Nintendo missing out on over $1 billion this holiday

071215wiiline.jpgMDB Capital Group’s James Lin has come out and made the claim that Nintendo’s inability to ship enough Wii consoles to satisfy demand even a year after the system initially launched means that Nintendo is leaving $1.3 billion of consumer money up for grabs. Nintendo knows it’s a problem, but George Harrison doesn’t believe Nintendo has made a mistake. It’s hard to predict future sales, and they have already increased production whenever possible.

Nintendo does worry that consumers might end up buying competing machines, however, and the recent “successes” for the PlayStation 3 are a clear indication of the threat. Other shoppers, however, are giving up all together. An excerpt from the NYT article:

“I’m frustrated and I’m not going to try anymore,” said Betty Sapien, a San Francisco homemaker, who recently visited a handful of stores, including Best Buy and GameStop, to buy a system for her 9-year-old daughter. “They should have it well supplied. They know it’s going to be a big Christmas present, and it’s been a year” since it went on sale, she said.

Uh oh.

New York Times

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About the Author: Christian Ponte

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  • trudy

    Betty Sapien sounds like every single Wii-searcher I’ve encountered since Thanksgiving–an ill-informed customer who has only tried since Thanksgiving to get a highly-sought game system for the one season where getting one is going to be close-to-impossible: Christmas. I’m willing to bet she’s also one of those people that insists that Nintendo is not doing their best to keep it in stock–even though everything points to the contrary.

    Me to Betty Sapien: Cry me a river, lady. If you had done an iota of research, you would have known that it would be a difficult system to find year-round. There were times mid-year when I walked into a Wal-Mart or a Best Buy and there were a huge stack of them for sale.

    Honestly, I don’t think Nintendo’s going to lose a lot of bucks out of this. Most people looking and failing to find the Wii are opting for the DS as a substitute anyway. Do you really think someone’s going to give their five-year old the 360 or PS3 at those prices and with that lack of an E-rating lineup? Please.

  • trudy

    *difficult to find at Christmas.

    I so shouldn’t post before bed.