Author Topic: Nintendo Accommodates High DS Demand (Read 8771 times)

TheYoungerPlumber · « **on:** November 12, 2004, 11:47:35 AM »

Overwhelming Japanese preorders encourage Nintendo to outsource DS production at the last minute.

Nintendo NCL has announced Japanese Nintendo DS preorders of over two million—double the company’s target of one million units. In response to the impressive demand, Nintendo is scrambling to produce more units.

Since Nintendo does not have the capacity to produce more than one million Nintendo DS systems, it is currently preparing a third production site in China so that it may ship more to Japanese retailers by the end of the year.

Investors responded favorably to the news: Nintendo’s stock rose 3.97 percent today. Nintendo aims to ship 4 million DS units worldwide by the end of March.

Hostile Creation · « **Reply #1 on:** November 12, 2004, 11:59:05 AM »

Awesome, very good. I was somewhat concerned about the lack of response to DS preorders, so this is reassuring.

nitsu niflheim · « **Reply #2 on:** November 12, 2004, 12:04:16 PM »

smack to the face of the people polled in the japanese survey who said they expect the psp to sell more than the ds in the same amount of time, but the end of the year.

Chongman · « **Reply #3 on:** November 12, 2004, 12:09:44 PM »

PSP production is weak. I hear that they'll only ship about half a million in japan this year. Not saying the demand isn't there, the product just isn't.

Polemistis · « **Reply #4 on:** November 12, 2004, 12:21:48 PM »

ooh! Double the preorders Ninty expected. Thats nice to hear! Now if they sell like Halo 2 over in north america...$$$ & PSP=done??

- NintendoFan - · « **Reply #5 on:** November 12, 2004, 12:23:37 PM »

Impressive.......

To say the least.

Mumei · « **Reply #6 on:** November 12, 2004, 01:03:24 PM »

Quote

Michael "TYP" says: Maybe there is something to this third pillar after all, eh?

To be honest, I believe that depends on whether people continue to buy the GBA. If they don't, then Nintendo may as well be having 2 pillars as it does now...

LandStalkerRyle · « **Reply #7 on:** November 12, 2004, 01:25:39 PM »

(quote)Impressive....... To say the least.

Your damn right thats impressive. But holy crap, 2 million?? o.O Maybe what microsoft claimed about Nintendo having the upper hand isnt far off from the truth.

nolimit19 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 12, 2004, 01:36:02 PM »

i hope the ds wipes the floor with the psp. so far so good.

TheYoungerPlumber · « **Reply #9 on:** November 12, 2004, 01:55:11 PM »

Hmm, good point. The GBA could die because of the DS. But I suspect if a game "can be done" on the GBA, the publisher will lean towards the GBA for the huge market (GBA U DS). So I doubt it will happen immediately....I'd rather see the GBA phased out than the DS.

Darc Requiem · « **Reply #10 on:** November 12, 2004, 02:17:02 PM »

Wow if Nintendo can manage to meet demand they will start out with a 3 million to 500,000 lead over PSP. Thats a significant userbase advantage that would ensure they maintain the early 3rd party support lead. Of course I seriously think that they need more than a 1 million units in the US. I think Nintendo will easily exceed there 4 million units sold projection for the fiscal year. If they can meet demand they may be able to ship and sell 6 million plus.

Darc Requiem

Aussie Ben PGC · « **Reply #11 on:** November 12, 2004, 02:34:16 PM »

I believe that it's quite possible that the GBA could coexist with the DS. The PSone/PS2 relationship certainly proved that there's a market for a budget console.

EricEnder · « **Reply #12 on:** November 12, 2004, 04:21:55 PM »

some of you are in awe of the 2million pre-orders in Japan... but what about the pre-order numbers here in the US... i dont know if you can compare interest from japanese players with american players...

Gamefreak · « **Reply #13 on:** November 12, 2004, 06:01:18 PM »

What's so awe about 2 million? If this was a game sure. But most people just figure it's the next gameboy.
Halo = around 3.5 to 4 million sold worldwide; Halo 2 = 1.5 million pre-orders
Game Boy - around 150 million sold worldwide; DS = 2 million so far in Japan. And most of the public doesn't really know much about the DS anyway. I'm guess once it is out for a while in the US at least it will just sell like crazy. The average dude is going to throw his GBASP in his bed and run out and buy one of "those new ones that go online and and you can touch it and stuff."

odifiend · « **Reply #14 on:** November 12, 2004, 06:04:16 PM »

I was thinking the same thing Eric. Japan is just different... Yamauchi also was kind of saying this product was designed for Japan. Not to say there won't be a demand in the US, but there is not a huge desire to jump on to the touch screen bandwagon in the US at least not without seeing them in action. Therefore until there is lots of DS exposure, maybe lots of kiosks (i'm not seeing them where I live), I don't predict overwhelming DS preorders in America.

