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Wii already sold out in the UK (Nov 2007), demand is unprecedented.

S

sphinx

the piano man
(I found this in gamefaqs, I thought was interesting. searched, didn't find anything, lock if old)

According to these 3 reports from online newspapers:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/11/18/cnwii118.xml

Retailers have admitted that they will be unable to cope with unprecedented demand for Nintendo Wii consoles this Christmas, as appetite for the video games continues to grow.

New stocks are selling out within hours of delivery, websites are crashing and some online "clearing houses" - which alert shoppers to the whereabouts of new stock - are being contacted by 100,000 people a day.

Dixons.co.uk, the website, sold out of thousands of consoles within two hours of them going online on Wednesday. Amazon, another online retailer, is believed to have sold 1,400 machines in a 10-minute period last week. The consoles are being sold on auction sites such as eBay for almost twice their £179.99 retail price.
Click to expand...

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1819102007

My own search continued at Game Station, where I smiled politely as a nice man informed me that they had just sold the last of their latest delivery and could not guarantee they would get any more before Christmas. After similar, spirit-crushing knockbacks from Currys, Game, PC World, HMV, Toys "R" Us, Virgin, John Lewis and Comet, my smile vanished.

"Try again next week," suggested one. "We've got a delivery due but we don't know when it will be," advised another. "We can take your name and number but there is no guarantee that you get it in time for Christmas..." "You'll be lucky pal...". "Try eBay".
Click to expand...

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article3169939.ece

Since the Nintendo Wii launched in the autumn of last year, it has outsold its rivals and has fast become the number one games console on the market.

This Christmas it is set to go head-to-head with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. But many retailers believe it will still outsell the newer versions of its rivals based on current demand.
Click to expand...

so.... we have reached that point yet again, not just in America..

Wii is going to destroy the competition and beat all records this season.
 
S

Sage00

Once And Future Member
Yeah, noticed this when I keep coming back empty handed. I picked the best god damn time to want one didn't I? :lol
 
Q

QVT

Fair-weather, with pride!
It's never been in stock, ever, here in Southern California. I've seen one physical Wii in the entire time of it's release.

I'd have probably bought one(and been disappointed, of course) if I had seen one.
 
H

herod

Member
sphinx said:
New stocks are selling out within hours of delivery, websites are crashing and some online "clearing houses" - which alert shoppers to the whereabouts of new stock - are being contacted by 100,000 people a day.
Click to expand...

UK demand for Wii = 100,000 confirmed.
 
S

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
How the hell can a games system be sold out for a goddamn year?

Also it's funny to have Dixons singled out in that first report, considering their very well-reported dropping of the Gamecube last generation.

...all you fuckers had better be buying Mario Galaxy with your new Wii systems or I will march to your houses and pull your nosehairs out with tweezers. Slowly.
 
S

Saiyu

Junior Member
Pretty annoying - up until last week some clever people were getting them from Amazon Germany or France until Nintendo/Amazon clocked on and has since banned shipping to the UK.

The BBC report on the shortages has hardly helped either.
 
P

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
The one time I saw a Wii out in the wild was the exact same time I bought one. I must have been really lucky because it was in the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday.
 
MisterHero

MisterHero

Super Member
Did Nintendo announce a Golden Ticket contest for 5 Winners to see what's inside their Game Factory? Because I missed that announcement. :(
 
R

Rocksteady33

Junior Member
Has anyone actually not been able to get their hands on a Wii without a little effort? I would think if you wanted one this past year you could get one with a little effort.
 
H

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
QVT said:
It's never been in stock, ever, here in Southern California. I've seen one physical Wii in the entire time of it's release.

I'd have probably bought one(and been disappointed, of course) if I had seen one.
Click to expand...

In Riverside, CA I saw a stack of 150 Wii's (around 3 months ago)

Geez, stuff like this validates my delayed purchase until Smash Bros. Brawl. Of course I say that knowing that the day this game is out the Wii will so damn hard to find that my only exposure to this game will be playing mutiplayer in my friends house.

:(
 
R

Ranger X

Member
SovanJedi said:
How the hell can a games system be sold out for a goddamn year?

Also it's funny to have Dixons singled out in that first report, considering their very well-reported dropping of the Gamecube last generation.

...all you fuckers had better be buying Mario Galaxy with your new Wii systems or I will march to your houses and pull your nosehairs out with tweezers. Slowly.
Click to expand...

The Wii and the DS are the 2 fastest selling consoles of all time right now. This must be all Nintendo can pull off. Sales are way over their expectations it seems.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
"If Nintendo is really producing 1.8mln per month, where are the extra units going? They're obviously not in Europe!"
 
M

megateto

Member
Ranger X said:
Right now it's more like "world is the new Nintendoland". The Wii will be in total worldwide shortage this holiday.
Click to expand...


You can find plenty of units in Spain. Should I begin to make a profit from my fellow Eurowii lovers?
 
