If you picked up a Wii U in the past week, you’re not alone. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime says the Wii U sold 400,000 units last week, out of a total of 1.2-million in Nintendo hardware sales. To compare, the Wii sold 300,000 in its first week, and the Xbox 360 moved about 326,000 in its first week.
“Wii U is essentially sold out of retail and we are doing our best to continually replenish stock,” Fils-Aime said. “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.”
Definitely good news for Nintendo, a company that’s betting on combining the motion control of the Wii, touch screen gaming from the Nintendo DS and 3DS, and HD graphics into one machine will bring “hardcore” gamers back to the House of Mario. Fils-Aime is promising that retailers won’t see the kind of shortages they saw with the Wii launch, though, promising that they’ve “learned many lessons” from 2006.
