Wii U Sells 400K In US During First Week, “Essentially Sold Out”

Speaking to CNET, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime revealed that the company’s internal data shows that the Wii U sold an estimated 400,000 units in the US last week and is virtually sold out at retailers.

This puts the Wii U about 200,000 units shy of the Wii’s first week sales back in 2006, however, Fils-Aime admitted that the new console’s sales are being limited by the company’s ability to meet demand.

“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.”

Reggie added that Nintendo “learned many lessons” from the launch of the Wii — which was basically sold out from 2006 to 2009 — and are working on “replenishing retailers more quickly this time around.. [and plan] to have as much product into retail as possible.”

In addition to the first week Wii U sales, Fils-Aime reported that the Wii sold an impressive 300,000 units last week, followed by the DS with 275,000 and the 3DS with 250,000. In total, Nintendo kicked off the start of the 2012 holiday shopping season with 1.2 million hardware units sold across all four of their systems.

Source: CNET