Nintendo Wii hot for third Xmas in a row

Early indications are that Nintendo’s Wii is one of the hot Christmas gift this year, for the third year in a row.

In April 2006, Ted Pollak, Video Game Industry Portfolio Manager and Analyst, wrote to his company’s board with a statement that raised a lot of eyebrows; “Nintendo will win console war”. Mr. Pollak is the Founder and President of EE Fund Management LLC, Portfolio Manager of Electronic Entertainment Fund LP (the world’s first fund focused on the video game industry), and manager of EEIndex (the world’s only game industry equity index). Additionally, Pollak is a senior gaming industry analyst for Jon Peddie Research.

At the time very few people thought this to be the case and Nintendo was largely being counted out of the game altogether. Many industry pundits were calling the console industry a two-horse race between Microsoft and Sony. Pollak saw what others did not, a fusion of different market forces that would create the “perfect storm” for the Wii and make it one of the most successful entertainment products in the history of the world. For three Christmases straight the Wii is in the ranks of the hottest gifts, an amazing feat that could even extend to next Christmas.

Pollak qualifies his prediction with the admission that “win” is a relative term based on many factors. He believes that all three console manufacturers will “win” in different ways and at different times but that Nintendo would definitely be the first. Some of the key elements to Ted Pollak’s forecast for Wii’s success were:

1. World not ready for HDTV transition en masse.
2. Revolutionary Wii user interface
3. Wii appeal to both core gamers and untapped demographics
4. Price point lower than other consoles.