leave) and it was already gone.

i see a Wii every day so its no big deal to me!

FoxyGamer

07-13-2007, 09:56 PM

I too work in a game store and I can tell you a couple of things for sure.

A) in the beginning, there really was a Wii shortage. I don't work for an EB or a Game Stop, so my store doesn't get a whole bunch at a time like the bigger retailers, but we had a mere 25 to sell at launch. We only took 20 "preorders" from the pool of our most fierce and loyal customers, and we have 6 employees and obviously not everyone got one.

B) Do you remember the DS shortage? that was real, too- right around the time Nintendo was trying to get more Wii's out DSs were as scarce as maracas for Samba De Amigo. I swear parents would call every day for Wiis or DSs- it was Christmas, after all. My point is I believe Nintendo was really making an effort to get Wiis manufactured to meet demand, so much so their other manufacturing duties got neglected.

C) recently my store manager won a preorder contest and we got in 50 Wii's, our biggest shipment ever, and they were sold out in two days. This was like last month, not even last year.

In conclusion, I guess my view on the matter is skewed since we don't really ever get more than 2 at a time when they do come in, and that's in drips and drabs, but when they come in, they sell, and it's not the employees holding them back, either- if we have them, we sell them.

gepeto

07-13-2007, 10:05 PM

The way I see it the wii had a small showing of games at es super mario galaxy,metriod,wiifti,mariokart. After that. What else. I believe it is just a strategic ploy to divert gamers from that fact and focus on the shortage because if there is a shortage it must be good right?

j_factor

07-14-2007, 12:28 AM

Icarus Moonsight

07-14-2007, 01:26 AM

If the Wii were experiencing an artificial shortage, it wouldn't be selling 375k units a month.

The reason it's more believable that Sony or Microsoft created an artificial shortage is that they take a loss on every unit sold. Nintendo doesn't; thus, they have no incentive to restrict supply.

Bingo! :) It's also better to keep the supply constant and steady rather than ramping up for demand now and getting into trouble latter - it's like what happened to Sega with the Dreamcast. Sold like mad for awhile... then , all the sudden, nothing. Leaving them with millions of units of unsold product slowly eating your company alive. :evil:

GameDeals.ca

07-14-2007, 02:02 AM

Nintendo is making as many Wii's as they can... but even they didn't anticipate the enormous demand. Right now, Wii's can be found with a bit of searching as the demand has subsided a bit combined with the fact that everyone expects the stores to be sold out, so they stopped looking. They still sell out, just not as fast. With X-mas just around the corner and 3 major releases coming... you bet the Wii will be scarce this holiday season... and just in time for supplies to replenish in early 2008... bam... Mario Kart. Good times.

Anthony1

07-14-2007, 03:43 AM

I can't believe it took you guys this long to figure out they've been doing this all along. The shortage might have been real last November and December, and even January, but since then Nintendo is creating this shortage from thin air. Is there huge demand? Hell yes there is. But a good part of the demand, is the hype that goes along with a hot item that is hard to get. If the Wii was extremely plentiful (like the PS3 is), then there wouldn't be this feeling of, "Man, I better buy this now while I actually have a chance.". That's the scenario that's going on. I know alot of friends and family members that aren't really interested in video games, but for some dumb ass reason, they find themselves looking for a Wii, primarily, because it's the hot ticket. People want what they can't get. It's human nature. When somebody finds an item that is very hard to find, they will sometimes buy it, even though it's something they might not necessarily need or even really want, but it's just a ego type thing. It makes them feel good to have something that people are desperate to get. It's hard to explain, but it's mostly psychological.

Nintendo probably looked at the whole situation like this:

The shortage was real for the first 90 days. The demand was strong. Even after Xmas the demand was very strong. They probably figured that they might as well string along this shortage a little bit longer. Why flood the market and end the run of hype? As the months have gone on, they figured that if it ain't broke, why fix it? I'm sure they have a pretty good idea right now, of exactly how many consoles to leak onto the marketplace, and when to leak them out there. They are managing the inventory brilliantly. They put out enough to sell alot of consoles per month, but not too many, where you would actually find 10 of them just sitting on a shelf somewhere. It's absolutely brilliant of them. I don't think anybody should blame Nintendo for this. They would be idiotic to not continue this for as long as humanly possible. Based on the statements they've made recently, it's obvious that they are going to continue this all the way thru the next holiday. They will probably finally give this up next March.

