Wii U Pre-Orders Exceeded Nintendo's Expectations

Sarah LeBoeuf

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Wii U Pre-Orders Exceeded Nintendo's Expectations



Nintendo will take a loss on every Wii U sold at launch.

Were you hoping to get a Wii U on launch day? If you haven't reserved one yet, you might be out of luck. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has stated that pre-orders for the console have completely exceeded Nintendo's expectations, stating on the publisher's recent financial results presentation that "it is has now become more likely that it is our production capacity, rather than consumer demand, that will place limits on our Wii U prospects for this calendar year."

Gaming retailer GameStop exceeded its allotted Wii U pre-orders last week, and since then more than 250,000 hopeful gamers have put their names on waiting lists to receive a Wii U from post-launch shipments. The $349.99 deluxe bundle, which includes a black console, Nintendo Land, a GamePad charging cradle, and a console stand, is doing better in reserves than the $299.99 basic model.

Iwata also reported that the Wii U would be sold below cost at launch, which would result in a loss for Nintendo. He said that this was due to "the yen's continuous appreciation" as well as the publisher's choice to give the Wii U a price point that would be appealing to customers, rather than base it on manufacturing costs. "In this first half of the term before the launch of the Wii U, we were not able to make a profit on software for the system we we had to book a loss on the hardware, which is currently in production and will be sold below cost price." This isn't an unusual move for publishers; 3DS systems were sold below cost after their massive price drop, and Nintendo finally stopped losing money on them earlier this year [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.383102-Nintendo-No-Longer-Losing-Money-on-Each-3DS-Sold].

The holiday season demand for Wii U systems could help Nintendo reach its ambitious sales goals [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120320-Nintendo-Aims-to-Sell-One-Million-Wii-Us-Per-Month] for the end of the financial year. It's not exactly surprising that a new Nintendo console would sell well at launch, especially when that launch is right before Black Friday and the holiday shopping season rush. Whether or not the Wii U will continue to sell well into 2013 remains to be seen, but it seems safe to predict that those who didn't pre-order systems might have a hard time getting their hands on a Wii U before the new year.

Source: Polygon [http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/121025/02.html]

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Jhooud

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Nov 29, 2011
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NameIsRobertPaulson said:
Every fanbase has its loyal troops ready to buy on day one. I doubt this will be a repeat of the Wii not being available in stores for months at a time or the PS3 going for $1000 on ebay again.
It'll be interesting to see how that plays out. I wonder what the eBay market will be like as we get closer to the Holidays.
 

juyunseen

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Nov 21, 2011
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Wow. Just saying, if those gamestop pre-order numbers are correct, if they were only selling the 299.99 bundle, that's a 74,997,500$ profit, even if they're selling at a loss, that's a big number.
 

Guffe

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It's nice to know there are people out there who see something good in this product.
Wherever I turn in this forum everyone seems to just be bashing the WiiU. Except for a small minority and you guys know who you are.
I'll be getting one sometime next year I guess.
 

Merlark

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Its been awhile since a console didn't sell out at launch. the ps3 did, the xbox 360 did, i know the ps2 did and likely the xbox?

Maybe the sega dreamcast had plenty on launch day? I don't even remember. I'm pretty sure they make sure they don't have too many units personally. no one cares how many they sold, only that there are no more! gasp! wouldn't it be more awesome if something sold 300k units on launch day and there was still some to buy versus selling 75k units and being sold out? Nope, have to have it in the news that your sold out, that means your successful, if you had consoles still left to sell your failing.
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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Guffe said:
It's nice to know there are people out there who see something good in this product.
Wherever I turn in this forum everyone seems to just be bashing the WiiU. Except for a small minority and you guys know who you are.
I'll be getting one sometime next year I guess.
Like I've said before, the more people underestimate/insult Nintendo the greater their power becomes. Anything that humbles the dipshit "hardcore" is a plus in my book
 

Guffe

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Aiddon said:
Guffe said:
It's nice to know there are people out there who see something good in this product.
Wherever I turn in this forum everyone seems to just be bashing the WiiU. Except for a small minority and you guys know who you are.
I'll be getting one sometime next year I guess.
Like I've said before, the more people underestimate/insult Nintendo the greater their power becomes. Anything that humbles the dipshit "hardcore" is a plus in my book
True, it's like going to go see a movie.
If you're thinking like " well this will most likely be mediocre but I'll pass the time" then the movie has a lot more potential to surprise than if everyone is all excited.
But yeah, I hope the WiiU will be a success and so far it seems pretty good reading the articles on this site.
 

Overusedname

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Jun 26, 2012
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Merlark said:
Its been awhile since a console didn't sell out at launch. the ps3 did, the xbox 360 did, i know the ps2 did and likely the xbox?

Maybe the sega dreamcast had plenty on launch day? I don't even remember. I'm pretty sure they make sure they don't have too many units personally. no one cares how many they sold, only that there are no more! gasp! wouldn't it be more awesome if something sold 300k units on launch day and there was still some to buy versus selling 75k units and being sold out? Nope, have to have it in the news that your sold out, that means your successful, if you had consoles still left to sell your failing.
Something unique this time is that they sold out on pre-orders 48 hours after pre-orders became available.
 

littlewisp

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Mar 25, 2010
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I'm waiting for awhile. I've had seriously bad luck buying Nintendo systems right off the bat. If there are manufacturing problems or bugs with the system, you bet I bought one of them. Soo I'll just wait until mid year next year to snap one up, even if it does wind up costing more. In the meantime, I hope Nintendo does well.