It is being reported that a fire broke out at one of Nintendo’s Wii U production facilities.
This has caused at least one analyst to predict a significant shortage of units for the widely anticipated launch next month.
Macquarie analyst David Gison wrote in a statement that his company has changed the number of Wii U units expected to ship from 8.3 million to 7.3 million due to the fire at the plant, which is located in Japan.
There had already been concerns that the number of consoles available on launch day would be more limited than other console launches because of production concerns related to the touchscreen controller.
However, Nintendo was quoted by Computerandvideogames.com as saying, “As of now, we see no impacts on our Wii U console production scheme.”
Either way, it does not appear that the fire has led to a catastrophic disaster for production of the system. Nevertheless, Nintendo will easily sell out of every unit it sends to stores and warehouses so anything that reduces that number will have an impact.
The Wii U will launch in the US on November 18. At $250, the basic version of the console will be the most expensive Nintendo home console ever, but it will still be cheaper than the first-day prices of the Xbox 360 or PS3.
There is also a $300 version of the Wii U that comes bundled with more storage space and a copy of the game Nintendo Land.
