Why is there a shortage of Nintendo Wii consoles?

Because you live in the wrong place... At my local stores they aren't selling well, and they're always in stock...

And the shortage has nothing to do with keeping prices high... There is no shortage where I am, and the prices are still the same as everywhere else in North America... The reason there is a shortage is that the large majority of people in the gaming industry (hard-core gamers especially) expected the Wii to come out of the gate and fall on it's face (kind of like Sega's last couple consoles)... Nintendo's sales have surpassed even the most optimistic expectations, and have maxed out the tooling capacity in the factories where they're made... The cost of making a new facility, which would only operate short-term to get over the current demand would not be a financially sound strategy... Not to mention that by the time that factory was built, the current ones would have caught up with the demand...

They have them available in just about every shop I've been to recently, also Nintendo relies on other companies to produce the parts for its consoles so it doesn't exactly have full control over how fast production is, I really don't think Nintendo would create a shortage when its got Microsoft and Sony competing for the same buyers.

To the first answer that was sellers on ebay responsible for the high prices not Nintendo, Nintendo wasn't selling wii's at 3 times or more the price, ebay sellers where.

Nintendo isn't creating the shortages in order to keep the prices high. It's going to be 249.99 no matter what. If there's 1 available, it's still going to be 249.99 in stores. If there's a million, it's still going to be 249.99.

Nintendo is creating the shortages in order to drive up the demand for it. It's also doing it to get cheap publicity. As long as there is a shortage of Wii, you have a lot of casual gamers and non-gamers who wants a Wii just because it's in short supply. People who knows absolutely nothing about the Wii wants a Wii just because everyone say they want a Wii. By June, the drought should be over. Metal Gear Solid 4 is being released at that time, and that's going to drive up the PS3's sales. The only way for Nintendo to slow the PS3's momentum is to make the Wii available.

Nintendo is producing Wiis as fast as they can. They have opened more factory and have stepped up production quite a bit since the Wii's launch.

One reason it is hard to find a Wii in the US is because of the US dollar. It is worth a lot less than the Euro or the currency of other countries and regions. Because of this, Nintendo is sending less Wiis to the US and more to the places they can make more money at.

There are also the ebay resellers, and the fact that the Wii is a 'casual gamer' system so everyone and their uncle wants one. I have only seen 3 Wii systems in stores since launch, and I bought the first one I saw.

There was just an article on this a couple of weeks ago on Yahoo.....

Nintendo makes the Wii Consoles, their first priority is Europe.... since the Euro is up, and they get more money in Europe then they do anywhere else, besides Japan. Japan got their systems, Europe got theirs. Most Europeans who want a Wii bad, have one. So the next stop is America. So soon there will not be as big of shortage of Wii's in the past, since we're next on the 'important' list.

Japan (finished)

Europe (Almost finished)

N. Americas (Just starting)

S. Americas

Australia + surronding area.

(That's the list on the 'most' important list)

My personal opinion is they do have plenty, but at christmas they hold them back cos then they can charge exsessive prices. I was trying to get one before christmas and what normally cost £180 was being sold for well over £200.

But the 2nd week in January, they were in all the shops again! I think they were out the xmas before so tecnically i did have all year to get one but my son only decided 3 weeks before thats what he wanted!!

Oh come on man give them a break. It's ahrd to make lots of consoles.

that mabye not fair but it is worth it.