The Curious Case of the Missing Wiis

Is Nintendo keeping them back on purpose?

Nintendo has shot down speculation that it is manipulating supplies of the Wii, the company's hot new console that came out last December and has been a rare find ever since.

She found one - did you?

Dan DeMatteo, an executive at US games mega-chain GameStop, said during an investor conference call that Nintendo has been fiddling with its supplies because it already hit its sales targets in the US, according to Gamasutra.

"I don't think it's going to be an issue ... and this just my opinion, but I think [Nintendo] intentionally dried up supply because they made their numbers for the year," DeMatteo is quoted as saying.

But DeMatteo has it all wrong according to Nintendo's George Harrison, who told Next Generation that the situation wasn't nearly so calculated and was instead simply down to overwhelming demand for the console.

"No, that's not at all the case," he said. "We have worldwide territories that are all competing over the available production. The Japan and European markets are doing extremely well with the Wii."

And it's not just the US where prospective Wii owners are hurting. In the UK, too, stores have resorted to self-made signs confirming that the console is nowhere to be found.

"The fact is that demand is still really high," Nintendo's Robert Saunders told Kikizo.

"We continue to make regular shipments of Wii to retailers across the UK and have been since launch in December last year. Demand for Wii at launch was unprecedented for a console launch and it still remains incredibly high with some retailers reporting higher interest now than at launch."

Manufactured or not, the shortage is there, as anyone naive enough to walk into a retailer expecting to find one easily can attest. Would-be Wii owners can only hope that Nintendo will soon be able to put it right.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo