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JayWood2010 on 03 January 2013
Sterne Agee industry watcher says hardware and software sales for Nintendo's latest fall short during holiday period at speciality retailer.
Wii U hardware and software sales at GameStop during the holiday season were below expectations, according to an investor note from Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia. The industry watcher said Wii U availability at GameStop continues to be "abundant."
The Wii U made its worldwide debut November 18 in North America and sold400,000 units during its first week. The console launched in Europe and Australia on November 30, but no specific sales figures for those regions have been announced. The Wii U's December 8 launch in Japan saw first-weekend sales come in at 308,570 units.
Bhatia also revealed that the $350 Wii U Deluxe model is selling at a greater clip than the $300 basic version at GameStop, presumably due to its "better value." The Deluxe model includes 32GB of storage space to the Basic unit's 8GB, as well as a bundled copy of Nintendo Land.
Additionally, Bhatia said the Wii U software attach rate at GameStop is "low," but did not provide a specific rate.
"Our conclusion is the Nintendo Wii U launch has been slightly disappointing," Bhatia said.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
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runqvist on 03 January 2013
As expected. The real test is coming when january numbers show up, the gap between wii and wii u will widen a lot in early next year.
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sethnintendo on 03 January 2013
Get rid of the basic and drop the deluxe down to 300 right before next holiday season. Give the early Wii U adapters ambassador games.
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kitler53 on 03 January 2013
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DélioPT on 03 January 2013
Nintendo needs big guns for 2013 - first and 3rd party!
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osed125 on 03 January 2013
Disappointing in what sense? Overall? Basic set? Compare to the Wii? I think is doing a decent job (minus Europe) no need to panic yet.
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Bet with ninjablade: 1 month sig control. He wins if the PS4 outsells the Wii U 2:1, I win if it doesn't. Based on the first 6 months of both consoles.
WindyCityHeat on 03 January 2013
Slightly disappointing would be accurate. It wasn't a MAJOR FLOP, but it hasn't done ANYTHING to capture even a single "imagination" as nintendo surely hoped lol.
The only thing the wiiu launch made me want to purchase was a PS4/720 next year.
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pokoko on 03 January 2013
Slightly disappointing sounds about right. It didn't do badly but it also didn't generate a whole lot of buzz. I think hardware is going to be slightly off Nintendo's expectations and software is going to be a bit worse than that.
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TheLastStarFighter on 03 January 2013
@Kitler, I'm a numbers person. Give me numbers. I'm a business analyst by education. I don't use words like "abundant" or "low". If I did, I would have failed university. I would use specifics. I don't know what Mr Bhatia's qualifications are, or where he gets his numbers that no one has seen and he hasn't revealed, but he has told us nothing but his unsubstantiated opinion. I substantiate mine. WiiU is selling at 81% of Wii, it's on pace to sell at Nintendo's shipping projections. This tells me it's selling at the level it's being shipped. This means it's supply constrained. You can bring me up in various threads or make mocking comments, but until you have numbers that contradict me, you're only making yourself look foolish, childish and insecure.
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Conegamer on 03 January 2013
I'd imagine that, if the basic is dropped and the Deluxe cut to the Basic price, it would take off.
I also expect this to happen within the next 9 months, as well as a barrage of high-quality software.
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Bet with Tbone51- He wins if the 3DS sells over 20million in 2013, I win if it falls short
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