Nintendo Wii U Hardware Sales Tracking Ahead of Wii Sales

Nintendo sold 890,000 Wii U consoles in the U.S. in 2012, according to The NPD Group. The first of the next generation consoles (Sony and Microsoft are expected to launch a new PlayStation and Xbox this fall) has already outpaced sales of the original Wii by more than $30 million through its first six weeks of sales in America. Nintendo also beat out the launch sales of  Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which sold about 600,000 and 700,000 hardware units in their launch windows according to The NPD Group.

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Nintendo sold 460,000 Wii U consoles in December in the U.S. The console, which has been in short supply, is available in a $300 basic set and $350 deluxe set. The game maker sold over 580,000 copies of New Super Mario Bros. U, which had a 65 percent attach rate with the hardware.

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Nintendo has sold over $300 million of Wii U hardware in the U.S. since the console launched November 18. Wii hardware had generated $270 million back in 2006, although that console retailed for much less with its $250 price point. Consumers are still buying the original Wii, which had sales of 475,000 units and crossed 40.8 million units sold life to date.

“While the Wii launch established new benchmarks in the United States, Wii U has surpassed its predecessor in perhaps the most important category: revenue generation,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “The demand for the Deluxe SKU, which was essentially sold out at retail this holiday, and the strong attach rate of New Super Mario Bros. U, shows that we have the value and the games to drive momentum in 2013. We look forward to offering great new experiences and bringing smiles to millions of new faces throughout the year.”

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While Nintendo is facing an onslaught of new competition in the portable games space from tablet, smartphone and consumer electronics makers, the company continues to sell its portable hardware. Nintendo 3DS sold more than 1.25 million units in December and has crossed 7.7 million units sold life to date, which Nintendo DS sold nearly 470,000 units and crossed 53 million units sold life to date.

Nintendo sold more than 2.65 million hardware units in the United States in the month of December. According to The NPD Group, 2012 marked the 11thconsecutive year that Nintendo has sold at least 8 million hardware units in the U.S.