BreakABone
11-27-2007, 08:06 PM
Black Friday/Thanksgiving week is the start of the holiday shopping season and well Nintendo had nothing but good news come out of it apparently.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Nintendo Co. sold more Wii game consoles last week than in any week since the popular gadget launched in late 2006, but executives warned Tuesday that Wiis would be scarce through the end of the year.
Nintendo sold 350,000 last week, when many stores were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, compared to 300,000 the previous week. The only time with higher sales was an eight-day period in late November 2006, when the Wii debuted and more than 600,000 units sold.
The company is on track to sell 17.5 million Wiis in the fiscal year ending March 31. Last fall, Nintendo executives predicted they would sell 14.5 million Wiis.
They were producing roughly 1.2 million units per month at the time.
Nintendo has ramped up production to about 1.8 million per month, but its manufacturers cannot increase production again, said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who spent Friday and Saturday spot-checking Wii supplies at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Toys R Us stores in Erie, Penn., and Redmond, Wash.
"I couldn't find a single Wii system on the shelves - literally as I was walking into a Wal-Mart at 11 a.m., someone was walking out with the last one," Fils-Aime said in an interview at the company's new office here. "Consumers are buying every game we can put into the system."
Fils-Aime predicted a new sales record the week before Christmas, despite being "very concerned" about the U.S. economy and the rising price of gasoline. About 40 percent of Wii sales have been in North America and Latin America, while 35 percent were in Asia, primarily Japan, and the rest came from Europe and the Middle East.
He dismissed speculation online that the Kyoto, Japan-based company - maker of Pokemon and Super Mario games - is deliberately constraining supply of the $250 console to generate buzz.
"A shortage benefits no one," he said. "We're disappointed. This was all about how we didn't accurately estimate demand. We need to be more bullish about the potential for the Wii."
Unlike consoles with joysticks that players operate with their thumbs, the Wii responds to the user moving a wand-like wireless controller strapped to the wrist.
Wii games including tennis and bowling appeal to children, parents, hardcore gamers and even senior citizens.
Sony's top-line PlayStation model, with an 80-gigabyte hard drive, costs $499 in the U.S., down from the original price of $599. A new low-end model with a 40-gigabyte drive will go on sale Nov. 2 for $399.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 costs $350 in the U.S.
The Wii has been a tremendous boost for Nintendo.
In the quarter ended Sept. 30, it more than doubled its sales to $6.1 billion from a year earlier, when the Wii has not yet launched.
It has sold 5.5 million Wiis in the U.S. since it went on sale on last November.
And well the DS topples the Wii like a wild mob.
NINTENDO OF AMERICA REPORTS HISTORIC SALES WEEK
Nintendo DS Passes Game Boy Advance Sales Record, Wii Becomes Must-Have Gift
REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 27, 2007 - In the first week of the 2007 holiday shopping season, Nintendo of America has sold more Nintendo products than at any other time in its history. This includes more than 653,000 Nintendo DS™ portable video game systems, 350,000 Wii™ home systems and millions of games and accessories throughout the United States - and the season is just getting started.
Nintendo DS set a new all-time sales record for Thanksgiving week, eclipsing the previous mark of 600,000 Game Boy® Advance systems sold during the same period in the United States in 2005. Nintendo DS remains on track to be the top-selling video game system of 2007.
Nintendo's 350,000 Wii systems represent the highest one-week U.S. sales total outside of its launch week one year ago. Wii has been dubbed the must-have gift of the 2007 holiday season and has been placed at the top of numerous gift lists. Nintendo has repeatedly increased its shipments and its fiscal-year sales forecast for Wii in an attempt to meet soaring demand. Wii reached 5 million sold in the United States faster than any video game system in history, after only 12 months of availability there.
Both Wii and Nintendo DS have continued their yearlong momentum into the holidays without altering their prices. And both remain attractive values for shoppers: Wii has an MSRP of $249.99, while Nintendo DS has an MSRP of $129.99.
"As shoppers look for ways to maximize their limited holiday spending money, they turn to gifts that can be used by the entire family," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Wii and Nintendo DS offer something for every member of the family. They're the most fun video game experiences at the most affordable price."
With higher gas prices and fuel costs, and the lukewarm expectations for the 2007 holiday shopping season, Wii and Nintendo DS might be just what Santa ordered: Thirty-five percent of consumers said they plan to spend less than they did last year, according to a survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association. Similarly, a USA Today/Gallup Poll showed that 25 percent of Americans expect to spend less on gifts this year than they did in 2006.
