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400,000 Wii U units sold in first week

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DVDBack23 @ Nov 27, 2012 02:57 | 13 comments

Nintendo had a great week.

For its first week of availability, there were 400,000 new Wii U consoles sold, a solid debut. Additionally, the company sold 800,000 other devices during the week, including Wii, 3DS and DS handhelds.

Perhaps more impressively, the Wii sold 300,000 units despite being launched 6 years ago. 250,000 3DS and 275,000 DS handhelds were sold, mainly thanks to large Black Friday deals.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime says the Wii U would have had larger sales but the company was capped by supply: "Wii U is essentially sold out of retail and we are doing our best to continually replenish stock. Retailers are also doing their best to get the product to store shelves. But as soon as product hits retail, they're selling out immediately."

The exec says the company learned from its mistakes with the Wii (in regards to supply/retail), and is diligently stocking retailers this holiday season: "Wii was a unique phenomenon. You couldn't walk into a retailer and buy a Wii until spring of 2009. We've certainly learned many lessons from that and we are replenishing retailers more quickly this time around. We are looking to have as much product into retail as possible. It's driven by consumer response."

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Comments

Comment by: Qliphah (Nov 27, 2012 16:41)

Spring of '09?? Try more like well into 2011.

They falsely created the stock shortage and they will do it again.

I'd be interested in seeing how many of the 400k were the cheap'o' model and how many of those will be turned back into gamestop (for less than 50% value of course) for the decent black one.

Comment by: IguanaC64 (Nov 27, 2012 21:28)

There are still 8g Wii U's at Walmart around my house. Best I can tell there's only a shortage of 32g black ones. I saw two 8g versions in the display case. If you want one...go get it. Gamestop online also still had 8g units Sunday night when I looked...they were sold out of 32g the night they went live with Wii U's. Either everyone's buying the more expensive one or they shipped significantly more of the 8g units than 32g units.

I also looked into the difference between the 8g and the 32g. For $50 more dollars you get: black color, controller charger cradle, 24g of easily upgraded memory (Wii-U accepts all sorts of flash/usb memory options), and NintendoLand. If someone turns in their Wii for that then more power to them. Personally...I'd just prefer to wait and get a black Wii regardless of 8 or 32g of memory.

Comment by: Qliphah (Nov 27, 2012 21:48)

Originally posted by IguanaC64:

Oh don't misunderstand me, I'm not buying either. I've bought every console from the NES up and this next generation will probably be my first time not getting any of them. The 360 I got burst into flames (not really) about 6 months after I got it, the Wii sits unused for 364 days out of the year, and the PS3 is quickly being replaced by a $50 roku box I got to stream media.

Now maybe I'm just getting old but I don't remember game companies trying to screw their customers quite so hard.

Comment by: wolfniggr (Nov 27, 2012 23:16)

Funny, just read that the 360 sold over 750,000 units during the same time frame. That's more than Wii and U combined.

I'm sure that if Nintendo had produced more U consoles it would have sold even more, but they probably want to spread out their profits throughout the next fiscal year.

I wonder if Sony fared as well since they haven't released any numbers yet.

Either way, console gaming doesn't seem to be hurting as much as analysts said it would this quarter.

Comment by: blueboy09 (Nov 28, 2012 01:55)

Quote:

The exec says the company learned from its mistakes with the Wii (in regards to supply/retail), and is diligently stocking retailers this holiday season

Quote:

Still a fail if you don't have the most important feature: online capability, and that was crippled and not used immediately out of the box. Why do you think the XBox is so popular? Did they leave that out when they launched their system? I think not. Nintendo has got to stop thinking so cheap and work on being hardcore if they want to be truly successful...

Chance prepares the favored mind. Look up once in a while and you might learn something. - BLUEBOY

Comment by: deucezulu22 (Nov 28, 2012 21:20)

Originally posted by blueboy09:

Quote:

The exec says the company learned from its mistakes with the Wii (in regards to supply/retail), and is diligently stocking retailers this holiday season
Quote:

Still a fail if you don't have the most important feature: online capability, and that was crippled and not used immediately out of the box. Why do you think the XBox is so popular? Did they leave that out when they launched their system? I think not. Nintendo has got to stop thinking so cheap and work on being hardcore if they want to be truly successful...

