Nintendo is set to boost production of its Wii console in a bid to redress an "abnormal" global inventory shortage that has hit the world's best-selling next-generation console.
The console has been selling twice as fast as Sony's PS3 in Japan. In the US market, Wii's market share among next-generation consoles was 40 per cent at the end of February, compared with 33 per cent for Microsoft's Xbox360 and 18 per cent for the PS3, according to Credit Suisse.
"We must do our best to fix this abnormal lack of stock," said Satori Iwata, Nintendo's president. "We have not been able to properly foresee demand."
Nintendo did not disclose by how much it would boost production, but the company said it aimed to more than double global sales of its Wii console to 14 million units this year. Mr Iwata said the Wii had sparked a "paradigm shift" in gaming.
The Wii's motion-sensitive wand and its user-friendly games had lured new demographics into gaming: young women, baby-boomers and elderly people. Mr Iwata said Nintendo was now producing 2.5 million handheld DS machines a month to meet demand, the highest production ever for a Nintendo game.
Brisk sales of Wii consoles helped more than double Nintendo's operating profit to a record 226 billion yen (€21 billion) in the year ended March. Some analysts, however, caution that the novelty of the Wii may fade in the near term.
