Nintendo Manufacturing

[[HB]Rugrat]

The cynic in me says that its to increase the 'want' factor in the general public- would it have been as popular if it wasn't hard to get at Christmas?

Yeah I've wondered about this - the prospect of something selling out does appear to generate additional interest / demand and they do seem to run out of things an awful lot. It's hard to imagine they're still underestimating demand this long after launch.

 

[Werewolf]

The problem is, if they ramp up production too much when demand drops off they end up with factories they could be tied into paying for, for a long time, let alone surplus stock.

I suspect they could have possibly ramped up production faster than they have, but only by taking what may have been unacceptable (to them) risks in regards to the contracts required "we'll need 3 million GPU's a month please IBM" "sure, but you need to have that many a month for 12 months, and pay an upfront deposit equivilent to 3 months worth of chips".
Or ramped up demand too fast, skipping some of the checks on who is putting the parts together and ending up with them being built in a factory by a company whose previous experience of making electronic devices is limited to making cheap radios for the Chinese marke.

 

[JUMPURS]

It's supposed to be alright, seeing as it's essentially just a training game for the Zapper itself. I'm surprised that the Zapper doesn't seem to be widely available if LCT isn't.

It's obvious though that a kick up the bum is needed in terms of production, but I can't see Nintendo changing a habit of a lifetime.

Ahhh yeah, my point was more that the zapper sucked, as opposed to the 'game'.

 

[Sinny]

Everything i have preordered online has received on time, 1 guy in work has tried going everywhere to look for mariokart a few weeks back. Told him to reserve a copy and he got it a few days later.

waiting for a shop to have stock is not the best way to go about it, reserve a copy online and leave your mind at peace. Nintendo have only just struck the family market with the Wii so going from what they use to shift was a big change.

but i also agree with Kreee, a lot of Japanese manufacturers are stubborn and only give orders for a certain quantity to be shipped.

 

[Owenb]

The problem is, if they ramp up production too much when demand drops off they end up with factories they could be tied into paying for, for a long time, let alone surplus stock.

I suspect they could have possibly ramped up production faster than they have, but only by taking what may have been unacceptable (to them) risks in regards to the contracts required "we'll need 3 million GPU's a month please IBM" "sure, but you need to have that many a month for 12 months, and pay an upfront deposit equivilent to 3 months worth of chips".
Or ramped up demand too fast, skipping some of the checks on who is putting the parts together and ending up with them being built in a factory by a company whose previous experience of making electronic devices is limited to making cheap radios for the Chinese marke.

That pretty much sums it up. It's all about contracts.