Nintendo: Supply will not meet Wii demand this Christmas

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By Stevie Smith Nov 15, 2007, 13:48 GMT

The material joy of Christmas is looming, but it would appear a great many kids hoping to find a Nintendo Wii beneath the tree come December 25 will be sorely disappointed as the Japanese gaming giant has conceded that supply may not meet demand. epa00885707 Nintendo warns that continuing high demand for its Wii console will likely see expectant customers around the world disappointed this Christmas. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON

epa00885707 Nintendo warns that continuing high demand for its Wii console will likely see expectant customers around the world disappointed this Christmas. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHONAccording to a BBC News article, high street retailers are finding it difficult to address consumer demand for Nintendo’s innovative and family-friendly videogame console, which has largely remained a hard-to-find product since its release in November of 2006.Nintendo, which has said it’s "doing everything possible" to meet the seasonal demand, is to ship a further 3.5 million units of the Wii around the world in an attempt to stem the rising consumer tide. However, it isn’t entirely convinced its efforts will be sufficient."The demand for Wii hardware globally has been unprecedented and higher than Nintendo could ever have anticipated," said a Nintendo spokeswoman. "Nintendo is now in a position in which seasonality demand trends are being broken, therefore the demand for Wii hardware is constant throughout the whole year globally. Due to this phenomenon it is possible that the demand for Wii hardware may outstrip supply."And that’s a possibility reinforced with some conviction by Reggie Fils-Aime, the president of Nintendo of America (NoA). Fils-Aime has indicated that the Wii hardware shortage is global, saying that although Nintendo is "working very hard to make sure consumers are satisfied this holiday," disappointment is a realistic outcome as the gaming company cannot guarantee to meet demand. "As a matter of fact," said Fils-Aime, "I can tell you on the record that we won’t."To illustrate the pressures placed on Nintendo’s production lines following the runaway success of its Wii console, the company’s Q2 shipment projections for 2007 were initially placed at 14 million. That projection has now been increased to 17 million units, and current sales figures stand at approximately 12.6 million units.On the high street, leading retailers are certainly feeling the strain across the board, not just with the Nintendo Wii. A statement from GAME Stores warns that although it is taking stock of "regular deliveries from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft" and getting units up on shelves as quickly as possible, "it’s possible that demand will outstrip supplies on some products – for example the Nintendo Wii, which has been hugely popular all through the year." Similarly, Woolworths admits that it is only receiving a "slow trickle" of Wii stock each week: "The Nintendo Wii consoles have proved extremely popular with our customers and have been flying off the shelves whenever we get new stock in."

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Nintendo: Supply will not meet Wii demand this Christmas

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