Nintendo "passionately upset" about Wii shortages, won't give out free Mario cakes

Besides being infuriated with leaving over a billion dollars on the table this past holiday season, Nintendo of America is also "passionately upset about the lack of product relative to demand." Those words came straight from Mr. Reggie Fils-Aime himself, who noted that North America was the only Wii-serviced territory where supply and demand were still out of sync. Reportedly, some 40-percent of the 1.8 million Wii consoles manufactured each month are making their way over, but even after 17 months on the market, the average Wii sits around on retail shelves for "just an hour before [it is] purchased." Unfortunately, we're no closer to being able to clone the consoles in order to meet the insatiable appetite.

[wako @ Apr 24th 2008 10:13PM]

LOL...


didnt read the article but that picture is hilarious :D

[Aguiluz @ Apr 24th 2008 11:41PM]

Hilarious, huh?

My hair prickled when I read it. :-/

I'm scared. Mommy!?

[Aguiluz @ Apr 24th 2008 11:41PM]

(I was joking about the last part BTW.)

[vcx @ Apr 25th 2008 12:22AM]

Is that a real UPC code for something?

[Doug @ Apr 24th 2008 10:17PM]

I'm passionatly upset that My boxers still get holes in them after too much taco bell.. You don't see me going back for me do you?

[Val£ntine @ Apr 24th 2008 10:25PM]

Wtf.....drunk drunk drunkity drunk

theres a shortage of wiis in quite a few places in Blighty too

[me @ Apr 24th 2008 11:01PM]

wtf?

[mabhatter @ Apr 24th 2008 10:25PM]

The Wii has an online component so they know how many of the ones they make are actually being used. The problem is that the ebay market is flooded and people are still snapping them up to hawk. That skews the production numbers. My gut is that if Nintendo had another box in the works the market would flood overnight. Remember they make a profit off every unit sold, to set up new production would probably require 25% increase in units (worldwide!) which the market probably can't really support.. and they'd lose the little bit of profit they do get to set it up.
On the other hand Nintendo is so used to being tight with the money and conservative with features they are really dropping the ball getting stuff out there, games like SMSB, Mario Galaxy, etc are years late, and integration with DS and online service are way behind if Nintendo was taking this seriously.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Apr 25th 2008 1:58AM]

"...they are really dropping the ball getting stuff out there, games like SMSB, Mario Galaxy, etc are years late, and integration with DS and online service are way behind if Nintendo was taking this seriously."

I agree. I was able to get a console on launch day and you'd think 18 months later we would have a solid online platform plus voice chat. The online highlights have instead been done by EA. Nintendo's friend code system blows. I'm enjoying Brawl immensely and will get Kart on Sunday but come on, we need the Wii's equivalent to Halo or something, don't you think?

[tom @ Apr 25th 2008 8:36AM]

I have a Wii, used to play with it everyday, nowadays, I hardly touch it. I guess the fun factor just isn't there anymore

[pc @ Apr 24th 2008 10:48PM]

please how can they not make enough game cubes, i mean they came out in 1999, great marketing ill give em that

[Mojo_Yugen @ Apr 25th 2008 9:42AM]

Seriously?

Another Wii = Game Cube joke?

We're still doing that?

[The_Steven @ Apr 24th 2008 10:50PM]

Have you tried ebay?
I got more than I expected for my soul, despite its' condition.

[carmen @ Apr 24th 2008 10:51PM]

I once heard a girl tell her friend she would sell her virginity for a iPhone...I looked at her over bleached blonde hair, out of style mini skirt and oddly shaped implants and said sweetheart if there was a price on your v-card it would have been on clearence LONG time ago...I guess some people don't mind prostitution or morally wrong acts for cool gadgets.

VERY AWSOME!

[Tony Rayo @ Apr 24th 2008 11:03PM]

Sadly they suffer from the same problem as the PS3 when it comes to quality software, however at least PS3s are always on the shelf now. Perhaps that's partly their sales are up. I still wish the PS3 had a more streamline (*sigh* pains me to say this but, "Xbox Live") experience. However they are doing great with frequent firmware updates.

Now if only they could improve the online experience like they did the PSN Store.

[Jonny @ Apr 24th 2008 11:17PM]

Not quite sir.

A lot of stores I've noticed are OOS, at least around my area. (Hanover, Maryland)

Apparently someones snapping them all up to make themselves a super computer. Or something. :D

[Bill @ Apr 24th 2008 11:05PM]

Don't bother trying to find one, just let it happen. Zen like. Went into a local GameStop or, GameSpot whatever it is called to buy a few copies of Grand Turismo 5p, and looked over to note a woman buying a Wii.

I asked if they had any more, and they had 10 as a shipment had just came in. So I bought one for my Mom for her birthday, and she defeated me at bowling 86 to 85.

So just let it happen; the harder you chase the Wii, the faster it will recede from you.

[steven1350 @ Apr 24th 2008 11:34PM]

you sir, suck at bowling. If I get a score of less then 150, i've had a bad game.

Please go and take your suck elsewhere.

[low tech @ Apr 24th 2008 11:34PM]

It's like a paradoxataur.

[Vince @ Apr 25th 2008 5:21AM]

@steven

Some of us have lives and don't bowl 24/7 :)

I'd consider 80-90 decent; I'd be elated to hit 100-130.

