Nintendo's next generation console system is selling fast in the U.S., but it's still falling a bit short of the pace set by its predecessor.
A GameStop employee hands over a Wii U system. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Invision for …Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime says the company sold 400,000 units in its first six days of availability, including Black Friday, and that the system is currently "essentially sold out" at retail.
"As soon as we're getting product to retailers, it's selling out," said Fils-Aime. "Our job now is to work on our supply chain to get product to retailers as efficiently as possible. ... We're putting as much product in the channel as possible."
While 400,000 is a strong start for the Wii U, the system's sales are a bit short of the Wii's first week numbers. In the first eight days of availability, Nintendo sold more than 600,000 of that system six years ago.
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It's still selling, too. Nintendo says it sold 300,000 Wii system last week. Life to date, the Wii has sold more than 40 million units in the U.S. and is approaching the 100 million mark worldwide.
The 3DS handheld, which sold 250,000 units last week, continues to outpace the Nintendo DS, by about 1 million units, says Fils-Aime. Life to date, the company has sold 6.4 million 3DS devices.
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