Pachter: Nintendo Prioritizing Europe For Wii Fit

Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has claimed that hardware shortages of recently released fitness game Wii Fit are in part due to Nintendo diverting stock to Europe, in order to take advantage of the currently strong euro. As quoted by the Los Angeles Times, Pachter suggests that Nintendo is sending four times as many units to Europe – where the $90 hardware and software bundle was originally released in April. Pachter estimates that only 500,000 units have so far been shipped to North America, compared to 2 million in Europe. Wii Fit has already sold over 2 million units in Japan, where it launched in December, and has remained a constant in the top software sales charts ever since. The game has been largely sold out since launch in North America, with retail chain GameStop also voicing concern over supply. "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," quoted the Los Angeles Times of Pachter. "They know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now," he continued, at a point when Nintendo may divert shipments back to the U.S. The newspaper also quotes IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon, who suggests that the shortages could be a more serious problem for Nintendo. "When does the consumer get frustrated and move on?” said Pidgeon. "So far, the Wii still has cachet, but the fact that consumers can't find a Wii or a Wii Fit is definitely a missed opportunity."