In a recent sit down with the L.A. Times, Reggie Fils-Aime talked about the appeal of Nintendo products and if you will be able to find them this Holiday season. Of course the DS will sell like hot cakes and will be available throughout the season in every store but what about the Wii and Wii Fit?
Last year Nintendo was producing about 1.6 million units per month. This year Nintendo has ramped up production of the Wii to 2.4 million units per month worldwide, that’s a 33% increase according to Reggie’s math. Reggie was also able to get a bit of a jab in on an unnamed competitor,
“One of our competitors projects they will sell 10 million consoles worldwide this year. For us, that’s three months of production. We’re producing an unprecedented level of hardware to try to meet demand.”
Even with increased production it still might be difficult to find a Wii come December.
As for Wii Fit, the sales numbers have been extremely strong selling somewhere around 3 million units thus far. Nintendo hasn’t been able to keep up with the demand of this product either. Reggie states that they intend to dramatically increase shipment numbers but only 3 out of 10 stores will have Wii Fit in stock at this time.
This is a warning in some way to all of you parents, children and grandparents who want a Wii or Wii Fit this year, if you see either one on a store shelf gobble it up because it might be your only opportunity this year.
[Via L.A. TImes]
Even with the increase in units they will practically be sold out by December. I wonder if it’s possible to profit with Wii Fit. Like sell it on Ebay for about $20 more and parents will buy it probably no matter what, it worked for the Wii.