Nintendo’s Wii gaming console has sold out in Europe, with 325,000 units selling in two days after its December 8 launch. Many stores sold out in just hours.

Nintendo Wii sold out in Europe

Nintendo is now claiming that the Wii is the fastest selling games console ever, having also sold more than 600,000 units in the US and 400,000 in Japan.

Unlike Sony, which has been struggling to meet demand, Nintendo is replenishing stock daily, according to Laurent Fischer, Marketing Director for Nintendo Europe:
“For those who were unable to buy Wii during the launch weekend, rest assured more stock is already on its way and we are doing everything possible to ensure that a steady supply of Wii units is shipped to stores across Europe throughout December and into 2007.”

According to Nintendo, more than 240,000 copies of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess have also been sold across Europe, meaning that 74% of all European oweners of Wii have a copy. Wii Play was also very popular with more than 50% of people also buying the game, which includes a Wii Remote.

While Wii has enjoyed a successful European launch, Nintendo DS also had a record-breaking week with 515,000 units sold across Europe last week. Nintendo says this is not only the highest week’s sales since the console’s launch but also the most any console across all formats has ever sold in a week. The Nintendo Ds has sold over 8.5 million consoles now sold across Europe since its March 2005 launch.

The successful launch of the Wii around the world has given Nintendo a huge opportunity to recapture some of its former glory – though it still has some way to go catch up with Xbox 360’s 7 million units sold.

Just a few months ago most commentators would have said that this round of the console wars would have been between Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. As time passes, it’s appears that this time it will be a dual between Xbox 360 and Wii, with Playstation 3 in third place.

Microsoft has already stated that it’s prepared to start cutting the price of the Xbox 360 to make it more attractive, and we must not forget that while Sony has made some mistakes with the Playstation 3, it is a big company with plenty of console experience, and so can’t be written off yet. The fun has just begun.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 12:26 pm under Technology.

Read more entries by John Pospisil.
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