Note that the internal Nintendo of America numbers referenced in this release represent sales from Sunday, Nov. 18, through Saturday, Nov. 24.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Nintendo Co. sold more Wii game consoles last week than in any week since the popular gadget launched in late 2006, but executives warned Tuesday that Wiis would be scarce through the end of the year.
Nintendo sold 350,000 last week, when many stores were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, compared to 300,000 the previous week. The only time with higher sales was an eight-day period in late November 2006, when the Wii debuted and more than 600,000 units sold.
The company is on track to sell 17.5 million Wiis in the fiscal year ending March 31. Last fall, Nintendo executives predicted they would sell 14.5 million Wiis.
They were producing roughly 1.2 million units per month at the time.
Nintendo has ramped up production to about 1.8 million per month, but its manufacturers cannot increase production again, said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who spent Friday and Saturday spot-checking Wii supplies at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Toys R Us stores in Erie, Penn., and Redmond, Wash.
"I couldn't find a single Wii system on the shelves - literally as I was walking into a Wal-Mart at 11 a.m., someone was walking out with the last one," Fils-Aime said in an interview at the company's new office here. "Consumers are buying every game we can put into the system."
Fils-Aime predicted a new sales record the week before Christmas, despite being "very concerned" about the U.S. economy and the rising price of gasoline. About 40 percent of Wii sales have been in North America and Latin America, while 35 percent were in Asia, primarily Japan, and the rest came from Europe and the Middle East.
He dismissed speculation online that the Kyoto, Japan-based company - maker of Pokemon and Super Mario games - is deliberately constraining supply of the $250 console to generate buzz.
"A shortage benefits no one," he said. "We're disappointed. This was all about how we didn't accurately estimate demand. We need to be more bullish about the potential for the Wii."
Unlike consoles with joysticks that players operate with their thumbs, the Wii responds to the user moving a wand-like wireless controller strapped to the wrist.
Wii games including tennis and bowling appeal to children, parents, hardcore gamers and even senior citizens.
Sony's top-line PlayStation model, with an 80-gigabyte hard drive, costs $499 in the U.S., down from the original price of $599. A new low-end model with a 40-gigabyte drive will go on sale Nov. 2 for $399.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 costs $350 in the U.S.
The Wii has been a tremendous boost for Nintendo.
In the quarter ended Sept. 30, it more than doubled its sales to $6.1 billion from a year earlier, when the Wii has not yet launched.
It has sold 5.5 million Wiis in the U.S. since it went on sale on last November.
And well the DS topples the Wii like a wild mob.
NINTENDO OF AMERICA REPORTS HISTORIC SALES WEEK
Nintendo DS Passes Game Boy Advance Sales Record, Wii Becomes Must-Have Gift
REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 27, 2007 - In the first week of the 2007 holiday shopping season, Nintendo of America has sold more Nintendo products than at any other time in its history. This includes more than 653,000 Nintendo DS™ portable video game systems, 350,000 Wii™ home systems and millions of games and accessories throughout the United States - and the season is just getting started.
Nintendo DS set a new all-time sales record for Thanksgiving week, eclipsing the previous mark of 600,000 Game Boy® Advance systems sold during the same period in the United States in 2005. Nintendo DS remains on track to be the top-selling video game system of 2007.
Nintendo's 350,000 Wii systems represent the highest one-week U.S. sales total outside of its launch week one year ago. Wii has been dubbed the must-have gift of the 2007 holiday season and has been placed at the top of numerous gift lists. Nintendo has repeatedly increased its shipments and its fiscal-year sales forecast for Wii in an attempt to meet soaring demand. Wii reached 5 million sold in the United States faster than any video game system in history, after only 12 months of availability there.
Both Wii and Nintendo DS have continued their yearlong momentum into the holidays without altering their prices. And both remain attractive values for shoppers: Wii has an MSRP of $249.99, while Nintendo DS has an MSRP of $129.99.
"As shoppers look for ways to maximize their limited holiday spending money, they turn to gifts that can be used by the entire family," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Wii and Nintendo DS offer something for every member of the family. They're the most fun video game experiences at the most affordable price."
With higher gas prices and fuel costs, and the lukewarm expectations for the 2007 holiday shopping season, Wii and Nintendo DS might be just what Santa ordered: Thirty-five percent of consumers said they plan to spend less than they did last year, according to a survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association. Similarly, a USA Today/Gallup Poll showed that 25 percent of Americans expect to spend less on gifts this year than they did in 2006.
Note that the internal Nintendo of America numbers referenced in this release represent sales from Sunday, Nov. 18, through Saturday, Nov. 24.