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

[Viper1]

twesterm said:

Viper1 said:

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.

You completely missed my point.  It isn't that is it sold out, it's how fast it sold out. We even have reports of some stores breakign their pre order records.

And the Wii didn't sell out the day after the price and date were announced.   Nintendo also didn't order many units for the intial production because of the worries they had with the GC (overordering caused a warehousing issues).

PS3 didn't sell out of pre-orders until near launch and it only sold out of them because GameStop cut their pre-order figures in half.  If a store was to get 20, they had to cut it down to the first 10. 

Don't remember the X360 selling out of pre-orders either.  I know the DS, PSP, 3DS and Vita didn't. 

And being able to buy an iPhone the day after launch despite pre-order sell outs is irrelevant.  Tell me when the last time a console had an actual sell out and you could still walk into a store and buy one?   That is without Jack Trenton owing you $15,000.