In The Stocks

Of course, you could argue - quite persuasively - that Nintendo doesn't need to care about any of that, as long as it continues to sell every unit it can ship into the market. Indeed, we don't doubt that that very argument is passed around within Nintendo on a regular basis. We can hardly imagine that the firm's European offices outside Frankfurt are labouring under a heavy black cloud of doom and gloom as they survey Wii Fit's sales figures and stock situation.

However, this misses the point by a large margin. Nintendo's continued stock shortages are getting to a stage where they stop being evidence of overwhelming success, and start being evidence of a failure to grow along with the market. While I have every respect for the firm's extremely conservative fiscal management, the fact that it is now severely restricting its own growth and appeal through consistent failure to competently manage its manufacturing capacity is clear evidence that a change of approach is required.

After all, no business on the scale of Nintendo should be satisfied with simply selling out every shipment to the market - a good businessman will lose sleep over all the customers whose money remained firmly in their pockets, rather than having sweet dreams about those he was able to supply to.

What message, after all, does this send to those new customers Nintendo is so proud of attaining? The wives, the grandparents, the girlfriends, the non-gaming masses whom the Kyoto-based firm is so pleased to have brought into the interactive entertainment market for the first time - what has their experience been?

In the UK, here's their experience. First, they were frustrated and annoyed at their inability to get hold of a Wii console, perhaps for months. Even when they did, they may have experienced difficulty in getting a second Wiimote for the device - another retail frustration. Finally, with the launch of Wii Fit, they face the same frustration all over again, retail store after retail store with signs in the window saying "Out of Stock".

For gamers, veterans of sell-out console launches over the years, this is just more of the same. For newcomers to the market, however, it's an absolutely abysmal introduction to the world of interactive gaming - having made the game experience accessible and compelling for these audiences, Nintendo is now, ironically, making the retail experience frustrating, unpleasant and offputting. It doesn't take a genius to see that the company is shooting itself in the foot at this point.

Nintendo is now the leading company in the interactive entertainment industry, by a huge margin - and it needs to start acting like it. Perhaps a testament to its family business roots, the company seems all too prepared to act like an overgrown cottage industry, rather than reacting like the vast, globe-spanning corporation it has grown to become.

When Sony faced a situation where Europe's PS2 supply was going to be incredibly constrained before Christmas a few years ago, it acted like a global corporation and a market leader - flexing its muscles to air-freight in consoles from China aboard gigantic, chartered cargo planes. It's about time that Nintendo recognised that that sort of bold decision is what's required of the market leader.

Taking first place in the race has given it a responsibility to its retailers and distributors, a responsibility to its shareholders, a responsibility to its developers and third-party publishers and, more perhaps than anything else, a responsibility to nurture the new audience it has opened up. It's time to stop shirking those responsibilities. After 119 years in business, Nintendo needs to start acting its age.