Wii U Outsold by Xbox 360 and PS3 in Launch Week

On November 18, Nintendo’s Wii U went on sale in the United States. The release of the successor to the immensely popular Nintendo Wii came just in time for the shopping-intense Thanksgiving week. Nintendo reportedly sold more than 400,000 units of its new home console during the week and, according to Nintendo, the Wii U is now effectively sold out in the United States.

What puts a little dent in the Wii U’s launch performance is the fact that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3 outsold Nintendo’s new flagship console by a significant margin. The heavy Black Friday discounts offered on both consoles apparently persuaded many shoppers to go with the slightly dated HD consoles instead of the Wii U.