Online was out of the gate, what are you talking about? I got the Wii U on release day, and was online an hour later.

Comment by: omegaman7 (Dec 03, 2012 03:56)

Selling like hotcakes eh? Well... just don't try to rush them out the door, eh Nintendo! We don't need our units quitting after a few months, like PS3 and Xbox 360! I bought the first Gen Wii. Money well spent :)

Star Trek High Definition is only possible while theyre receiving return for their efforts. Pirate Star Trek, and their efforts will have no choice but to cease :(

Comment by: wolfniggr (Dec 03, 2012 17:36)

Originally posted by omegaman7:
Selling like hotcakes eh? Well... just don't try to rush them out the door, eh Nintendo! We don't need our units quitting after a few months, like PS3 and Xbox 360! I bought the first Gen Wii. Money well spent :)

I have (had) a launch wii system, too. They had their hardware flaws as well. And for the record, my 360 and PS3 had a hell of a lot more play time then the wii ever did(or ever will).

Comment by: omegaman7 (Dec 03, 2012 17:38)

Clearly not as common. Yours and another are the only ones I've heard of :p

Though I think their internal nand memory was not built with longevity in mind :S

Star Trek High Definition is only possible while theyre receiving return for their efforts. Pirate Star Trek, and their efforts will have no choice but to cease :(

Comment by: wolfniggr (Dec 03, 2012 19:48)

Originally posted by omegaman7:
Clearly not as common. Yours and another are the only ones I've heard of :p

Though I think their internal nand memory was not built with longevity in mind :S

Actually, all Wiis are flawed and GPU damage is inevitable if the system is left on standby. When this option is enabled, the power drawn for the open Internet connection, and any attached USB devices will generate heat. Since the fan does not work on standby the generated heat effects the GPU causing artifacting and random pixels. The only fix is to replace the GPU. The longer the wii is kept off (while in standby mode) the higher the chance of damage will occur. Because the wii is still operational and at times the random pixels are minimal, most people don't even realize their wii is damaged. This is why you don't hear about it as much.

Comment by: omegaman7 (Dec 03, 2012 20:21)

Interesting. Mine has been on for over a year in standby(a few powerups). I only recently turned it on. Mine must have been built on a Wednesday :p

I'm not saying they're all perfect. Far from it. No manufacturer can produce a 100% perfect product. After all, imperfections at the molecular level may not be detected. Plus we entrust the machines we build, to build such devices. I've worked on assembly lines, I understand :)

Star Trek High Definition is only possible while theyre receiving return for their efforts. Pirate Star Trek, and their efforts will have no choice but to cease :(

Comment by: SProdigy (Dec 04, 2012 20:54)

Originally posted by IguanaC64:
Best I can tell there's only a shortage of 32g black ones. I saw two 8g versions in the display case... Personally...I'd just prefer to wait and get a black Wii regardless of 8 or 32g of memory.

I think you answered your own question there. Higher demand for the better product, especially early adopters that are willing to spend the bones on a new console.

Originally posted by IguanaC64:

Oh don't misunderstand me, I'm not buying either. I've bought every console from the NES up and this next generation will probably be my first time not getting any of them. The 360 I got burst into flames (not really) about 6 months after I got it, the Wii sits unused for 364 days out of the year, and the PS3 is quickly being replaced by a $50 roku box I got to stream media.

Originally posted by omegaman7:
I bought the first Gen Wii. Money well spent :)

Got a launch Wii, some good games here and there, but became a dust collector... so did my 360 though. A few games have caught my eye and trying to play a little more with time off this time of the year, get my money's worth out of my SECOND 360! :-) And yes, those Roku boxes are pretty nifty.

Originally posted by IguanaC64:

Now maybe I'm just getting old but I don't remember game companies trying to screw their customers quite so hard.

With all the add-ons, DLC, Xbox Live, etc. Only Sega comes to mind with their add-ons (CD, 32X) and variations of consoles and controllers.

Doesn't really pay to be an early adopter anymore. I remember the Wii being $300 at launch and 360 and PS3 cost more. In fact, when PS3 launched, the main grip was you could get a Wii AND 360 for roughly the same cost!

Myself I'll hold out and wait. This cheapo stripped down model will go by the wayside, the deluxe will become the standard and the price will be more affodable in a year or so. Besides, 360 support isn't going to drop off for another year or two anyway.