David Yarnton, the U.K.’s Nintendo boss, has decided to take the offensive for Mario and Friends by proclaiming confidently that the Wii will have more stock on stores shelves by Christmas than any of their completion.
Yarnton told GameIndustry that, “…I think if we could produce 20 million it wouldn’t be enough on a global basis because it’s really something that’s going to appeal to people who are not gamers as well. We’re expanding the market so there’s going to be a lot of demand from people who wouldn’t normally be buying videogames."
Yarnton explained that Europe would not be left out in the cold, as far as allocations of the Wii were concerned. His remarks were likely made in an oblique reference to Sony,s PS3 delay. "We’ve sold close to six million units of DS hardware since launch and four million Nintendogs, so Europe is a very important market for our company and growing. We’re looking at about four million [Wii] units before the end of the year globally and Europe will get a reasonable proportion of that."
As with any new console launch, demand for product is high. Yarnton indicated that the Wii would be no different. "The stock that we’re looking to get we believe will probably be more than we’ve ever had for any console launch. But from the feedback we’ve had from our retailers, whatever we have won’t be enough as the demand from people is really heating up for it."
