Nintendo Wii rant

[littlebib]

So, I have been casually trying to find Mario Kart for the Wii for my son's birthday. As I'm finding, this is an impossible task. Latest check was at Toys 'R Us where it was explained that they only get Mario Kart, Wii hardware, and the Wii fit every couple of weeks, and they all usually sell out that day. Best Buy had been sold out for quite some time as well and may get some later this week.

When the Wii first came out, I figured they just couldn't make enough. There were all the rumors that Nintendo was doing it on purpose to increase demand and such and I figured there's no way. That would just be stupid. But, to still have shortages now is just pathetic. I am actually wondering if Nintendo is, in fact, doing this on purpose. I can't figure out the business justification, but apparently it's working for them. Really, how hard is it to make enough DVDs to sell? Halo, GTA, and other games like that had supply problems for maybe the first couple of weeks, but soon after had plenty of supply. Nintendo "can't" print enough copies of Mario Kart?? It shouldn't be this hard to spend money.

[ganthc]

Well, it is either that or Nintendo continues to consistently and persistently underestimate demand for their products. For some people, they still have trouble finding a Wii console in stores. But I am thinking that it is Nintendo hyping demand somewhat. Which doesn't make sense, because instead of them getting profits, the video game scalpers are.

[MooglePorn]

There have been months with high surges in PS3 and Xbox sales due to a new game, and yet those consoles are still easy to find. The week MGS4 came out PS3 sales went up like a thousand percent, but I still saw the system everywhere.

If you ask me, Nintendo wants to keep their product a hard-to-find item. I have no proof of this, though...

[Monrozombi]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

There have been months with high surges in PS3 and Xbox sales due to a new game, and yet those consoles are still easy to find. The week MGS4 came out PS3 sales went up like a thousand percent, but I still saw the system everywhere.

If you ask me, Nintendo wants to keep their product a hard-to-find item. I have no proof of this, though...

I don't think you "need proof" the proof is posts like the one that started this thread.

Nintendo is not a new company, they've been in the hardware wars for almost 30 years now and they know how to make their product. I do believe that they are artificially creating demand by low supply. They do have a great product but I don't think keep supply low is really doing much for them, its not driving the prices up in the store, yeah ebay is fetching higher prices for it.

Does anyone know if the demand problem is just North America or in Japan too?

[littlebib]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

There have been months with high surges in PS3 and Xbox sales due to a new game, and yet those consoles are still easy to find. The week MGS4 came out PS3 sales went up like a thousand percent, but I still saw the system everywhere.

If you ask me, Nintendo wants to keep their product a hard-to-find item. I have no proof of this, though...

It's not even just hardware though. That's what has led me to believe that they're doing this on purpose. Not being able to find Mario Kart 3 months after is came out is just stupid. I may be wrong, but it's not like the software is breaking records week after week after week which might justify the supply failure.

[187ontheVHS]

There's a lot of documented info on Nintendo and aritificial demand inflation back in the 80s, read the book Game Over by David Sheff, it's fascinating.