If you want to blame somebody, then blame the dumb ass consumers that are falling for this tactic.

If the Wii were experiencing an artificial shortage, it wouldn't be selling 375k units a month.

Unless Nintendo has determined that the sweet spot seems to be right around 350K-400K units. Basically, they are leaking about 100K units per week into their channels, and that seems to do the trick.

studvicious

07-14-2007, 07:14 AM

I don't buy that one bit.

gepeto

07-14-2007, 08:00 AM

Nintendo has played the shortage game for years I remember when mike tysons punch out was very hard to find. That use to be their MO. With nintendo if its a seller you can bet on a shortage.

I use to get pissed but the past 10 years it hasn't bothered me at all. I figure it was due to there falling from the number 1 ranking. and not being my premire system.

segagamer4life

07-14-2007, 08:37 AM

Icarus Moonsight

07-14-2007, 09:56 AM

I just don't see a rational purpose for a manufactured shortage. Lotsa tinfoil hats out there. :p I've heard this about Sony (PS2) and Microsoft (360) also... planned shortages seem to be the boogeyman of console gaming. lol

skaar

07-14-2007, 10:09 AM

Nintendo is filling orders placed by retailers. Walmart here in town received 40 something Wiis as it was in the flyer, plus their regular shipment of 20 Wiis.

They lasted over the weekend and were gone by Monday morning. As far as I'm concerned, Nintendo is delivering what the retailers are ordering (the same thing happened at a few local EB Games and Toys r Us - the stores order X Wiis and they arrive then sell out)

You can't blame Nintendo if retailers aren't ordering enough. And it's stupid to expect retailers to order 500 Wiis - they don't want to be the one stuck with them when people finally stop buying.

Stop being childish by trying to "punish" a vendor by not buying their console for some self imposed judgemental reason. They could care less.

Hep038

07-14-2007, 12:26 PM

If the Wii were experiencing an artificial shortage, it wouldn't be selling 375k units a month.

The reason it's more believable that Sony or Microsoft created an artificial shortage is that they take a loss on every unit sold. Nintendo doesn't; thus, they have no incentive to restrict supply.

But you can look at it from MS and Sony point of view, since they lose money on units than they must sell even more units to sell more games. A shortage would not help them at all. Once they make the unit the money is spent. The only way to recoup the money is to sell games.

Some people wear tinfoil hats others drink Koolaid. Some people say we are both crazy.;)

Bronty-2

07-14-2007, 12:52 PM

well said. way too many conspiracy theorists on these boards. nintendo (and sony and ms for that matter) wants nothing more than to get their consoles into people's homes asap so that they can increase their market share and software sales.

Why would any company manufature a shortage? That's just dumb. The demand is established and real, and they want to make money. So they are going to make sales if they can. The only reason there are no Wiis on the shlef is that the demand is too high. Nintendo has nothing to gain by sitting on them. It's not like they are going to be worth more if you sell them later. They want to make money. They want to push out units and make those sales.

swlovinist

07-14-2007, 01:09 PM

From a business standpoint, I dont think that Nintendo is manufacturing the shortage. I think that the Wii is beating their expectations of popularity and is selling that well. I hear that it is on track to outsell the Xbox 360 by the release of Halo 3. Nintendo wants third party support, as well as have enough systems available for demand so that they can make money on software. While they make money on their hardware, their true profits come from software. Less hardware available, less software sold. If Nintendo is manufacturing a shortage, this would in turn only hurt profits for themselves. The stores around here are getting shipments weekly, they are just selling them that well. I dont believe that the Nintendo Wii is such an awsome system yet, I just think that the Competition of Microsoft and Sony are totally missing the boat with the casual gamer market.

skaar

07-14-2007, 09:07 PM

As an addendum, I visited Walmart earlier this morning and there were 6 Wiis on the shelf, and a returned open box PS3 with a free copy of Click on Blu-Ray. No 360s.

j_factor

07-15-2007, 02:32 AM

Unless Nintendo has determined that the sweet spot seems to be right around 350K-400K units. Basically, they are leaking about 100K units per week into their channels, and that seems to do the trick.

