Posted on Monday, November 19 2007 @ 3:40 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
It's pretty surprising but Nintendo claims there may still be Wii console shortages this holiday season. The console is already on the market for about a year but the demand is still higher than the production.
The BBC has learned that high street retailers are struggling to keep up with demand for the console, which has been in short supply for months.
Websites such as Wii-consoles.co.uk have been set up to help shoppers find out when stock becomes available.
Nintendo said it was "doing everything possible" to keep up with demand.
Its push to fill the shelves in time for Christmas will see it ship an extra 3.5 million consoles globally. It is not known how many extra consoles will make it to UK shelves.
In April Nintendo estimated a yearly shipment of 14m units, but that has now been raised to 17.5m.
Despite this, the gaming giant admitted that not everyone who wants one is guaranteed a Wii this Christmas.
"The demand for Wii hardware globally has been unprecedented and higher than Nintendo could ever have anticipated," said a spokeswoman.
"Nintendo is now in a position in which seasonality demand trends are being broken, therefore the demand for Wii hardware is constant throughout the whole year globally. Due to this phenomenon it is possible that the demand for Wii hardware may outstrip supply," she said.
Source: BBC News
