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Kaz Hirai - We mustn't gift the market to Nintendo
June 1st, 2008 @ 12:04
Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has explained that Wii Fit can’t be bought for love nor money in the US for two reasons: the weak dollar, and the fact Americans aren’t getting any thinner.
“The shortage demonstrates one consequence of the weak dollar,” the analyst told the LA Times. “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” when Nintendo will have more units available, he added.
Don’t ever mince those words, Michael. The world would be far more boring if you did.
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June 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
LOL
It’s so true!
June 1st, 2008 at 1:42 pm
The bit about americans being just as fat is but the other isn’t. It’s sold out in the GB as well and last time I heard the pounds is rather healthy.
So I’d say it’s an excess of demand and too little supply that is responsible.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 am
I agree with what Tonka said. Wii Fit is in short supply across the Atlantic too.
Plus this:
“We’re seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere.”
…may work from Nintendo, but it doesn’t really ring true for Sony, does it? Well, it does in the sense that they’re ignoring their largest market (Europe), but surely Europe should actually be their most profitable as well, ergo should be focussed on?
Sony has been much more dedicated to agressively selling the PS3 in the US and Japan (with great bundles, Dualshock 3 and the 80GB SKU) and Australia (with the Bravia+PS3 deal) where it obviously feels in danger of losing market share to its rivals, than actually doing a good job of selling where it’s strong (Europe).
That’s probably a feature of the console war with Microsoft, but it once again lends much more credit to Nintendo’s strategy of declaring the console race irrelevant and just going on to make a profitable and successful console and gaming business regardless of what its supposed competitors are up to.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
And wasn’t there a report coming out that said Europe is a better market for games than the US?