Darc Requiem · « **Reply #15 on:** November 12, 2004, 06:10:36 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: odifiend
I was thinking the same thing Eric. Japan is just different... Yamauchi also was kind of saying this product was designed for Japan. Not to say there won't be a demand in the US, but there is not a huge desire to jump on to the touch screen bandwagon in the US at least not without seeing them in action. Therefore until there is lots of DS exposure, maybe lots of kiosks (i'm not seeing them where I live), I don't predict overwhelming DS preorders in America.

Well Gamespot had to stop taking pre-orders and told some people that they would'n't be able to fill their orders. Isn't EB about cut off their preorders as well?

Darc Requiem

odifiend · « **Reply #16 on:** November 12, 2004, 07:17:08 PM »

But that could be a result of Nintendo's own underestimation of the DS.

Squiggles the Chao · « **Reply #17 on:** November 12, 2004, 07:45:44 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Gamefreak
What's so awe about 2 million? If this was a game sure. But most people just figure it's the next gameboy.
Halo = around 3.5 to 4 million sold worldwide; Halo 2 = 1.5 million pre-orders
Game Boy - around 150 million sold worldwide; DS = 2 million so far in Japan. And most of the public doesn't really know much about the DS anyway. I'm guess once it is out for a while in the US at least it will just sell like crazy. The average dude is going to throw his GBASP in his bed and run out and buy one of "those new ones that go online and and you can touch it and stuff."

Yeah, but Halo's a game distributed on optical media. The DS is a highly advanced and expensive piece of hardware. As soon as the final product is finalized, they can press the optical media in almost no time. Hell, Bungie could considerably crank out ten times the number of copies and flood the market if they wanted to. After a game is finished, the most time consuming steps are packaging and distribution.

The DS assembly process on the other hand, takes more time and, generally, you don't want to overshoot your sales and end up with a bog bill for making, packaging and distributing a bunch of systems that didn't sell. With the North American Launch, that's somewhere near three-million units worldwide, in about one month. Pretty impressive for a handheld.

Knoxxville · « **Reply #18 on:** November 13, 2004, 06:34:00 AM »

WHOOOO HOOOO! I own a hundred shared of Ninty....it just went from 14.50 to 14.90 in no time flat!! And I bought it at 14.00 (God bless you, Ameritrade!) !

GO NINTY!! DADDY NEEDS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES!!

MattVDB · « **Reply #19 on:** November 13, 2004, 12:52:31 PM »

Go Ninty. "Daddy needs a new adjustable socket wrench set." - Anybody who can tell me where that is from, you get a gold star.

2 million pre orders rocks. When comparing to the 150 million Gameboys, that is hardly fair, because that is over a 15 year period, with multiple versions, with mulitple countries. 2 million pre orders is a very good comparison to those nubmers actually.

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised by the numbers, but also encouraged. It feels good to know that Nintendo doesn't plan on giving up the handheld market, and will make necessary steps not to. I wonder how long this momentum will keep up though. If it's anything like the gameboy has/had then there should be no problem in sight.

KnowsNothing · « **Reply #20 on:** November 13, 2004, 02:44:33 PM »

I wonder what the GBA2 will be like.

Sorry, just with all this talk of Nintendo not giving up the handheld market, and comparing DS preorders to GBA sales, it's hard to forget that there will be a GBA2. I wonder how that will fair? I mean, people WILL consider the DS the successor to the gameboy throne.....will they buy a GBA2? Will the next gameboy top the DS, or will it basically be Nintendo's PSP?

Bill Aurion · « **Reply #21 on:** November 13, 2004, 03:02:35 PM »

That depends on the success of the DS, most likely...If it does well(like it looks so far) there will be no need to worry about the GBA2 for a loooong time...

King of Twitch · « **Reply #22 on:** November 13, 2004, 04:56:18 PM »

Another question that we won't know for awhile: if/once the DS becomes successful and after its run its course, will the Gameboy name be discontinued? I'm surprised they didn't tack it on to the DS

PaLaDiN · « **Reply #23 on:** November 13, 2004, 06:51:59 PM »

if/once the DS becomes successful and after its run its course, will the Gameboy name be discontinued?

No, I'm pretty sure that's the whole point of this "third pillar" thing. The GBA2 is most likely going to be GC/PS2 quality graphics in a normal 1-screen handheld.

Hostile Creation · « **Reply #24 on:** November 13, 2004, 07:28:10 PM »

I expect the GBA2 will be slightly improved Xbox graphics, really. By the time they release it that should be manageable.

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Author Topic: Nintendo Accommodates High DS Demand (Read 8771 times)