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UK game retailers discuss phenomenal Wii U preorders

pramath

Banned
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/886839

***********, the leading online entertainment retailer is reporting the highest pre-orders for a games console in the retailer's history following the global announcement of the Nintendo Wii U last week.

"The reaction has been phenomenal with 500 pre-orders in the first hour after the Wii U announcement on Thursday, and the following 48 hours saw similar levels of pre-orders as gamers rushed to secure their hardware for Christmas," explained *********** CEO Igor Cipolletta

http://www.videogamer.com/news/reta...ii_u_pre-orders_premium_sku_most_popular.html

"As expected with such a highly anticipated announcement of Wii U, we've had lots and lots of interest since Thursday," said a spokesperson for GAME. "Pre-orders are exceeding expectations with the black console proving the most popular so far.


"So far the black premium Nintendo Land bundle is proving most popular, with the basic white version and the black Zombi U not far behind, enjoying similar demand to each other.

Edit: For those who have not being keeping up, the situation in NA is as follows

http://news.yahoo.com/nintendo-wii-u-preorders-selling-major-u-retailers-170051196.html

Gamers who didn’t get their preorders in when stores started accepting them last Thursday might want to avoid GameStop (GME) , Best Buy (BBY), Sears (SHLD), Toys R Us and Walmart (WMT) as supplies have been depleted. There is still the off chance that those retailers might get more stock (some of the stores listed still have Basic Sets available), but early indications suggest there could be a Wii U shortage come November 18th.
 

d[-_-]b

Banned
probably primarily scalpers, as shown on gaf, a good amount of people just pre-ordering consoles to resell them...
 

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
Considering this is just Internet driven at the moment, things are going to get crazy when the actual marketing campaign starts properly.
 

bitoriginal

Member
Honestly, this is a little surprising to me. Wii did sell like hotcakes though. Gonna be interesting to see what the preorders are like for the PS4 and 720 in comparison.

EDIT: Now I can see which etailer this is, it's not so much of a mystery anymore. They deliver quicker than any other etailer (1-3 days early) in the UK and are the most likely to receive pre-orders. Lets see how Amazon and Zavvi fare.
 
didn't retailer say the same about the nintendo 3ds? I think I remember there being stories of how well it was doing before it was released but sort of fell flat when it was actually released.

and with this news, does it mean supermarkets won't enter into a price battle closer to the release date? with high demand, there would be no reason for them to drop the price.
 
I don't see this being a huge success. The PS3 had huge preorders, and we all know how long it took for the real take-up to begin.

It sounds more like an attempt to drum up more pre-orders based on fear that there wont be enough to go round.

I wonder if Nintendo will create an artificial scarcity with the wii u to drive more preorders...
 
That's shop--to. That online retailer had a credit card leak but they never notified their costumers about it.

A long time ago when they were starting out, not sure you could even say its the same company now. They're pretty big, should be unbanned really.
 
I don't see this being a huge success. The PS3 had huge preorders, and we all know how long it took for the real take-up to begin.

It sounds more like an attempt to drum up more pre-orders based on fear that there wont be enough to go round.

I wonder if Nintendo will create an artificial scarcity with the wii u to drive more preorders...

this
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
I don't have much faith in the long term viability of the WiiU, although I would of course love to be proven wrong and I'll buy one if it seems to be a great platform. Even the launch line up isn't bad.

I'm glad to see it's enjoying success given the cynicism though :)
 

pramath

Banned
I don't see this being a huge success. The PS3 had huge preorders, and we all know how long it took for the real take-up to begin.

It sounds more like an attempt to drum up more pre-orders based on fear that there wont be enough to go round.

I wonder if Nintendo will create an artificial scarcity with the wii u to drive more preorders...

Seems a bit far-fetched considering preorders are sold out or close to it worldwide and Nintendo is coming off their most successful console generation ever.

I think selling close to a 100 million Wii's earns them the benefit of the doubt in this regard.
 
Makes me wonder how scarce it'll be. I couldn't find Wii during launch that's for sure. The levels of hype surrounding it was positively manic. I ran into tons of moms talking about getting one that holiday too. Heck I had to buy my Wii off of a friend who needed the scratch cause I couldn't find it anywhere.

