Growing Wii supply to guarantee less stressful holiday season

by Chris Greenhough { Aug 19th 2008 at 7:26PM }

Even as holiday seasons go, the previous two were pretty damn horrible if you were a parent trying to find a Wii for your offspring. You could spot a harried, stressed parent almost everywhere you turned on the high street, their wide, panicked eyes and expressions of fear and uncertainty giving them away in game emporiums up and down the land.

But it doesn't have to be the same this year! This year, lil' Timmy will be opening a fresh new Wii come Christmas Day -- as long as you buy early enough. And if not, at least now we have somebody to blame: EEDAR's director of analytical services Jesse Divnich. Writing on Gamasutra, Divnich suggests that falling prices on the Wii's gray market mean that supply and demand are now close to being equal. "Given the trend," reasons the analyst, "it is likely that supply will finally outpace demand before the holiday season."

Don't just rest on your laurels, however, for Divnich thinks that demand may outpace supply again during November and December. The best solution? Buy one now and hide it until the time for gift-giving has arrived.

Hide it well, though -- or at least, hide it better than this blogger's parents hid Virtua Racing during the Christmas 1994 season. I must have had a solid four weeks with that game before I was required to act surprised on Christmas Day morning.

Tags: analyst, business, christmas, divnich, holidays, jesse-divnich

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Q-Kid-Kyle @ Aug 19th 2008 7:56PM

you know, it was funny. last christmas, my cousin, he was 7, had wanted a wii. his parents left, each going a different way. They both were trying to find one. They got back, and they EACH had a Wii. 2 Wiis. November. But, one was taken back. They didnt need two wiis. Oh, and I got my wii 2 aprils ago

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 19th 2008 9:39PM

I was always considering buying a Wii, at that point it was just a matter of when. After continuously flipping a coin even at the Pentagon Mall Best Buy, I decided to buy it a couple weeks before Mother's Day when I would have gone back home to help with flower selling. While waffling on if I should buy it then an employee gave out tickets saying they guaranteed 15 and I got 3rd. There was still quite a line when I returned shortly before opening time. There was this one kid with his mother and grandfather going to buy one. And that was last year before Wii Fit stirred them crazy again.

Chris Ferguson @ Aug 20th 2008 11:16AM

My wife and I didn't have any trouble getting one last year. We just called ahead to Best Buy to find out when their next shipment was. When that day arrived, we called again to make sure they were there, and picked one up after work.

I'm also guilty of early game play. Many years ago, I actually unwrapped my Kung Fu Master game for Commodore 64, beat it, and wrapped it back again. Terrible, I know...