It seems that the gaming community has spoken, and the Wii U has proven to be quite the successful venture for Nintendo. In the first week of the system’s launch, the Wii U has sold 400,000 units.
The majority of the consoles sold were already claimed by preorders at major retailers such as GameStop, Best Buy, and Walmart. Some of these retailers also received a few consoles to sell during Black Friday deals, but they didn’t last long. Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime stated that “The Wii U is effectively sold out at retail and we are gratified by the consumer response.”
While critical reception has been a bit mixed, user reviews have been more than positive aside from complaints about the massive day-one software update. With an impressive line-up of first- and third-party launch titles, many gamers have already begun to build a decent library of games, which means great things for Nintendo. The company is selling the Wii U console at a loss, but Nintendo only needs consumers to purchase one game with the system to make a profit.
Unsurprisingly, New Super Mario Bros. U, ZombiU, and Nintendo Land are at the top of the list of software sales for the console. Of course, these overall sales numbers only represent the North American launch as the console still has yet to be released in Europe.
This isn’t Nintendo’s biggest launch as the Wii sold 600,000 units in the first 8 days of its release. However, this was all due to the availability of the console, as the Wii U could have sold many more systems if there was a big enough supply. All-in-all, the launch sales have proven to be exceptional with the Wii U having matched initial Xbox 360 and PS3 launch sales.
For information on the Wii U, check back later in the week for our own look at the Wii U hardware.
