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Fils-Aime admits Wii shortages are a "missed opportunity"

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has admitted that the shortage of Wii units at retail is a missed opportunity for the company.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has admitted that the shortage of Wii units at retail is a missed opportunity for the company.

And he dismissed the conspiracy theory that Nintendo is holding back stock to drive demand, saying such a move would be counterintuitive to the audience it is trying to sell to.

"At this point we are literally trying to catch up with demand," said Fils-Aime, in an interview with news.com.

"There is no secret plan to store Wiis in a warehouse to spur demand. The company, after all, is trying to reach out to women and 40 and 50-year olds who aren't avid gamers."

"They aren't going to sleep outside of a store overnight or visit a retailer five or six times. It is literally a missed opportunity," he said.

Although the Wii is being snatched up just as fast as Nintendo can supply units to retail — with HMV last week telling GamesIndustry.biz that the console is selling out within minutes — it hasn't stopped the company from clocking up massive sales numbers.

During the Thanksgiving period last week, Nintendo sold over 350,000 Wiis in the US.

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Matt Martin

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Matt Martin joined GamesIndustry in 2006 and was made editor of the site in 2008. With over ten years experience in journalism, he has written for multiple trade, consumer, contract and business-to-business publications in the games, retail and technology sectors.