No Increase In Wii Production Until April

[CantGetAWii]

And people still doubt Nintendo intentionally witholding production in order to create an artificial demand crisis with the intention of increasing hype?

I thought their marketing scheme was fairly transparent from the start, but I guess not everyone catches on at the same rate...

I believe that rumor was found to be false a few months back?
Either way they still are not making nearly enough as they should.

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[Atomheart]

Hey, I'll jump on if you can point to an insider leaked memo or official Nintendo press release confirming your speculation. You feel there's a conspiracy to intentionally withhold inventory. Hey, go for it. IMO that's very unlikely given that Nintendo took a substantial risk by releasing a console that has inferior hardware and betting on a relatively innovative control scheme instead. You choose to disagree and that's fine.

Huh? The console has been completely sold out for over a year. For two Chrismas seasons in a row, it has been the "it" gift; they KNEW that going into this Christmas (or at least everyone else in the world did). The demand for the darn thing increases every day. Yet instead of taking the logical route and increasing supply to even attempt to meet the ever increasing demand, they don't change a thing. It defies all good sense and logic.

So either they are the most incompetent corporation in the world or they're intentionally limiting supply. So which is it?

Seriously, what is the most logical explantion here?

And of course it's going to be speculation; it has to be as they won't give any logical reason for why they aren't increasing production. Why don't they tell us?

[gnahc79]

And of course it's going to be speculation; it has to be as they won't give any logical reason for why they aren't increasing production. Why don't they tell us?

Why don't they tell us? Are you serious? If they told us, they would be telling Sony and Microsoft too. It would expose their weaknesses to competitors.
Nintendo underestimated the demand and rightly so. They tapped into an entirely new market of first time gamers, e.g. older folks and ppl who never considered getting a console. It's not easy to predict this kind of demand when there is so much unknown out there.

edit: Nintendo did increase production, but obviously they are still being very conservative and cautious, hence the continued shortage. Not all that surprising from Nintendo IMO.

[Atomheart]

Why don't they tell us? Are you serious? If they told us, they would be telling Sony and Microsoft too. It would expose their weaknesses to competitors.
Nintendo underestimated the demand and rightly so. They tapped into an entirely new market of first time gamers, e.g. older folks and ppl who never considered getting a console. It's not easy to predict this kind of demand when there is so much unknown out there.

edit: Nintendo did increase production, but obviously they are still being very conservative and cautious, hence the continued shortage. Not all that surprising from Nintendo IMO.

BUT THE WII HAS BEEN OUT FOR OVER A YEAR! The hype and the demand for the Wii has not decreased even slightly; in fact, the contrary is true. I can understand having a shortage for the first few months. But with no end of demand in sight but rather increasing demand, the logical move would be to increase production. They have not done that. It defies all logic and good judgement. Nintendo is smarter than that, trust me. No business has a model of failure to meet demand; they're out to maximize profits, after all. So unless there is some fiscal reason to withold production (i.e., it somehow increases profit), there is absolutely no logical reason do withold production otherwise.

So what is it? Is Nintendo slamming its consumers with a marketing scheme? Or is Nintendo, indeed, among the stupidents corporations in the world? Your choice, but both make them look bad. Hint: You'll need to crawl out of your fanboy cubby hold up in Nintendo's butt.

[NikkiLee]

I do feel bad for those who don't have a wii...but happy for me because I have one!

[gnahc79]

Yes the Wii has been out for over a year. Do you know exactly what the timeline is from finding a new vendor, or having existing vendors up their production, adjusting QC accordingly for the new vendor, managing logistics in moving the increased inventory, etc etc?
Nintendo is going conservative and it sucks. I agree with you on that. However, I do not agree that they are intentionally creating scarcity. IMO Nintendo does not want to risk overproduction. They're a Japanese company, it's known that many Japanese companies are risk averse.

So unless there is some fiscal reason to withold production (i.e., it somehow increases profit), there is absolutely no logical reason do withold production otherwise.

I've been listing numerous possibilities why their production isn't meeting demand and you've addressed none of them. You've also ignored the fact that they did increase production since the release date, announced back in April: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18348840/
Obviously it was not enough, but it's not like Nintendo is intentionally creating scarcity.

Please use something other than "defies logic". Maybe something from logistics, risk management, or supply chain theory? I'm not a fanboy, I'm just looking at this from a realistic point of view, other than a simplistic view of "they just should be able to meet demand".

I'm in software development for mission critical databases. We are VERY conservative with what we do. That's with software, where you can patch things at a later time. Hardware is far more restrictive, once it's out in the wild, that's pretty much it. Microsoft is learning the hard way by taking a $1.15 billion loss for the 360. That probably scares the crap out of Nintendo.

[SuperMelty]

I was helping my nephew find a Wii recently and it seems even harder than last year to get one. I understand that they're trying to be cautious, but this holding off of production until April could effect them a lot or a little either way, and when it starts again it'll feel like when the Wii was first released. Or not, what do I know. I'm just hoping I could pick one up for my nephew so he won't have to accidentally save over my files or scratch up my discs anymore.

[wiinews]

Every time I visit ToysRus i can find tons of wiis for sale!