Wii U not topping Wii sales says Nintendo

Nintendo’s 2012 year-end sales of the Wii U are steady, though not trumping the sales patterns of it’s Wii predecessor when it first launched, Reuters has reported.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said in an interview: “At the end of the Christmas season, it wasn’t as though stores in the US had no Wii U left in stock, as it was when Wii was first sold in that popular boom. But sales are not bad, and I feel it’s selling steadily.”

No details were given on actual sales figures or forecasts thereof. Nintendo reportedly said in October 2012 that it is targeting 5.5 million Wii U sales by the end of March 2013. At last official sales count statement from the company, 400,000 units were sold in the US during its first week of sale.

Nintendo sold 638,339 Wii U consoles in Japan between December 8 and 30, according to data from game magazine publisher Enterbrain, Reuters reported.

By contrast, Nintendo has sold nearly 100 million of the original Wii units since its launch in 2006.

Iwata said that Nintendo needed to focus on developing attractive software for its 3DS handheld device to draw new users, and increase Wii U sales as it battles competition from popular mobile devices.

Iwata said that of the two Wii U models available, most customers wanted the premium package, which sold out quickly in many places, leaving many standard packages on the shelves.

“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. Specifically, inventory levels for the premium, deluxe package was unbalanced as many people wanted that version and couldn’t find it,” said Iwata.