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Nintendo expects Wii shortages to continue throughout Holiday season 2007

George Harrison, Senior VP of marketing at Nintendo, said in a recent interview about the Wii that: “There is no guarantee that we are not going to have ‘out-of-stocks’ this holiday season. If you see one, buy it. Don’t hesitate. Don’t assume that you can come back later and find one.”

Don’t confuse this with a cheap promotion, the $250 Wii with free sports games and fun motion sensing controller sells itself. Last Holiday season it was almost impossible to find a Wii, as gamers of all ages or relatives looking for the hot Holiday gift, lined up hours (before opening times) outside any retail outlet that was rumored to have consoles available.

Ken Toyoda, a Nintendo Japan spokesperson, confirmed the shortage statements saying: “Judging from the current situation, the region is probably expecting a shortage of the machines. The situation in the Japanese market is not yet clear, but there probably won’t be a shortage like last year.”

Nintendo stated in their E3 2007 press conference last week that the Wii has been sold out every week for the 33 weeks since its launch in November 2006. Since launch, Nintendo has sold 2.84 million Wii’s in the U.S., twice the Playstation 3’s 1.38 million. Nintendo sold 5.8 million units of the Wii worldwide by March 2007, and aims to sell another 14 million between then and March 2008.