I don't think anybody at Nintendo could possibly be crafty/calculating enough to determine such a sweet spot, and manage production and distribution accordingly. Perhaps Nintendo gains a little by the Wii being seen as in short supply, but the amount of meticulousness you're talking about to be able to precisely deliver just the right number of Wii's to sell the maximum amount while still coming just short of supply would require ridiculous micromanagement on Nintendo's part, to an extent that I don't think any business would ever attempt.

And anyway, the way I see it, 100k units a week is in no way an inadequate supply for a game console. If the demand is exceeding it, then, it just has an exceedingly high demand. But the supply isn't short.

skaar

07-15-2007, 11:18 AM

6 hours later, went back for some gym clothes and poked my head into the video game section. All Wiis gone, the PS3 gone...

Lothars

07-15-2007, 10:31 PM

Unless Nintendo has determined that the sweet spot seems to be right around 350K-400K units. Basically, they are leaking about 100K units per week into their channels, and that seems to do the trick.

Completely True

Nintendo is holding back Inventory but also the fact that Wii's are becoming really common, I think that the "Shortage" is fake

In fact I bought one today and they were telling me they had at least 20 in the back for at least 2 weeks

I have seen so many Wii's the last month it's just telling me it's Nintendo creating the false Shortage.

Poofta!

07-16-2007, 08:44 AM

With nintendo if its a seller you can bet on a shortage.

dude. its like that with everyone. if its a seller... it sells out... there arent anymore in stores. dur.

with game consoles beign the single best selling device or item in the world, wtf do you expect. if Canon had to produce their newest camera to meet those demands, theyd be short too.

kainemaxwell

07-16-2007, 12:16 PM

Well if the Wii is a more popular and wanted system then the PS3, then Nintendo should be trying to fill orders as soon as they can...

smokehouse

07-16-2007, 05:45 PM

I don�t know what in the hell is really going on but they are scarce�be it intentional or otherwise. I found one at a K-Mart and bought it for a friend�that was a few weeks after launch. Since then I look often just for the hell of it and have seen only 2 others. I�ve checked everywhere from Circuit City, Best Buy, Wal Mart, Target, K-Mart�game stores. You name it, I�ve looked there. Either Nintendo is up to something or they really are gobbled up the second they hit the stores. Either way, I don�t think I�ve ever seen a system take so long to be plentiful on the shelves.

cyberfluxor

07-16-2007, 08:57 PM

bangtango

07-16-2007, 10:03 PM

Since launch I've never seen a Wii in a retail store. Going to pawn shops and indy game stores I've stumbled across about 3 used systems. Everyone I know got a Wii from online via eBay or other online stores. I've seen more NeoGeo Pocket Colors and Turbo Graphix systems in the past year than Wiis.

In this day and age, I'm curious as to who is bringing a video game system that is still less than a year old into a friggin' pawn shop? How much would they possibly give you for it? Nowhere near the price someone paid to get one new, that is for sure. Someone should have thought about Ebay first. What did the pawn shop have for a price on it?

Neil Koch

07-16-2007, 11:01 PM

Someone might have needed the cash right away or it might have been stolen.

I've seen a Wii in a store around me once. I went to get cash out of an ATM to buy and by the time I got back to the store, it was gone.

crivit

07-17-2007, 01:35 PM

YoshiM

07-17-2007, 02:53 PM

I agree that an artificial shortage makes no business sense. It may help increase demand, but I think the ebay effect would hurt them more than the shortage would help them. Think about it, for everyone that buys a wii off ebay, that's $100-$150 less that they have to give Nintendo for extra wiimotes and games.

