A report from investment group Mackenzie Financial would have North America receiving one million Wii consoles on launch day. The report quotes Ron Bertram, Nintendo of Canada VP and General Manager as saying that they are “looking at a million (units) for North America at launch.” He then continues, “If we get what we’re supposed to get, this will be our most plentiful launch… in… 15 years…” The second qualifying statement makes the statement less firm. So, while nothing is completely confirmed for the launch numbers, at least Nintendo of Canada is aiming high. Launch numbers for the new console have ranged from a low of 400,000 to the current high, one million, and the actual numbers will probably fall somewhere in between. Still, it at least seems that Nintendo will be in a better position unit-wise than Sony in the US.

Update: Nintendo issued the following bizarre “correction” to this story at Gamespot.com:

A number of outlets have reported a misstatement about the number of Wii consoles that will be available in the Americas during the launch rollout. In fact, the truth is even better. After the Americas lead the worldwide launch on Nov. 19, Nintendo expects to sell 4 million Wii consoles globally by the end of 2006, with the largest allotment available in the Americas. Although we expect a huge demand for the consoles, we are working to ensure a plentiful supply and a consistent flow.

Does this mean more than one million consoles for launch, or is this just Nintendo being coy with the blogging world?