Nintendo's making 1.8 million Wiis every month (joystiq.com)

[7th lutz]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/19/nintendos-making-1-8-million-wiis-every-month/

At first, we're sure that the countless reports of a Wii shortage throughout the media were music to Nintendo's ears. In fact, we even heard some theorize that Nintendo was holding back on supply to help drive up demand. These days, though, it's just gotten silly. People want to buy the thing, and Nintendo seems to be doing all they can to keep up with demand. In fact, Nintendo of America's outgoing marketing boss George Harrison recently said that the company is making 1.8 million of the systems every month.

The amazing thing? That's still not enough.

I think that tells us the shortage is not make up. A company making that many a month world wide says something about the wii's popularity.

[Poofta!]

im so glad this finally came out, ive gotten so tired people BSing about nintendo not selling anything cause its always out of stock or that they are creating a false shortage.

[theoakwoody]

It's funny how people don't realize how hard it is to ramp up production on something. It takes time to make sure it can be done without lowering the quality of the product. Kind of like at a chinese buffet, lots of food but not always great quality. Not even Nintendo knew how hot the Wii would get in the marketplace and so they probably projected they'd sell about as many systems as the Microsoft did in their first 12 months. So they planned on producing 5.5 mil and they end up having to produce 15 million.

Also, think about the DS, in its first 12 months it sold 8 million units. Then in the next 12 they sold 22 million, and then the next 12 24 million. So last year when they were considering how many wii's to produce on a monthly basis they also had to consider that they are selling more and more DS's every year and may have to produce more of those as well.

Another thing that is remarkable is that if you compare these numbers to ipods they are not that far off. There have been 119 million ipods sold since '01 which avg. close to 20 million a year. I don't know how many ipods were sold last year but if there was 24 million DS's sold it had to have been close to that. No wonder Nintendo is the third largest company in Japan.

[theoakwoody]

Well, I was way off because apparently Apple has sold 42 million ipods through the first 3 quarters of 2007.

[RyanMurf]

Are we all supposed to beleive this 1.8 million excuse. Is it possible that its a lie. I mean if they were holding stashes of wii's then do you think that they would just admit to it. So all im saying is that this guy might not be telling the whole truth.

[zemmix]

No wonder Nintendo is the third largest company in Japan.

Actually they are second

http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKT1482820070925

[diskoboy]

Then if they're making 1.8 million a month, why are we still not seeing any on store shelves, in alot of areas?? They damn sure aren't selling that many a month..

I still think most stores are hoarding their supplies.

[7th lutz]

Then if they're making 1.8 million a month, why are we still not seeing any on store shelves, in alot of areas?? They damn sure aren't selling that many a month..

I still think most stores are hoarding their supplies.

The amount 1.8 million a month is not for the united States, but for World Wide.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

If only they'd make 1.8 million great 1st and 3rd party games to go with them.

*sigh*

[Icarus Moonsight]

And yet the doubt continues. /me not surprised
Do you folks even know how irrational you seem?

It's easy to understand not wanting to raise production too much if you think about it. It's more cost effective to maintain a steady flow of product rather than upscaling and downscaling production with the shift of demand. Yes they are missing some sales by not having stock available at retail but, they don't want to stick their profits back into producing units that won't sell. See the Dreamcast for details. I'd say they are being conservative and I don't blame them. They didn't set up adequate initial production because the demand was a surprise and they have raised production since then. The shortage has been called "created" for a long time now and with the up ticks in production and shortages still existing those claims don't hold.

[smork]

Are we all supposed to beleive this 1.8 million excuse. Is it possible that its a lie. I mean if they were holding stashes of wii's then do you think that they would just admit to it. So all im saying is that this guy might not be telling the whole truth.

Man, what's the deal here? It doesn't do Nintendo any good to restrict supply of a hot product at peak sales season. It makes more sense to flood the market this time of year -- strike while the iron is hot, you know.

[Rob2600]

And yet the doubt continues. ... Do you folks even know how irrational you seem?


Man, what's the deal here? It doesn't do Nintendo any good to restrict supply of a hot product at peak sales season. It makes more sense to flood the market this time of year -- strike while the iron is hot, you know.

Didn't you get the memo? Nintendo isn't allowed to succeed. Only Sony and Microsoft are.

Sometimes I think members of the Bush administration have joined this forum, hence the complete lack of logic. We need more Ron Paul avatars!

[unwinddesign]

Interesting that Nintendo has finally found its way to the top again. Shame they didn't do it when they still deserved it, like the N64 era. Now that was a great system, with the most innovative games around.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time with Wii Remote controls? Yeah, Twilight Princess is a fantastic game, but I'm not going to bust my ass trying to find a Wii in every store I walk into just to play it. I find it hard to believe that they're making 1.8 million a month. Where exactly are they going if they're shifting 500k units in the USA? If they're shifting around that average per market, there seems to be 400k or so gone missing. Of course, that's a kind of broad assumption to be making, but usually the US market is the biggest hardware sales haven (asides from Japan beating it sometimes), and Europe less, so I'd assume it averages out. Maybe not...

I found 3 last year, but since then they've gotten scarcer. Who knew. Funny thing is, I haven't seen one up at college. Not one. Xbox 360s out the ass, but not one Wii.

The only reason I can see why they'd still restrict supply is to create viral advertising -- i.e., the Wii is so hard to find, that must mean it's good, hence it sends people looking for it. With Mario Galaxy out, though, that'd be a dumbass strategy, because that game is going to sell systems regardless. If I can ever find a Wii normally, like going to Amazon and buying it when I goddamn feel like it, I'll pick one up. But I really wonder who's buying all these Wiis. Seriously. Grandma?

[theoakwoody]

Yeah it would be interesting to know how they split up that 1.8 million per region. 500K each in US, Europe, and Japan and then the remaining 300K split up between the rest of the world.