Reader Bwolf had a chat with a Target employee about Wii U preorders. While there are still some open preorders floating around, it looks like supplies will be limited. In this particular Target (Houston), all other Targets in the area are getting 5 basic and 5 deluxe Wii U bundles. Is this a company-wide total per store?
Goriginal Content
NFD 5/17 outtakes
NFD 5/17 - video
ND 5/17 - full info
EoD - Bye, EA
EoD - 3rd party love
GN Mailbag 5/14
RSS Feeds:
Wow, that is bad. It seems like an incredibly low amount for that area.
Was it said if this is for pre-orders or those available to those without? I was fortunate enough to get a Deluxe pre-order at Target yesterday morning.
Uhm, it better not be. I hope Nintendo is not doing this on purpose to give an impression the WiiU is so hot and selling out. Bring out more supplies.. C'mon...
At the same time, it is kinda smart. Because the average consumer would think it's a gotta have product, so they look for it and not only that, increases the user base and gives publishers and developers the motivation to make games for the console. Who knows.. Just make more WiiUs :/
I paid for a colossal pre-order and I'm going to get a colossal pre-order!
Yeah, don't believe this one guys. Essentially a month out, no retail establishment knows how many systems they're getting. Trust me on this. As someone who launched the DS, PSP, 360, PS3, and Wii, I can tell you that you don't find out quantity until about 5 days before you receive the shipment. This is just a case of an employee either talking out of his ass to sound like he has an inside scoop, or something speculative that was said that was taken out of context by whomever sent this tip in.
Lol, I just watched that Simpsons Halloween today. And I doubt this is true too, because wikipedia says that there are a little under 1,200 stores in the US. I would think since Target is such a large retailer that they would be allocated more than 12,000 units.
This is very not true. An employee got it wrong - we got 5 preorder cards for each SKU, but that does NOT mean we're only getting 5 of each actual system in. We also got 5 preorder cards for several games coming out in 2013 like Gears of War Judgement - and we always get more product than we get preorder cards...nor would all Targets get the same amount. In any case, I happened to get a preorder card from a nearby store even though my store ran out before I could snag one!
Only POSSIBLY someone in a Distribution Center could possibly know what sort of number we might get, and even they don't have them in yet...I checked
Yea, he didn't say if they were getting more or not to me, only that each store had 5 of each at the time I asked them. Still, I'd imagine that overall preorders are limited.
I will say that I live 10 minutes from Target headquarters. It is true that each store in this area is only getting 5 of each SKU for pre-order. From the 4 stores I contacted today, two of which were sold out, two still had the cards, all the managers said they hope to get 20 consoles in the shipment (10 of each).
What people forget is the overall picture here. No one knows how many pre-orders were taken by all retailers. GameStop already has a wait list of 250,000. Nintendo this week in their financial report stated their goal is for 5.5 million console sales globally by March 31, 2013. There will be shortages. Nintendo most likely spoke with retailers and said we can guarantee X amount of consoles, and those were set up for pre-order. That number was most likely on the low end of production ability.
However, no one will have any idea of how many consoles they have until a few days before launch. The demo units are popping up at many retailers, so it is now visible for everyone to see. The demo units in addition to no stock is free publicity as people will see this is a hot new gadget.
i call bull annd anyone saying nintendo limiting supply is an idiot. they have never done that and i hope they don't start now
I just don't understand why Nintendo can't start production earlier and prevent this low stock situation for every hardware launch. It's very annoying and avoidable.
I can see why people think they limit stock on purpose (not saying they do tho)
Actually, Nintendo is very much been known to do that going as far back as the NES. Nintendo ALWAYS limits supply to make it seem as if their product is in higher demand than it already is! If you don't believe me, go read "Game Over" by David Sheff. He has interviews with former Nintendo higher ups, stating that Nintendo has always limited supply for those exact purposes.
Unfortunately, it just isn't that simple. When a company decideds on a certain release date for a product, it is rarely in a finished state. The company then scrambles to finish the product before the release date. Most of the time, this isn't completed until about 6-4 weeks before the product is to release. At that point, you are at the mercy of the manufacturing plant(Foxconn). Foxconn was doing all they could (illegally at times as we now know) to get as many of the consoles built and shipped out as they could, but they can only do so much with the time they are given.
5.5 Million consoles globally over a period of 6 months+? You bet your ass there will be shortages. Look at the year-to date sales globally for 3DS alone: 8.1 Million, and its already a year old+ pretty much. I can't imagine the WiiU not outstripping supply no matter how much they manufacture. And god forbid there is any flaws that need to be remedied, that will only serve to compound the strain on supply.
@Mewtaker@Jawabreaker I'm pretty sure there was proof in the past that they did indeed curb supply to help demand continue to buzz about their products. Most recently I seen some attempt to punish Nintendo for limiting supply of Wii's to be abandoned for some reason. Frankly the way the Wii exploded, I don't think they did themselves any favors even if they did under-supply it.
View the full discussion!