Pachter: American Wii Fit shortages due to weak dollar

[wraggster]

Americans have been buffeted with news of our nation's pending recession and the devaluation of our dollar for months now, but in a market with such standardized prices, the American video game industry and game consumers haven't really felt the effect of our economic instability. However, according to industry analyst and prognosticator extraordinaire Michael Pachter, our pecuniary puniness is the cause for the current American Wii Fit shortage -- nearly four times as many copies of the title made their way to Europe, where the Euro, unlike the dollar, is gaining strength.

In Pachter's own words, "We're seeing companies ignore their largest market simply because they can make a greater profit elsewhere." You don't need to be a revered industry analyst to notice that -- the title, which sells for $90 in the U.S., is speedily selling for the equivalent of $140 in Europe. Pachter also remarks that Americans can afford to wait for future shipments of the title, as Nintendo knows "that Americans will be just as fat a few months from now." Words hurt, Pachter. Words hurt.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/01/pa...o-weak-dollar/

[masterchief929]

thats so retarded. America did this to itself. if we had not abandoned the gold standard we would be the richest nation in the world and would have no shortages.

[royvedas]

I'm from Denmark. (It's in Europe, you retards!)

I think the weak dollar is the greatest thing in the world. It means that I can buy cheap console crap in the US and other places like certain webshops from Hong Kong (wink wink) where you deal in dollars.

I almost can't remember when I bought a game or a console accessory in Denmark.

So thank you for your crappy economy!

[trugamer]

A weak dollar isn't always a bad thing- Japan and china have been accused of keeping the price of their currencies low, so that more people invest. When the world recovers from the credit crunch, the USA will receive plenty of investment, as everybody's stock is now in euros, yen etc. mking US stock much cheaper, and this rush will probably bring things back to normal.

But I'm no economist so I could be completely wrong.