Wii U Sales Surge to 400,000 Units; Console is "Essentially Sold Out"

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Best of luck to anyone trying to snag a Wii U console to plop under the Christmas tree this holiday shopping season. It's "essentially sold out of retail," though less desirable avenues remain, such as paying inflated prices on eBay or Craigslist where $100 premiums are commonplace. Since launching just over a week ago, Nintendo has sold 400,000 Wii U consoles, topping the original Wii, which added another 300,000 sales last week.
That's according to CNet, which spoke with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime on the phone. That conversation yielded quite a few sales figures, such as 500,000 portable hardware sales, including 250,000 3DS and 275,000 DS consoles.
Why did the DS outsell the 3DS? According to Fils-Aime, sales were higher for the DS because of "significant" deals being offered on Black Friday. He maintains that the 3DS is still on a record-setting pace.
With regards to the Wii U and its sold out status, Fils-Aime said Nintendo is doing its "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."

Back when the original Wii launched in 2006, it was also extremely hard to obtain at first. Fils-Aime claims he and his company "learned many lessons from that" launch and says retailers are receiving stock much more quickly this time around.
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