Analyst: GameStop sales for Wii U below par
1/4/13 6:32pm
During its launch, the Wii U sold over 400,000 units in North America. During the holidays, it wasn't too hot of an item, according to Sterne Agee's Arvind Bhatia.
GameSpot reports the industry analyst Bhatia said that the availability for the Wii U was "abundant" and said the console's software attach rate was "low."
However, Bhatia did say that the Deluxe version of the console, which sells for $350 USD, sold much better than the $300 basic version. The reasons being for that include the bundled game Nintendo Land, a 32 GB hard drive, and an overall "better value" to the Deluxe version.
No sales figures have been announced for Europe and Australia as of yet. Japan sold 308,570 units in the first weekend of sales. This shouldn't reflect the overall run the Wii U will potentially have, as it's only one figure of holiday sales.
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
darkhyrulelord
Not too surprising seeing how I myself haven't gotten one yet. It's just not worth it yet.
armodillo17
This is the 3rd or 4th time I've seen this same story. My question is: disappointing compared to what? According to http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/wii-u-sales-data-some-good/783765 , the only console to sell better in it's first 4 weeks was the Wii, which was a huge phenomenon. The only place the sales numbers aren't good is in Europe. The above blog also points out that Nintendo has seriously upped the number of games you can buy digitally, and since analysts don't see those sales, they don't get figured into the numbers. So the attach rate might not be that accurate either.
The other thing I'm unclear about is whether these statements are about Wii U sales only from Gamestop or total Wii U sales. There are plenty of other places to get a Wii U, and target had the best deal on Wii U games this holiday season by far, so if people aren't choosing Gamestop, that doesn't mean it's doing poorly overall.
Cyrax
I believe it was a "disappointment" compared to their projections for the console's holiday sales.
JxL
"Fool me once..."
Tpayne80
Well from what i can get from VGchartz the PS3 and 360 are outselling the Wii U
Linklex7
I haven't seen any charts but I now the last time I went to some stores the PS3 & 360 were all but sold out. However, I saw plenty of Wii Us still on the shelves. This isn't a knock on Nintendo as I love the Big N. However, I feel Nintendo should have done a better job marketing it as an actual next gen system. When I hear the average ma & pa buying gifts for their kids bring it up, most of them just thought it was a peripheral for the regular Wii. Since all Nintendo ever really talked about was the gamepad and not the console itself. Even on the box the gamepad is front and center while the console (which looks somewhat like a Wii) is in the background covered up.
Nitroklop
This doesn't seem right. Only a week ago every store I would ever go into was completely sold out of Wii Us.
Hang Doll
Nintendo has some problems for sure. They tend to have the mentality of either "This works and we refuse to change for anyone." or "Lets reinvent the wheal again. Things are getting a bit stagnant." Nintendo is really the hipster of the 3. "Pff.. good online play and DLC for games? Fuck that. Lets make a game pad." Note, I don't know how good their online is for WiiU. I just know it was trash for the Wii.
-Mazer
Comparing Launch Weeks:
NWU sold:
423,850 consoles 1,071,124 of it's launch games
360 sold:
350,847 consoles
PS3 sold:
139,044 consoles
Wii sold:
463,466 consoles
ruinedmirage
Two months ago, it was sold out everywhere. Now it sucks.......? I wonder what tomorrow's forecast is.
Or how about try looking at the numbers after it's been out for a significant period of time?