Nintendo shipped 2M Wii Fits to Europe, just 500K to U.S.: report

Or so says an industry analyst, who believes Nintendo is eyeing bigger profits abroad thanks to the strong euro. No wonder copies of Wii Fit are in such scarce supply.

The L.A. Times (via GameSpot) spoke with respected gaming analyst Michael Pachter, who estimates that Nintendo sent upwards of four times as many Wii Fits to Europe as it did to North America.

Why? Blame the weak dollar for our slim pickins, Pachter told the Times.

"They know that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now," the analyst added. That hurts, Mike.

The L.A. Times story also notes another possible reason why Nintendo is so chronically low in inventory: namely—the GameCube, widely considered a failure (in terms of sales, folks, not as a piece of hardware) after it lost out to the PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox in the last-generation console war. Still "stung" by the GameCube debacle, Nintendo is essentially hedging its bets by shipping the bare minimum of Wii and Wii Fit units, the article claims.

Of course, the Nintendo is running the risk of alienating those who would eagerly snap up a Wii or Wii Fit if they were sitting on store shelves.

That's why Microsoft, for example, goes to such pains to market the "Arcade" version of the Xbox 360 as a "family-friendly" console; it's hoping to scoop up customers who can't find any Wiis in stock.

So, I'm curious: Who's willing to wait for a Wii Fit as long as it takes? Conversely, has anyone soured on Wii Fit because it's so hard to find?

Related:
Challenge of Nintendo's Wii Fit is finding it [L.A. Times, via GameSpot]