Wii, PS3 Shortages to Continue for Several Months

[NWOWolfpack]

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/wii- ... -gamestop/



Both Nintendo of America and Sony Computer Entertainment America have publicly confirmed their respective supply problems with Wii and PS3 hardware. After selling nearly 4 million units in December, Nintendo has had a very difficult time adequately replenishing the retail channel, as Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime reiterated to us in our in-depth interview.

Likewise, SCEA's Patrick Seybold recently noted that there's "incredible demand" for PS3 and the "tight inventory is definitely having an impact on recent sales numbers.” SCEA boss Jack Tretton noted that the inventory situation was "not ideal" heading into God of War III's launch this week. This situation isn't going to change all that quickly, according to GameStop.

Following the GameStop fiscal results, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia noted that GameStop management doesn't expect the supply problem to abate just yet. "Management did indicate that hardware shortages on the PS3 and Wii are expected to continue over the next several months (Wii will likely have better stock sooner than PS3)," he said.

IndustryGamers will be keeping a close eye on the hardware supply. It'll be interesting to see how the sales stack up in the next couple months and if Xbox 360 can come out on top again as both Wii and PS3 continue facing shortages.

[NWOWolfpack]

http://www.vg247.com/2010/03/16/report- ... iii-sales/



An article over on the L.A. Times suggests that shortages of PS3 consoles at retail could hamper God of War III sales.

According to the paper, recent visits to different Best Buy, GameStop and Target stores over in the West Hollywood area found each lacking the system, as it was sold out.

Apparently, Walmart and Amazon didn’t have any available online either.

“It’s not ideal, I won’t kid you,” Sony’s Jack Tretton said of the situation. “But I firmly believe we’ll get our hardware back in stock and keep selling God of War III for a long time.”

The previous two God of War games sold 8 million copies combined for PS2, and Sony is confident that the third installment will sell millions of copies as well, so it’s critical that Sony ship more PS3 consoles to retail as games move the most units within the first month of release.

Shortages are due to the price drop last year, along with the “it only does everything” marketing campaign – both of which helped the consoles beat out Wii for the first time in September 2009.

“We ultimately don’t make investments on a product-by-product or month-by-month basis, but rather we invest in our platform,” Tretton said, explaining Sonny’s marketing and support strategy.

“This game will pay off for us with the people who own a PlayStation 3 and the ones who will buy one in the future.”

SCEA’s communications boss, Patrick Seybold, told us earlier in the month that the shortages would last a bit longer, but Sony is doing everything it can to remedy the situation.