NA Launch: One Million Wii

By Rob Galbreath / Sunday, 24 September 2006

Investment Corporation Mackenzie Financial reported that, out of the 4 million Wii planned by the end of this year, North America will receive one quarter of the total shipment at launch. "We're looking at a million for North America at launch," said Ron Bertram, Nintendo of Canada's vice president and general manager. "When Sony came out [with the PlayStation 3 announcement], they said 300,000." (Note: it appears that the 300,000 number that Betram mentioned is incorrect: 400,000 PS3 consoles are planned for launch in North America, according to AP wire.) Nintendo announced last week that the company will launch their next-generation console, Wii, across the globe between mid-November and early December. Nintendo plans to launch first in North America on November 19, with the rest of the world receiving consoles in the first week of December. "If we get what we're supposed to get, this will be our most plentiful launch in the 15 years I've been at Nintendo. All signs are actually extremely positive," said Bertram. Shortly before Nintendo's worldwide launch announcement, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Ken Kutaragi released a statement that Sony's Blu-ray technology suffered diode shortages in development. Sony reduced its global launch estimates from four million to one-two million, with 500,000 consoles at launch worldwide: 400,000 for North America and 100,000 for Japan. The console's European launch will be delayed until March 2006. Sony still intends to deliver six million PlayStation 3 consoles by the end of the fiscal year: March 31, 2007. Comparatively, Sony holds the record of the largest North American console launch with 500,000 PlayStation 2 units sold on October 26, 2000. The PlayStation 2 also suffered shortages due to hardware difficulties, graphics synthesizer hardware to be precise, in a backorder that lasted until 2001. "Obviously the earlier you go, the less product you have available," Bertram said. "Sony is trying to do what they're trying to do - they're trying to rule the entertainment universe with this very expensive [PlayStation 3] machine. And we're just trying to get more people playing video games and the people who are playing video games playing our system. We knew they were on the 17th but that really wasn't a big concern for us." The article can be found here. The Wiire will keep you posted on launches across the world.