Analyst: Wii Fit Shortages Deliberate
Tristan Oliver, Founder | June 3, 2008
500K Shipped to US, 2M in Strong EU Market
The weak US dollar is starting to have a direct impact on casual gamers. Making the case is the already hard to find Wii Fit, which went on sale in North America in the middle of last month.
Recent estimates from Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Patcher suggest that, even though it’s also hard to find globally, Europe received four times as many copies of the balance board game than North America. He estimates 2 million units of Wii Fit were shipped to Europe, compared with 500,000 domestically.
Mr. Patcher beleives Nintendo is shipping so much to Europe in order to capitalize on a strong Euro. He writes on the subject:
The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar. We’re seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere. They know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now.
Interesting.
With so many Japanese developer interviews over the years they’ve talked about “targeting the American market” with many taking this to be a core focus. This report, in combination with that earlier report that Europe generated more money for the games industry then America, it looks like that standard is changing and it’s going to leave a lot of people unsure of where to go next.