Fils-Aime: Wii Production Up 33 Percent On 2007

2.4 million Wii consoles are being manufactured a month, according to a new interview with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Fils-Aime discussed the expected availability of the Wii this Christmas and the company’s general outlook given the economic downturn. In terms of the latter Fils-Aime answered: “We have not seen any negative impact. The sales data show both the Wii and the DS up in September over a year ago. The Wii continues to be largely sold out at retail. We know consumers see our form of entertainment as a strong value because the entire family can play and because each game has more than 50 hours of play time.” Regarding availability, Fils-Aime claimed that production currently stands at 2.4 million consoles a month worldwide, compared to 1.6 million a month last year – a 33 percent increase. As for the Wii Fit hardware bundle, Fils-Aime admitted that only around 3 in 10 stores in America currently had it in stock, but failed to indicate whether this ratio would improve as Christmas approached. “The typical industry sales curve has a strong ramp up in the first month or two that then drops off. Our products ramp up and sustain sales at high levels over long periods of time,” said Fils-Aime. “New Super Mario Bros. for DS [released in May 2006] is still selling at a strong pace. Most video games that old would no longer be stocked by retailers. This is a major paradigm shift in the industry.”