Iwata: Wii U 'selling steadily,' Deluxe outselling Basic
"At the end of the Christmas season, it wasn't as though stores in the U.S. had no Wii U left in stock, as it was when Wii was first sold in that popular boom," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told Reuters in a recent interview. "But sales are not bad, and I feel it's selling steadily."
The Wii U is not selling as quickly as the Wii did in its first few months. Iwata did not provide new sales numbers, though we know Nintendo claimed sales of over 400,000 in the US on launch week, and Reuters cited Enterbrain data reporting 638,339 Wii U consoles sold in Japan between its December 8 launch and December 30.
Most of the Wii Us being sold are the black Deluxe model, which includes more storage space, more accessories, and (in North America) Nintendo Land. "It was the first time Nintendo released two models of the game console at the same time ... and I believe there was a challenge with balancing this," Iwata said. "Specifically, inventory levels for the premium, deluxe package was unbalanced as many people wanted that version and couldn't find it."
