14 DAY TRIAL // Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter is ready to talk as soon as a new high success game is released and could, sometimes, have some really controversial opinions. This time, he talked about the Wii Fit shortage all over the world (and especially in North America) and knows why Nintendo does not do its best to bring even more consoles in the US: the euro is stronger than the dollar, so they are making bigger profits in Europe. He also says that Nintendo knows that Americans will be as fat as they are now when more copies arrive, probably in a few months. It's a strange way of putting it, right?
Nintendo's Wii latest success, the Wii Fit, has had shortage problems since it was released earlier this year, even though some people said that its retail price of $90 is too much. However, the game started to sell on eBay for more than $150 and retail stores barely have any copies left (generally, Wii Fit units are sold as soon as they hit the stores, sometimes in less than 10 minutes!).
"The consumer response to Wii Fit was exceptional," said Denise Kaigler, a Nintendo spokeswoman, to LA Times. "We are working as hard as we can to replenish the stock."
Even though the spokeswoman has declined to reveal the number of items sold worldwide, it is known that two million have been shipped in Japan only. Also, Pachter estimates that another two million units have been shipped in Europe and just 500,000 in the US - which, according to him, is a normal fact, having in mind that the euro is much stronger than the dollar and companies get bigger profits in Europe.
"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," Pachter said. "They know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now."