Cubalaya Blog US

Rain Checks for Nintendo Wiis

Our last post was about the race to buy a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, and how they have steadily become scarce.  Here's an update on the problem.

Nintendo is well aware of this problem, and while they know they won't even come close to meeting demand in December, they have come up with a Wii "rain check" program for potential buyers.  Shoppers who buy a Wii at the full price of $249 on December 20th or 21st at GameStop will get a certificate promising a Wii "sometime in January".   This will give people something to put under the tree, even if it's not the Wii console itself.

 

Nintendo reportedly sold 981,000 consoles in the US this November, leading the video game console market.  And while their monthly production has been raised from 1 million to 1.8 million, the strong year-round demand and appeal to non-traditional gamers (usually young males) has caught Nintendo by (pleasant) surprise.

So, hopefully by the end of January everyone who wants a Wii will have one, without paying the marked-up prices on eBay and other sites.

(Reuters)

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The Race for a Wii

Although Nintendo plans to make another million Wii gaming consoles this month, with less than three weeks left until Christmas, it looks as if the supply of the $250 console will fall well short of demand.  Finding a Wii on store shelves is nearly impossible, and the eBay auctions have them going between $400-$600.  Some retailers also charge higher prices, often because they choose to offer the Wii with a few games and accessories, rather than just selling the console by itself.

The Wii has been selling so fast in its first year on the market that it has caught many by surprise, including Nintendo itself.  Usually video game sales slow down during the summer season, allowing the manufacturers to stock up for the Christmas shopping season.  But the Wii has been selling so well all year long that Nintendo's warehouses are reportedly empty, hence the shortage.

Nintendo's senior vice-president, George Harrison, is well aware of the current shortage.  His advice is to check when brick-and-mortar stores receive shipments of the console (by asking sales clerks, for instance), and try to get to the retail stores at opening hour on Sundays. Why Sunday? Because most retail stores run big advertisements in Sunday newspapers, and therefore save some consoles to stock the shelves with on that day.  Another factor to consider is that retail stores apparently receive more stock per store than specialized game stores, so Best-Buy might be a better bet than GameStop.

 

Online, you can check out the offers for a Wii on Cubalaya, and also take a look at our Wii Product Review.