Nintendo, the gaming giant, is producing it’s consoled in overdrive this year, to avoid the shortage they faced last December. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed that the company plans on stepping up Wii shipments by 50%, and it’s DS shipments by 10% as compared to last year’s holiday season.
Still, No one knows if that’s going to be enough. Nintendo sold 4.5 Million Wii units from January through August this year. That’s almost a 45% increase over last years sales over the same timeframe.
Usually, half of the sales of Ninteno consoles happens during the October- December holiday season, which leads analysts to estimate this year’s wii sales to be close to the 9 million mark. Last holiday season saw the sale of 2.85 million Wii units and 4.5 million DS units.
Last year, Nintendo made the mistake of underestimating the Wii and DS craze. Apparently, customers were willing to pay a 100% premium on Amazon.com to get their hands o a wii last holiday season. The DS scene was no worse. The president assured fans that the DS units would be available even if the Wii wasn’t, but had to come out to admit shortage of the DS units as well, by mid December.
After it’s November 2004 debut, the DS saw a transition into DS Lite, a smaller, sleeker version of it’s previous self. Now, there will be more, as Nintendo plans to unveil the DSi, a new version which will feature two cameras, and have a November debut in Japan, and make it’s way into the U.S market late in 2009.
Analysts are looking positively towards the sales of the Wii and DS units this holiday season, as they conclude that demand for the Wii is still high, and retailers will want it to attract customers during the holiday seasos.
Nintendo is also set to debut with over 200 games for both the Wii and DS consoles. Now that’s something to look forward to.
