Retailers Claim Wii U Sold Out, Days Ahead of UK Launch

As the UK prepares for the launch of Nintendo's new Wii U console, a number of retailers have reportedly sold out of machines already - with release day allocations all going to pre-orders.

Of course it's sold out! What console launch ever sounded successful by having enough stock to satisfy demand? None, that's what. MCV has spoken to some anonymous retailers who have said that their launch allocations have all been taken by eager fans pre-ordering the units. Whether these are big retailers or indies remains to be seen - and would make a world of difference to the context of the report.

But while there's naturally something of a hype game going on (as there is almost every launch), Nintendo has formally admitted that it might not get many Wii Us to the UK by Friday. So the sell-outs could well be substantial. Less than 30,000 consoles are going on sale at the end of the week, according to CVG.

HMV doesn't seem to have any problems at least - with its Oxford St store being the official launch venue for the platform, it announced that it has managed to acquire additional stock so that nobody queuing up will be left out in the cold.