While the Wii has benefited from brisk sales during the holiday period, they haven’t been quite as good as holidays past and anecdotal evidence suggests that the reduced demand the past few months has built up a reserve inventory of the console for the first time in its history. It comes as no surprise then that Mitsumi Electric and Hosiden Corp are facing stark balance sheets after Nintendo decided to cut back on Wii console manufacturing.
Nikkei is reporting that Mitsumi is expecting its profits to drop over 50 percent with a 30 percent decline in Nintendo orders between April and September. Hosiden is predicting a sales drop for as much as 50 percent for the second half of its fiscal year.
While some will have a knee jerk reaction to this sort of drop, it simply makes sense given circumstances surrounding the Wii; there are plenty of units in the channel right now, and demand will likely drop off a little after the holiday season. It’s another sign that the year-round madcap demand for the Wii which Nintendo benefited from its first few years isn’t likely to continue.
