Wii Sells 50,000 on First Day in the UK

Wii

December 8, 2006, 3:10 pm EST
Total comments: 12

For the first twelve hours of launch, Wii keeps up one unit sold per second.

Wii STRIKES UP 50,000 SALES IN 12 HOURS

- One console sold every second since launch -

8th December 2006 – Within just 12 hours of going on sale, the much anticipated launch of the Nintendo Wii console has reached new heights of success with 50,000 units sold. The staggering figure translates to one unit sold throughout the UK every second, since the very first sale at the star-studded midnight store opening at HMV on London’s Oxford Street.

David Yarnton, General Manager, Nintendo UK says; “We are delighted with the amazing response to Wii and that people of all ages and gaming experience are embracing the way that we are turning the industry on its head. With so many units sold it is great to see that people will be enjoying Wii with their families this Christmas. We are doing everything we can do to meet demand throughout Christmas and the New Year period."

Talkback

CericDecember 08, 2006

How many people do they think live in Europe... 2 or 3... Come on... I was expecting 400,000 or at least 100,000.

NinGurl69 *hugglesDecember 08, 2006

It's only UK, man. Wait for the other Euro Nintendo divisions to speak up.

18 DaysDecember 08, 2006

Still it's a bit worrying Pro. Australia had over 30k pre-orders alone and the UK has 3 times the population.

WPack911December 08, 2006

This is NOT the stats for Europe, this is only for the UK A.K.A. the United Kingdom, that includes Britan and a few other countrys. The figure that includes the rest of Europe will be much higher.

Plus this only the first 12 hours, not even a full day and the console in selling at a rate of 1 per second, that is an amazing clip that if kept up will mean hundreds of thousands of Wii's sold in the next few days just in the UK alone as long as Nintendo can keep the supply flowing.

LouieturkeyDecember 08, 2006

Plus I don't think they got that many to the UK. I heard it was around 70,000 total for the UK for launch.

thejeekDecember 08, 2006

FWIW they're completely sold out here in the UK and Wiis are going on eBay etc for well over twice retail price. Places are taking pre-orders for spring shipments and telling people there's no hope of getting one before christmas now unless you've previously pre-ordered.

KlapauciusDecember 08, 2006

Quote
the United Kingdom, that includes Britan and a few other countrys.

For the record, the United Kingdom is Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A few small island nations, like Jersey, are UK protectorates (but not like they have a population to make a difference in Wii sales).
It's not like France is part of the UK or something....

CericDecember 09, 2006

Ok. I thought the full Europe launch happened the same day and that one division was over all of them. Anybody know when those numbers will be coming?

PlugabugzDecember 09, 2006

Various european countries launched December 7 and others December 9. So it should be in the coming week.

KlapauciusDecember 09, 2006

Wow. Someone is selling Wii component cables on Amazon.co.uk for - get this - £480!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Nintendo-Component-Video-Cable/dp/B000JJRV90/sr=8-10/qid=1165699206/ref=pd_ka_10/202-0093084-1271801?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

Also, Amazon has sold out of Wiimotes. Now you need to pay £80 for one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-Wii-Remote-Controller/dp/B000IMWK2G/sr=8-12/qid=1165699206/ref=pd_ka_12/202-0093084-1271801?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

Amazon has also sold out of consoles, but someone is kindly selling one for £429....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nintendo-Wii-Console-Sports/dp/B0007UATDG/sr=8-15/qid=1165699206/ref=sr_1_15/202-0093084-1271801?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

Insane...

KDR_11kDecember 09, 2006

A quick look at eBay shows that Wiis don't go for more than 50€ over retail. No idea how I can see the recently ended auctions but those that are close to ending aren't more than 50€ over retail for the items included.

KlapauciusDecember 09, 2006

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6161717.stm

Nintendo makes BBC news because people are complaining that, get this, they PRE-ORDERED the Wii but didn't get one. Is that Nintendo's fault? Surely the blame goes to the shops for that one. ?

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