Whatever the level of stock, artificially limited or not, it does have an effect on the consumer. Hell, this recent bout of "sold out" news makes me want to get one even though I don't have the money at the moment :l
 

MLH

Member
These reports and the current China/ Japan island disputes make me worried that Nintendo might struggle to meet demand this Christmas.
I really don't think the Wii U will be as successful as the Wii, but I may be wrong. I just don't want to have a hard time finding one in a few months after release if I decide to get one.

Also, is the Black Premium Console a limited edition?
 

pramath

Banned
Makes me wonder how scarce it'll be. I couldn't find Wii during launch that's for sure. The levels of hype surrounding it was positively manic. I ran into tons of moms talking about getting one that holiday too. Heck I had to buy my Wii off of a friend who needed the scratch cause I couldn't find it anywhere.

Whatever the level of stock, artificially limited or not, it does have an effect on the consumer. Hell, this recent bout of "sold out" news makes me want to get one even though I don't have the money at the moment :l

I'm not predicting Wii level sales, but based off being its successor alone and reasonably priced it's going to put up big sales. Especially with Nintendo's first party properties.

NSMBU alone is a sequel to a game that sold 25 million copies.
 

apana

Member
Looks like Wii U will have a good first year. If that is true then they just have to support it with the right kind of games and give third parties incentives and partnerships to make exclusives for the platforms. I think Wii U will be a decline from the Wii but will still do well, lets see.
 
I don't see this being a huge success. The PS3 had huge preorders, and we all know how long it took for the real take-up to begin.

It sounds more like an attempt to drum up more pre-orders based on fear that there wont be enough to go round.

I wonder if Nintendo will create an artificial scarcity with the wii u to drive more preorders...

PS3 costed almost the double and didn't have Mario
 
Perhaps the great sales will translate into great games this time around!
Already got great games on the wii so i dont see why it would be much different
Oh and look like clockwork the dumb artiricial shortage thing starts becauae obviously that dumb nintendo could never have real success
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
I don't think these articles or reports are particularly meaningful, but I do think Wii U will do very well worldwide initially.

I think a lot of posters here do not realize or do not remember how well Nintendo IP's sold last generation, not to mention the Wii hardware sales.
 

m.i.s.

Banned
I don't think these articles or reports are particularly meaningful, but I do think Wii U will do very well worldwide initially.

I think a lot of posters here do not realize or do not remember how well Nintendo IP's sold last generation, not to mention the Wii hardware sales.

didn't retailer say the same about the nintendo 3ds? I think I remember there being stories of how well it was doing before it was released but sort of fell flat when it was actually released.

The Nintendo 3DS sold 113,000 consoles in its first two days on sale in the UK, making it the fastest-selling Nintendo handheld ever - despite it supposedly having pre-orders of 140,000.
 

Hoodbury

Member
Considering this is just Internet driven at the moment, things are going to get crazy when the actual marketing campaign starts properly.

Makes you wonder, do they even need to do a big marketing campaign for the holidays now? What's the point if they are already sold out? Why spend the big bucks on marketing when you don't have anymore product to sell? Software I suppose?
 
A long time ago when they were starting out, not sure you could even say its the same company now. They're pretty big, should be unbanned really.
I read here a while ago (random thread on gaf) that the owner/s of shopto threated Evilore with lawyers for asterisking them after the alleged "credit card fraud" business, threatening that he should remove the ban. What do you think happened next?
 
The banned site are no strangers to a bit of self-promotion. Not saying it's an out and out lie or anything, but lets wait to see what other retailers say.
 
I'm not predicting Wii level sales, but based off being its successor alone and reasonably priced it's going to put up big sales. Especially with Nintendo's first party properties.

NSMBU alone is a sequel to a game that sold 25 million copies.

It's pretty hard to predict to be sure. I'm certain it'll be a success, but whether it attains "Wii levels" is harder to quantify. On the one hand, it doesn't have that immediate "wow" factor. Motion tech is really intuitive and looks fun from a conceptual standpoint. Wii U's hook of a second touch based screen definitely doesn't have that wow factor. Nintendo Land also looks like a much more traditional gaming experience compared to Wii Sports, albeit a much deeper and fully featured one.

On the flip side, the hardware is much more capable and its social and TV integration, and independence from the TV does provide real value that consumers might not even know that they want. It's that sort of Apple mentality that might serve as the wildcard in its favor.

And of course having a mega hit like NSMB U at launch is definitely going to provide gamers and casuals alike with a real reason to pick one up. It's off to a great start in any case.
 
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