Nintendo said yesterday that they had sold 400,000 Wii U game consoles in the first week of sales. This number is lower than the 600,000 Wii consoles sold in the first week of availability when it originally launched.

The President of Nintendo America, Reggie Fils-Aime spoke in an interview with Cnet News and said that the company had sold 1.2 million game consoles last week – which includes the Wii U, Wii, DS, 3DS.

Nintendo have blamed some of the sales problem with the supply issue. Many people have been unable to buy the console due to shortages in different parts of the world.

Mr Fils-Aime said “Wii U is essentially sold out of retail and we are doing our best to continually replenish stock. Retailers are also doing their best to get the product to store shelves. But as soon as product hits retail, they're selling out immediately”

He added “Wii was a unique phenomenon. You could not walk into a retailer and buy a Wii until spring of 2009. We have certainly learned many lessons from that and we are replenishing retailers more quickly this time around. We are looking to have as much product into retail as possible. It is driven by consumer response.”

Kitguru says: Another ‘stock shortage on launch day. Can companies never correctly predict sales demand?

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