The Nintendo Wii U sells out on UK launch

By: Moses Abaortae

  |   December 5th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Over 40,000 consoles were sold on the opening day of the Wii U’s release in the United Kingdom creating a shortage in the region. Nintendo working to replenish stock.

The first batch of sales figures for Nintendo’s latest consoles are in and it makes for some positive reading for the manufacturer. The Wii U sold over 400,000 units on in its first week in the United States and it has followed that up with a 48 hour sales figure of 40,000 units sold.

It may not be as impressive as the Nintendo Wii’s launch sales in both territories but then again there is nothing as revolutionary on the Wii U as its predecessor’s, which was a revolution and no one had seen anything like it before.

However, Nintendo does not have much competition in the console market for the time being, as it is the only console to be part of the next generation console. Sony is the only manufacturer seriously trying to compete with the next-gen Wii U.

The manufacturer recently released a new Super Slim model of the current PlayStation 3 console with extra money and a lower price. The idea was to compete with the Wii U during the hectic and fiercely competitive Holiday Season. The move seemed to have worked as the console managed to sell an impressive 525,000 units during the week which included Black Friday in the United States alone.

Nintendo will not be too concerned by those numbers as it has sold out in a number of retailers across the United Kingdom with a second batch of consoles already on its way to replenish the stock. At the same time, with the lack of any serious next generation competition, Nintendo can expect to see sales remain consistent once the initial week’s excitement wears off.

It was slightly concerning for Nintendo to see none of the Wii U’s games break the top ten in the software sales charts, which is an indication that more consumers preferred the bundles than the standard console.

A number of Nintendo executives claimed that the second anyone buys a Wii U game, the sale of the console becomes profitable. In those terms Nintendo will be over the moon after having sold over 440,000 units worldwide since its launch.

It will be interesting to see how many units the Wii U can sell in the release window before the market trends return to normal because a strong start is extremely important in the industry.

But what about the readers; will you be buying a Wii U anytime soon or holding out to see what Microsoft and Sony announce in terms of their next generation console before deciding? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.