If you still hope to put a Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii under the tree this year, you best stop reading right now and run out to the mall. Supplies of the breakout gaming console are reportedly slim already, and should virtually disappear on Black Friday.Bad news for you procrastinating shoppers, but good news for Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). Though sales of Microsoft's Xbox have spiked in recent months -- directly attributed to the debut of the Xbox-exclusive Halo 3 game -- sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 were outpaced by Wii last month by more than four-to-one. Expect that to change through year's end as overflow demand for the scant remaining Wiis rings up sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, with parents refusing to retreat home empty-handed.
Of course, the real winners in this are the early bird eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) merchants, salivating at the prime seller's bonanza about to unfold. eBay currently lists several lots of multiple Wiis -- perhaps you can get your Grinch on, buy a bunch of 'em up and flip them through the shopping season. I'm just saying.
Then again, you could always get your kid tennis lessons, maybe a Louisville Slugger. No kid's going pro in Wii-sports anytime soon.
Shares of Microsoft were up 2% in early afternoon trading Tuesday, while Sony shares sat 1.37% higher.
Once again, OPEC has killed the goose that lays the golden egg
Closing Bell: Markets bounce after yesterday's sell-off; BA, F, GE, DOW all up, GS down 
Where have all the consumers gone?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-20-2007 @ 4:55PM
darkflame said...
I dont think "winning" is the correct term for what Sony and Microsoft do when Nintendo cant supply their demand.
"losing less badly" is a better term :p
Seeing as Mario Galaxy has just been declared the best game of all time on GameRankings, I dont think demands going to stop either.
11-20-2007 @ 5:55PM
Daniel said...
The Walmart 3 miles away from my house has 43 Wii's in stock, and the will get a delivery of 50-100 tomorrow. My friend works at Walmart, they have had Wii surplus for the past 2 months.
This shortage is a joke, Xbox and Sony will only sell themselves on thier own merit this year, Wii is no where near short supply in chain stores wharehouses. If you shop at gamestop or the game store in your city, you will most likely never get one. Always buy systems and new games at large stores, used games are the only reason to go to a game store.
11-21-2007 @ 9:46AM
dave said...
its sold out at toys r us online. i don't know where you live. but here in ny on black friday. 50 consoles will be gone in the first 10 minutes the store is open. the rest will be history.
as for people waiting for the wii! most won't. history shows that.
i agree with those that say there is nothing here for microsoft (xbox) and sony (playstation 3) to cheer about. but wii should have everyone stocked to the max for the holidays. big error.
11-24-2007 @ 1:00AM
Alex said...
No one will "benefit" from it. If people want the Wii... people will wait and get the Wii... its simple as that.