When Nintendo first predicted selling 6 million consoles by the end of March, many saw it as an unbelievably hefty goal. While Nintendo didn’t quite make this mark, the reason was not demand, but supply. The Wii enjoyed a rare phenomenal success that few new consoles enjoy right out of the gate, and it became clear that had Nintendo shipped enough units to avoid stores selling out several weeks worth of held consoles within minutes, they may have well surpassed the 6 million mark.
Nintendo president admitted, “We must do our best to fix this abnormal lack of stock. We have not been able to properly foresee demand.” He did not specify to what degree, but Iwata promised that Nintendo was working to boost production capacity on the Wii. If Nintendo’s prediction of selling 14 million Wii consoles is any indication, Nintendo will be producing at least 1.2 million consoles per month.
