Perrin Kaplan says shortages will continue
by David Hinkle 
{ Apr 11th 2007 at 1:00PM }
During a recent interview, Perrin Kaplan revealed that those still looking to get their hands on a Wii will probably be forced to wait that much longer. Apparently, Nintendo's production resources just cannot match demand as the company tries to get as many units available on store shelves as possible. Perrin says that there "is a lot going on behind the scenes in terms of working on what we are producing and the numbers continue to rise but the product is so very popular that we may see a supply / demand situation last for some time."Is this excusable though? No, it most certainly is not, considering the console launched five months ago. When does Nintendo stop jerking us around and put their product on shelves? People certainly want the thing, so why not give it to them? Sure, Nintendo is in a prime position to control the supply and demand of their system, but when does it end? And, really, with the incredible resources that Nintendo has, can't they ramp up production or acquire new manufacturing plants?
Perrin adds "We are at absolute maximum production and doing everything we can. The number of units that we have been able to produce has far exceeded our hardware production in the past and the production levels of a lot of our competitors but demand continues to be really high. People are being really diligent about working with retailers to locate one but we are cognisent of the fact that a lot of fans are not able to get their hands on one yet. We are asking them to be patient and to know that we are working on this as fast as we can."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3cubedminus3squared @ Apr 11th 2007 1:11PM
I went looking for one yesterday at Best Buy and Target and neither had a Wii. I was hoping they would so I could buy SPM. I'll try again next week.
Neil @ Apr 11th 2007 1:25PM
I'm not trying to be an apologist for nintendo, but has anyone looked at the rate of sale as compared to other consoles? certainly, this thing would have to be maintaining some sort of record to be completely out of stock for so long. since, all the consoles launch at about the same time of the year, it would be interesting to chart their growth for the first 6 months or so.
panamaguy @ Apr 11th 2007 1:59PM
FYI, in Panama City, Panama there are TONS of Wiis available at the local electronics stores. They are more expensive - $289 typically - but easy to come by and are the same region as the US ones. If you want a Wii, there are direct flights here every day!
Wizky911 @ Apr 11th 2007 1:34PM
My guess is that we're gonna see more wii's on shelves when Nintendo releases its next sales forcast thingie, you know like how there magically was 6 millon wii sold by the end of March. So once Nintendo says that they expect to sell 8 million by June. We'll magically see the wii on shelves
Bluebreaker @ Apr 11th 2007 1:30PM
No apologist stance here either but from some friends that work at Nintendo they say that the factory really is cranking them out at full capacity. I don't think demand has been this high since the NES/SNES days. Someone should look into those production rumors though. Any intrepid investigative bloggers around?
iconmaster @ Apr 11th 2007 2:03PM
Y'know, if she says they're at maximum production, maybe we could just believe they really are at maximum production?
It's a highly uncynical approach, I know.
Brandon @ Apr 11th 2007 2:07PM
Dude, what are you talking about? Why would they be holding out? You think they're not cranking these out as fast as they possibly can? You think Nintendo hates money?
Jerking us around? What does that even mean? Control the supply and demand of their system? They charge the same price for every Wii regardless of the current supply. The Wiis being sold on eBay for more than $250 are lining the pockets of eBayers, not Perrin Kaplan. I don't even understand your grand conspiracy angle here.
And, really, with the incredible resources that Nintendo has, they certainly could acquire new manufacturing plants. And what do you suppose the minimum amount of time between buying/building a plant and seeing the first boxed up Wii roll out of that plant is? Probably no more than a week, two tops, right?
Intrepid investigative blogging.
tatsumaki @ Apr 11th 2007 3:07PM
If Big N is guilty of anything, it's that they didn't want to admit right away that there was no way for them to keep up with the overwhelming demand that they're facing. Recall, MS had the same issue with the 360. The only reason Sony hasn't with the PS3 is that you need to take out another mortgage just to pay for one.
I can't imagine that they would be hoarding them or not taking the necessary (and time consuming) steps to ramp up new manufacturing. Each console sold is at a profit. Last I checked, most companies think profit is good.
I love you, Wii Fanboy, but I hated this article. Bit o' unresponsible journalism there. Might've a writer from PS3 Fanboy gotten a hold of one of your PCs??
SuicideNinja @ Apr 11th 2007 3:15PM
What pisses me off is that it's essentially a Gamecube in a different form-factor. The parts shouldn't be difficult to come by. Then again, they are probably at maximum capacity; there's no point in forcing a supply demand situation at this time in the year.
Sure, I have a Wii, but I wasn't happy about having to wait several hours and deal with a line in the middle of the night...this was months after launch. Hopefully the interest stays high, because after a while people tend to give up.
Katotetu @ Apr 11th 2007 5:41PM
All this "fake shortage" crap is just a bunch of BS
Everyone loves the Wii, that's why there's not very many of them.
It probably doesn't help Nintendo all that much to advertise their product when they're almost impossible to find, but that's their decision, and I'm sure there's a good reason.
ItGuy @ Apr 11th 2007 3:20PM
"What pisses me off is that it's essentially a Gamecube in a different form-factor. The parts shouldn't be difficult to come by."
Yup, a new CPU (and different than other PPC's), a new GPU (different than anything from ATI), a new case, bluetooth, etc.
IBM has to ramp up capacity
ATI hae to ramp up capacity
Nintendo needs to build more molding machines
Panasonic needs to build more DVD drives
Mitsumi needs more BT/WiFi
etc, etc, etc.
I believe that they are cranking them out as fast as they can. The Wii was just never supposed to be this big of a hit.
mooo @ Apr 11th 2007 4:10PM
It's popular to hammer on Nintendo for the shortages right now but the question to ask is, has ANY other home console in history shipped 6.5 million systems in its first 5 months? PS2 certainly didn't.
Brian @ Apr 11th 2007 5:14PM
The opinion of this article is pretty fanatical imo. They can't just ramp up production over night. "can't they ramp up production or acquire new manufacturing plants?"
It sounds as if production IS ramped up and to maximum capacity.
As for buying new plants. Things like that don't happen overnight, or even over a few weeks. Deals like that can take months and to equip a plant to produce Wii's doesn't happen quickly either. It's a process.
Ken @ Apr 11th 2007 5:34PM
Alot of it has to do with the fact that when stores DO get them in... People snatch them up to sell them on eBay, which pisses me off to no end. eBayers can eat a dick.
You can go on and on about how they want to make a quick buck. But in the end, it's the consumer that gets f'ed. That's why we don't see any on the shelves (partly).
I hate the people that don't have a job, they just sell stuff on ebay (and price gouge the shipping) all day and call it a job.
Putz.
Eric, the Mad Monk @ Apr 11th 2007 5:47PM
From someone who works in the semiconductor industry (and actually supplies some of the chips for the Wii), ramping up chip production is not as easy as Nintendo making a call and saying that we want more chips.
Fabrication of chips from start to finish takes on average 1 1/2 to 2 months depending on the complexity of the chips. Most of the manufacturers of the chips used in the Wii do not just make parts for the Wii. Other customer's requirements must also be thought about when balancing your production line.
Also, new manufacturing plants are not easy to come by since you usually have to take 6 to 18 months qualifying a new supplier to meet quality assurance standards.
What Nintendo needs to do is release better data regarding when shipments are going out.
Mr Khan @ Apr 11th 2007 7:50PM
Well, at least we can stand assured that Wii will outsell GameCube
Think, they've sold 1/3 of what GC did over 5 years in 1/2 a year
Pretty awesome...