IDC’s Billy Pidgeon: Wii shortages till 2009 expected

International Data Corporation (IDC) video games analyst Billy Pidgeon has now predicted that the Wii shortages will continue until 2009. If this holds true, then Nintendo stands to lose a lot of potential revenue considering that hardware sales for the Wii and Nintendo DS doubled from US$ 659 million (Q1 2006) to US$ 1.3 billion (Q1 2007).

Pidgeon, while speaking about the current market conditions, stated that “Q1 is looking like the beginning of an up-cycle year, there’s good software movement, but hardware is stalled a bit by short Wii supply and stagnant demand for 360 and PS3.”

He also added that Nintendo’s Wii will still benefit from its strong growth but supply issues may still haunt it. If the supply problem isn’t solved, Pidgeon presumed that the mass market consumers might lose interest in the product.

Now regarding its main competitors, the Xbox 360 (Microsoft) and PlayStation 3 (Sony), he pointed out that both need system-selling games. While Halo 3, Lair, and Heavenly Sword are coming, there is still a gap in the second sales quarter where the Wii, DS and PSP hardware and software can dominate. Another thing we should pay attention to is the role of PC and PS2 software. He believes that software for both systems are “picking up the slack” so to speak. This filler could actually make or break the market in terms of sales considering that a lot of people haven’t made the transition to next-generation consoles.

The guys at Nintendo will really have to get more Wiis into the market to stem the popular demand for it. If you want to read more about this and the rest of Pidgeon’s market analysis, click on the via link.

International Data Corporation (IDC) video games analyst Billy Pidgeon has now predicted that the Wii shortages will continue until 2009. If this holds true, then Nintendo stands to lose a lot of potential revenue considering that hardware sales for the Wii and Nintendo DS doubled from US$ 659 million (Q1 2006) to US$ 1.3 billion (Q1 2007).

Pidgeon, while speaking about the current market conditions, stated that “Q1 is looking like the beginning of an up-cycle year, there’s good software movement, but hardware is stalled a bit by short Wii supply and stagnant demand for 360 and PS3.”

He also added that Nintendo’s Wii will still benefit from its strong growth but supply issues may still haunt it. If the supply problem isn’t solved, Pidgeon presumed that the mass market consumers might lose interest in the product.

Now regarding its main competitors, the Xbox 360 (Microsoft) and PlayStation 3 (Sony), he pointed out that both need system-selling games. While Halo 3, Lair, and Heavenly Sword are coming, there is still a gap in the second sales quarter where the Wii, DS and PSP hardware and software can dominate. Another thing we should pay attention to is the role of PC and PS2 software. He believes that software for both systems are “picking up the slack” so to speak. This filler could actually make or break the market in terms of sales considering that a lot of people haven’t made the transition to next-generation consoles.

The guys at Nintendo will really have to get more Wiis into the market to stem the popular demand for it. If you want to read more about this and the rest of Pidgeon’s market analysis, click on the via link.