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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Report: GameStop Cancelling Wii U Waiting List

thismeintiel on 26 November 2012

I don't buy this "extreme demand." If there was that much demand, there wouldn't be ~2.5K consoles on ebay, which are selling at a max of $50-60 profit. People would be buying them like crazy for possibly double, maybe triple, the original price. There also wouldn't have been stacks on Black Friday about as tall as the 360 and PS3 ones, where people were calmly taking systems off, instead of rushing and pushing to make sure they got the last ones.



 

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Soundwave on 26 November 2012
thismeintiel said:
I don't buy this "extreme demand." If there was that much demand, there wouldn't be ~2.5K consoles on ebay, which are selling at a max of $50-60 profit. People would be buying them like crazy for possibly double, maybe triple, the original price. There also wouldn't have been stacks on Black Friday about as tall as the 360 and PS3 ones, where people were calmly taking systems off, instead of rushing and pushing to make sure they got the last ones.


Gamestop probably has more "extreme demand" because Nintendo hardcore are going there to get their systems/mostly pre-ordered with them.

Wal-Mart/Target/Best Buy seem to be better bets as you can find systems without as much fuss. 

 



Teriol on 26 November 2012
Torillian said:
Kasz216 said:
Various articles say they're sold out... while the only people who say there are easy to find are forum posters. Usually who are searching via online rather then actually checking in store.

My money is on the articles, and forum posters either being mistaken due to slow updating, or just wanting to be mistaken.


My experience with the Wii U has been that the Deluxe Black version has definitely sold out and won't be available to pick up in stores for quite a while, but if you just want the basic version that's not as tough to get.  Out of 6 stores I tried 2 of them had a couple basic Wii Us sitting around and on the second time seeing it I flipped a coin and decided I didn't care about waiting for the nicer version that much.  Obviously this only involves some stores in Blacksburg, VA, an Air Force PX in Ohio, and my usual gamestop in Milwaukee, WI, so different regions will have different scenarios.  For all intents and purposes I'd say that for the individual trying to buy a Wii U the Black one has totally sold out, but the Basic version is possible to get randomly.  

yeah, few words that explain what is happening, you are rigth.



34 years playing games.

 

Soundwave on 26 November 2012
archbrix said:
Soundwave said:

I think Wii U demand is about the same as the GameCube in 2001.

Nintendo probably shipped about 700-750k that November 2001 and sold 660k for its first month.

Wii was insane though, Nintendo could've easily sold 2x the 476k they sold. It wasn't just Nintendo fans trying to get one, everyone wanted one.

Nah, I'd say that WiiU demand exceeds GC's launch by a fair margin.  However, I do agree that the Wii craze was certainly bigger.


I'm not sure. GameCube sold 660k its first month, if you threw an additional 260k Wii Us into stores, you'd probably be able to find one pretty easily at many retailers.



Chark on 26 November 2012

Funny, my gamestop has a sign that Wii U's are in stock and available.



Before the PS3 everyone was nice to me :(

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cusman on 26 November 2012
osed125 said:

This is getting confusing, is the Wii U sold out or not? What about the 500k pre-orders GameStop had? So many questions D:

Nintendo they expect to produce and ship out 5.5 million worldwide by March 2013 and expect all of those to sell. GameStop said they have 500k of that alloted to them. It didn't mean they will get 500k for launch day, but for all the time leading up to March 2013.

Only foolish people think the few Wii U's floating out in the wild wont get gobbled up and end up in Christmas gift boxes, at homes being played, or on EBay etc at premium sale prices by opportunists willing to bet demand will be greater than supply.

...

If you remember 2006, the Wii was in supply in local stores (especially obscure stores not associated with gaming like Target, K-Mart, Sears, etc) for a little bit before things got really short and even stores like Target and K-Mart started having lines for new shipments received and new websites/services went up to help people know where any are available.  That off course lasted nearly into 2008 and I don't know that something like that will repeat but it is fair to say the demand pressure will be high until at least after Christmas 2012 in the US.



archbrix on 26 November 2012
thismeintiel said:
I don't buy this "extreme demand." If there was that much demand, there wouldn't be ~2.5K consoles on ebay, which are selling at a max of $50-60 profit. People would be buying them like crazy for possibly double, maybe triple, the original price. There also wouldn't have been stacks on Black Friday about as tall as the 360 and PS3 ones, where people were calmly taking systems off, instead of rushing and pushing to make sure they got the last ones.

Frankly, regarding the units on eBay and Amazon I think people are being reasonable and simply waiting for more stock to appear in stores at this point, particularly with the economy the way that it is; most people probably aren't willing to pay exceedingly high prices from scalpers on these sites.  We'll see how it is as Christmas draws nearer.



superchunk on 26 November 2012

Ummm. These people need to think outside of the box. Went to Walmart last night and they had 2 deluxe and 1 basic. I bet if people hunt around a bit more they'd find them at ToysRUs and Target as well. Obviously not everywhere, but there are some here and there.



Adinnieken on 26 November 2012

One, there are only 9,820 Wii U's available for sale. Two, of those many of them offer no image of the actual console (stock photos) or they're complete scams as Kotaku pointed out, and their either accessories or games.

http://kotaku.com/5963430/something-tells-me-these-wii-u-auctions-arent-real



thismeintiel on 26 November 2012
archbrix said:
thismeintiel said:
I don't buy this "extreme demand." If there was that much demand, there wouldn't be ~2.5K consoles on ebay, which are selling at a max of $50-60 profit. People would be buying them like crazy for possibly double, maybe triple, the original price. There also wouldn't have been stacks on Black Friday about as tall as the 360 and PS3 ones, where people were calmly taking systems off, instead of rushing and pushing to make sure they got the last ones.

Frankly, regarding the units on eBay and Amazon I think people are being reasonable and simply waiting for more stock to appear in stores at this point, particularly with the economy the way that it is; most people probably aren't willing to pay exceedingly high prices from scalpers on these sites.  We'll see how it is as Christmas draws nearer.

If there was crazy demand for it, they would. They've been doing it since the start of ebay, most notibly starting with the Tickle Me Elmo doll.  Not sure what people were paying on ebay for the Wii when it first sold out, but I'm sure it was for more than $299.  Heck, a PS3 at launch was sold for ~$9000 and some were getting violent with each other in lines waiting for it.  And really, come on, people didnt just all of a sudden wise up for the Wii U launch.