Not necessarily. It's not like Nintendo "lost" a customer-just ownership was shifted. If the person just bought a stock Wii (no extras like remotes and such) it's likely they will purchase more accessories after their wallet recovers from the amount they paid on eBay.

The eBay effect also gives Nintendo a bit of free publicity. Can't find them on store shelves, decks selling on eBay for more than retail. The news about the Wii's scarcity and high auction sales can nudge people who weren't really interested in video games into investigating further to find out what's so dang special about this contraption. Why would people of practically all walks of life scramble for this...toy?

The shortages keeps the Wii in the news and in turn in the minds of potential customers.

gepeto

07-17-2007, 10:01 PM

dude. its like that with everyone. if its a seller... it sells out... there arent anymore in stores. dur.

with game consoles beign the single best selling device or item in the world, wtf do you expect. if Canon had to produce their newest camera to meet those demands, theyd be short too.

Not really if things sellout for a period yeah but nintendo takes things to the extreme. They create artificial hype by resistricting the flow of the product so people think that even though it is a seller it must be a blockbuster because no one has it in stock. Then emotionally people are compelled to go on a mad hunt to get one.

They can play this game because the ps3 can't be a threat because of its price tag. But I will bet the farm if the ps3 announced a price drop to 350.00 you would find a shitload of wii's everywhere in stock and for sale. In this day and age I find it rediculous that they made an announcement in july that there will be shortages come christmas.

Bronty-2

07-17-2007, 10:49 PM

Not really if things sellout for a period yeah but nintendo takes things to the extreme. They create artificial hype by resistricting the flow of the product so people think that even though it is a seller it must be a blockbuster because no one has it in stock. Then emotionally people are compelled to go on a mad hunt to get one.

They can play this game because the ps3 can't be a threat because of its price tag. But I will bet the farm if the ps3 announced a price drop to 350.00 you would find a shitload of wii's everywhere in stock and for sale. In this day and age I find it rediculous that they made an announcement in july that there will be shortages come christmas.

C'mon now. July is a slow period. Normally companies with heavy seasonal demand like vg co's build inventory in slow periods. If they didn't build inventory in July they wouldn't be able to produce enough in November/December to keep up with demand.

If you're selling so many GD wii's in June/July/Aug/Sep that you have zero in inventory, you already know that you're not going to have enough around in December if demand picks up as you expect it to in the christmas season. If you're already selling them as fast as you can make them in summer you don't have a hope of keeping up at christmastime.

Not everything is a conspiracy, people!

Rev. Link

07-17-2007, 10:53 PM

I know that I've never seen a Wii on store shelves, either. The only reason I got mine on launch day was because the guy working at our local Game Crazy knows me and held one for me. They weren't doing pre-orders.

My brother works at Wal-Mart, and he tells me that everytime Wiis come in, and they get like 15-20 of them usually, there will be people lined up in electronics before they even put them out on the shelf. Usually more people than they have Wiis for.

YoshiM

07-17-2007, 11:00 PM

Hokey smokes-I just saw 5 Wiis at the local Wal-Mart. First time since launch I saw that.

gepeto

07-18-2007, 08:01 AM

C'mon now. July is a slow period. Normally companies with heavy seasonal demand like vg co's build inventory in slow periods. If they didn't build inventory in July they wouldn't be able to produce enough in November/December to keep up with demand.

If you're selling so many GD wii's in June/July/Aug/Sep that you have zero in inventory, you already know that you're not going to have enough around in December if demand picks up as you expect it to in the christmas season. If you're already selling them as fast as you can make them in summer you don't have a hope of keeping up at christmastime.

Not everything is a conspiracy, people!

I have been dealing with nintendo for over 23 years and there tactics when there in front are still the same. Some companies limit supply that is a known fact. It should come as no suprise that nintendo would do this but then again.

Xbox had the tree cores ps3 had the blue ray diodes that were hard to find. Whats the wiis problem?

The wii is a well made machine with cheap easy to produce everyday parts.
Its funny when the gamecube frenzy launched they had ample supply to cover the launch and the next few months. Everything isn't a conspriacy but you can't take everything being told to you as fact either.