GameStop halts Wii U pre-orders due to 'overwhelming demand'

[twesterm]

Viper1 said:

Mummelmann said:

phenom08 said:

Mummelmann said:
What? People are per-ordering a console that launches in two months and at the very end of a console generation? I've never heard the likes of it in my life.

The news here is it is completely sold out so what is the point of your comment?

This is fairly common for both hardware and software, that's my point. Amazon and baby seals and all that.

Not this far from launch and not just a few days after price and date are announced.

It's not the fact it's sold out of pre-orders that is amazing, it's how fast it happened.   And no, that's not ordinary for a console or game.

Er, he's right.  It's pretty ordinary for pre-orders to sell out for things like this.

It happened with the Wii.  It happened with the PS2.  It happened with the PS3.  It happened with the iPhone 1/3/4//5.  It happened with the 360.  Things in demand sell out.

That's not to say these won't be available at launch, it's just they aren't taking any more preorders because they've already gone through what they know they're going to get.

For instance, stores stopped taking or wouldn't take iPhone 5 preorders because they went through a certain number.  Come the day after launch, even though a store wouldn't take any more preorders or told people who wanted to order one there would probably be a two week wait just days before, I was able to walk in and buy an iPhone 5 without problem.

Another example-- the Wii.  I remember going to Gamestop the next morning and waiting in line for a preorder.  I didn't think I really needed to (boy was I wrong), but did it nonetheless.  In the case of the Wii, Gamestop sold out of preorders that morning.  I preordered my WiiU days after they started taking preorders at Gamestop.