V

Visualante

Member
maynerd said:
Man...Nintendo needs to step up production BIG time!
Click to expand...
Scaling production takes months, you've got factories to build, staff to train, parts to source. It's not easy. Iwata is doing his best I have no doubt about this. To meet quality standards at such high demand is practically unheard of.
 
H

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Ranger X said:
The Wii and the DS are the 2 fastest selling consoles of all time right now. This must be all Nintendo can pull off. Sales are way over their expectations it seems.
Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much.

Just look at GAF consensus at around this time last year.

Before Novmber 2006: "You could pick up a Wii in day one"

Wii Launch: "Oh shit, lines are everywhere and it is sold out"
 
N

[Nintex]

Member
This reminds me of the launch here in the Netherlands. Nintendo seems to ship more to certain retailers. They had 10.000 had launch, and one of the shop owners here messed around with the pre-orders so he could give one to some parents. I got mine a week later, I was number 12 on the list, he got 12 Wii's, when I got to the store on launchday. Sorry we sold them on tuesday(5 dec. Sinterklaas time). WTF, I got number 12! According to the system you're number 15...

A week later Nintendo shipped another 5000 and I got mine as one of the lucky few. It wasn't untill march that Nintendo started shipping more systems and games to the EU. Everything was sold out, the games, the controllers you had to pre-order every damn thing to get it untill march. Since summer the supply is steady, but Nintendo can hardly keep up with the demand. Even in Summer they sold every Wii they could produce. This holiday season is going to be their biggest yet, at least in Europe.
 
M

Mithos Yggdrasill

Banned
I'm glad I already have one. Anyway, it seems that only in Japan the demand has slowed down, for some reasons that I don't understand. In NA and Europe there is the opposite phenomenon.
 
Z

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
sphinx said:
so.... we have reached that point yet again, not just in America..
Click to expand...

Huh? Wii has been sold out since launch in the US.
 
K

ksamedi

Member
[Nintex] said:
This reminds me of the launch here in the Netherlands. Nintendo seems to ship more to certain retailers. They had 10.000 had launch, and one of the shop owners here messed around with the pre-orders so he could give one to some parents. I got mine a week later, I was number 12 on the list, he got 12 Wii's, when I got to the store on launchday. Sorry we sold them on tuesday(5 dec. Sinterklaas time). WTF, I got number 12! According to the system you're number 15...

A week later Nintendo shipped another 5000 and I got mine as one of the lucky few. It wasn't untill march that Nintendo started shipping more systems and games to the EU. Everything was sold out, the games, the controllers you had to pre-order every damn thing to get it untill march. Since summer the supply is steady, but Nintendo can hardly keep up with the demand. Even in Summer they sold every Wii they could produce. This holiday season is going to be their biggest yet, at least in Europe.
Click to expand...

I got mine from where people least expected it, Wehkamp :). They delivered on launch day and I ordered about 5 weeks prior to launch.
 
H

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Mithos Yggdrasill said:
I'm glad I already have one. Anyway, it seems that only in Japan the demand has slowed down, for some reasons that I don't understand. In NA and Europe there is the opposite phenomenon.
Click to expand...

With Japan you can argue that the Dominance of Handheld gaming is the explanation as to why the Wii doesn't get a stream of games aimed at the core market, which is also why games like Mario Galaxy doesn't push consoles as much as it should.
 
M

mabuza

Banned
ive been hearing reports of mass sell-outs of the 360 as well. apparently its getting hard to find in the uk
 
P

Psychotext

Member
The UK wii situation is strange. For the longest time it was really easy to get one. It would appear that Nintendo moved the stock allocations elsewhere and it didn't take us long to run out.
 
N

Neo C.

Member
Mithos Yggdrasill said:
I'm glad I already have one. Anyway, it seems that only in Japan the demand has slowed down, for some reasons that I don't understand. In NA and Europe there is the opposite phenomenon.
Click to expand...
UK =! Europe. It's not sold out everywhere in Europe.
 
P

Progmetal

Member
The UK can have some Wii consoles from us. Here in Norway every online store has 100+ Wii consoles in stock, and retail have plenty of them too.

But it still wouldn't be enough for the crazy brits, I guess.
 
V

vilmer_

Member
This whole shipment fiasco reminds me of the SNES days. Nintendo couldn't possibly be under-shipping, could they? Or are they past that now.
 
S

sphinx

the piano man
mabuza said:
ive been hearing reports of mass sell-outs of the 360 as well. apparently its getting hard to find in the uk
Click to expand...

is this real? that would be great for us gamers. Not only Wii but at least one of the HD consoles doing great in EU.
 
Joe Molotov

Joe Molotov

Member
Hcoregamer00 said:
Yeah, pretty much.

Just look at GAF consensus at around this time last year.

Before Novmber 2006: "You could pick up a Wii in day one"

Wii Launch: "Oh shit, lines are everywhere and it is sold out"
Click to expand...

GAF fell trap to one of the classic blunders. The most famous of which is never get involved in a console war in Asia, but only slightly less well known is never go against Nintendo when death is on the line.
 
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