[Chris @ Apr 24th 2008 11:11PM]

I don't get whats with the shortages, I got mine the first day it came out. I waited in like (#67) at Target and they recieved 130 Wii's. I still laugh at some friends of mine who waited 3 times as long as I did to get their Wii's 2 months later.

[Chris @ Apr 24th 2008 11:13PM]

edit: I waited in line for an hour on launch day and still easily got a Wii and a few games.

[Virtuous @ Apr 24th 2008 11:21PM]

Nintendo has only themselves to blame.

[N30 G30 @ Apr 24th 2008 11:22PM]

I recently got a Wii about a month ago specifically for SSBB. (I haven't even touched Wii Sports yet.) I'm still shocked at the number of people that still don't have this console. The people in the front of the line apparently were resellers (bastards!), but the rest (most) were kids, parents, and people that actually were going to play it.

By my calculations, Nintendo sold 10 billion consoles to a world with a population 6.8 billion people! Amazing!

[esp4p3 @ Apr 24th 2008 11:34PM]

Nintendo is doing this on purpose. Because of the weak dollar N is putting more supply out to Europe because they are making more money that way. This is not a mystery.

[grant @ Apr 24th 2008 11:34PM]

I think you should stop feeding the trolls.

[Jake @ Apr 24th 2008 11:41PM]

I went to a Best Buy in Washington state randomly after work one day. They had 6 that just got off the truck. Needless to say, that was an impulse buy!

[Ryan @ Apr 25th 2008 12:02AM]

This is weird. My local Wal-Mart has had them on stock almost constantly for the past few weeks, whereas before they were just as impossible to get elsewhere. Makes me upset, as I struggled to get one before they started sticking to the shelves.

[Balls @ Apr 25th 2008 8:31AM]

I randomly walked into a Walmart Feb. 07, and there were 2 sittin there. Needless to say I bought it...

[ninjagamer32 @ Apr 25th 2008 12:13AM]

I hope no one actually believes Nintendo can't make enough to supply demand.
It even says in the article they are only putting out about 40% of what they actually manufacture.
The truth is if they would put out all they manufacture then there would be stores full of unsold consoles.
Keeping the supply low makes a false sense of value to the gamecube2.0.

[Ryan @ Apr 25th 2008 12:16AM]

40% of all produced goes to the US. The rest goes to everywhere else. It's not like they're just holding on to 60% of their stock...

[Vince @ Apr 25th 2008 5:24AM]

What percentage of the world's marketshare do you think the US really is? 40% is huge, really. That means that 4 out of every 10 Wiis made are coming here, even with our economic issues right now. Impressive numbers if you look at global economics.

[Jay.Sixx @ Apr 25th 2008 12:33AM]

so crazy... I just returned from Osaka where Wiis sit on the shelves of Bic Camera and Sofmap collecting dust. And you can even buy them used for around $180USD. If the consoles were compatible I would've bought a few to bring back.

[Kevo @ Apr 25th 2008 12:33AM]

It is pathetic to still not meet demand after 17 months. Ebay has nothing to do with this. Ebay is a tiny percentage relative to the number of consoles being produced; and if Nintendo came even close to producing enough units, ebay would be less and less popular.

I don't think this is due to Nintendo wanting to keep the wii "sold out" to stimulate demand. Not anymore anyway. I think it's just Nintendo being WAY too tight with their money. It's the most pathetic attempt at managing a supply chain I can think of. An estimated $1 billion left on the table from the holidays?! People most definitely need to be fired.

I got my Wii a couple weeks after launch by standing in line btw.

[Tyler Willis @ Apr 25th 2008 12:49AM]

They had a whole crate at Costco the other day (bundled with Mario no less). The price tag said "One per customer". Costco gets weekly shipments on their electronics, so you might try them on a Thursday if you aren't having any luck... The crate was almost empty at close BTW.

[tom @ Apr 25th 2008 1:44AM]

Almost everyone I work with has a wii... the only people who don't are people who just don't play console games. And I think I'm the only one who cheated and bought one when we got some in, I think everyone else got theirs the old fashioned way and went to a store early in the morning and picked one up.
I work at a retailer and I get called at least once or twice a day asking for a wii, and we aren't even that big in to gaming.
I haven't played mine much, since playing ssbm on a 20 inch t.v. is too hard, gotta pick up my 42" in a few days.

[phlavor @ Apr 25th 2008 1:05PM]

I saw a Wii for sale in a Target two nights ago. It was the first one I had ever seen. I literally stared at it for two minutes in disbelief deciding what I should do.

[J K @ Apr 25th 2008 1:59PM]

What a joke..Clearly the Wii is not suffering shortages anywhere else except in the states. Why then are they shipping the other 60% to places where its not even in high demand. I just came from europe where you can practically walk in and buy a Wii anytime. Here in the states I see artificial scarcity. Which allows big name retailers to try to force you to buy 4 rubbish games in order to get a console and ebay is just full of overpriced Wii's. Online there are Wii bundles for 800 dollars..considering the price is 250 you have to be smoking something funny to justify that kinda price hike.

I'm not a big short sales exec at big N, but even I would think that maybe diverting more of that other 60% to the USA would not hurt other markets and would help them sell more consoles and more games which btw they get a license fee for. Just a thought I'm putting out there.

[rouge @ Apr 25th 2008 10:32PM]

The picture isn't THAT funny.

[Ignatius @ Apr 24th 2008 10:38PM]

Funny enough for Engadget to remove the triple post, at least.