Hundreds Turn Out For Wii U Midnight Launch at Nintendo World Store

There were about 45 consumers in line at the flagship Toys R Us store just a few blocks away at about 10:40 p.m. Saturday, before that store started selling the console at its own midnight launch. There was no line outside the store shortly after midnight, when we returned after attending Nintendo’s official launch event at Nintendo World. Toys R Us employees stationed outside the Times Square store told us there were many Wii Us still available for purchase.

NOA was “hoping” that consumers would attend the Nintendo World launch, as opposed to going to other local stores, so it heavily promoted the event at its own store, said Moffitt. “We wanted to have a celebration here,” he said. “In the past, we've done things with Toys R Us” around product launches, and “they're certainly a great retail partner,” he said.

Nintendo opted to host the Wii U launch event at its own store mainly because it tries to “mix it up,” with different retailers selected for each product launch, Moffitt said. Best Buy’s Union Square store in New York hosted the 3DS launch in March 2011 (CED March 29/11 p1). Some of those in line Saturday night had pre-ordered the console, but the majority there hadn’t, said Moffitt.

NOA didn’t say how many Wii U’s shipped for the U.S. launch. Nor did it say how many units were sold on day one or so far. On Saturday night, Moffitt repeated only that Nintendo plans to ship 5.5 million Wii U’s globally by the end of its fiscal year in March. There will be more Wii U’s available in the U.S. in the first week than there were when the Wii shipped in November 2006, and replenishment after the first week will also be “stronger” than it was for the Wii, he said.

Turnout was “great” at Nintendo World Saturday night, Moffitt said. It indeed “seems like there’s going to be strong demand” for the console based on the turnout, he said. Moffitt predicted at the recent BMO Capital Markets conference in New York that it’s “possible there could be some retail shortages” on Wii U hardware this holiday season (CED Nov 9 p3).

The first consumer to buy a Wii U at Nintendo World was Isaiah Triforce Johnson of Brooklyn, N.Y., the 35-year-old CEO of pro gaming company Empire Arcadia. He started waiting outside the store 30 days earlier, although other people from his company took his spot for a while each day, he said. The line was temporarily suspended due to Superstorm Sandy. Johnson is often the first person on line to buy game systems at launch events, including the 3DS. He waited so long for the Wii U “to ensure that I would be the first person to get” the console, he said. He especially liked the new console’s tablet-like GamePad controller and what it will allow developers to do for several game genres, he told us. The Wii U’s HD resolution is “just a bonus” that meets the needs of “today’s standard requirements,” he said. The first Wii was standard definition, while the PS3 and Xbox 360 are HD. HD is “not really adding” anything significant to the Wii U and is like “eye candy,” Johnson said. The game industry has become “complacent” and tends to focus too much on only advanced technical specifications at the expense of new forms of game play, he said. Johnson said he owns every other game console.

Michael Zorek, a stay-at-home Manhattan dad, started waiting on line at Nintendo World only about an hour before the system went on sale, he said. He doesn’t play videogames, but his 10-year-old son, Jeremy, who was with him, does, he said. Zorek wanted to get there sooner but had plans earlier in the evening, he said. They own the Wii, 3DS, DSi and DSi XL, and Michael’s six-year-old daughter mainly plays just the handheld systems, he said. That the family will be able to view non-game content including Netflix movies via the Wii U was attractive, Zorek said. They opted to attend the Nintendo World launch event, instead of going to a different store, in part to get free tchotchkes that Nintendo would be handing out, he said. They wound up getting a Deluxe Wii U bundle at about 3:45 a.m., he told us Sunday by email. Zorek didn’t buy any additional games or accessories, but got a $10, New York-themed T-shirt with Mario’s image on it, he said. All proceeds from sales of the shirts will be donated to the American Red Cross in support of relief efforts from the effects of Sandy, NOA said. Zorek opted to remain in line outside Nintendo World despite being informed that the Toys R Us store only a few blocks away had no line to buy a console. “We met some really nice folks in line and besides the Wii U hat” that they were given by NOA, “one of the employees gave Jeremy a Nintendo New York scarf,” Zorek said. “It was a long wait, but the employees were great, people were nice and Jeremy loved the experience,” Zorek said.

It wasn’t immediately clear if every consumer on line at Nintendo World received a Wii U the night of the launch. But Zorek was near the back of the line as of midnight. The store’s ability to sell Wii U’s was limited only by “how fast we can process transactions” that night, Moffitt told us before the console went on sale that night. There were only a limited number of cash registers at the store, he said, showing us only three registers on the store’s main level. He expected that the store would have to close after a few hours to allow employees to get some sleep, but said any consumers still on line at that point would be able to return when the store reopened Sunday at 11 a.m. and get a console. The Toys R Us Times Square store had significant launch quantities also, he told us, predicting that store, too, should have enough to meet demand at the midnight launch.

An informal survey by NOA indicated that the $349.99 Deluxe Wii U bundle was in larger demand than the $299.99 Basic bundle, said Moffitt. He predicted that many consumers would want to also buy a Wii U Pro controller and one or two extra older controllers that work on the Wii U and Wii. Games that are most in demand for the new console are Ubisoft’s ZombiU and Nintendo’s Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U, based on GameStop pre-orders and Nintendo’s own data, he said. Nintendo World had ample stock on all Wii U games and accessories, he said.

David Smith, a 20-year-old student from New Jersey, told us just after midnight Sunday that he was waiting for about five hours outside Nintendo World. Nintendo Land, included with the Deluxe console bundle, is the only launch game that interested him, but he said he would probably like some of the titles coming later. You “can do some cool things” with the GamePad, he said. Like Johnson, Smith said he liked the Wii U’s HD, but said the Wii’s standard definition didn’t bother him. It was, however, “nice to see Nintendo getting on board with” HD, he said. A 34-year-old retail salesperson who identified himself only as Peter also liked the new console’s GamePad, saying that was a key feature that made it different from other systems. The Wii U’s HD was not a major issue for him, he said.

A Walmart store we visited in Farmingdale, N.Y., Sunday night was out of stock on both Wii SKUs, and so was a Target store in Levittown, N.Y. A sales clerk at the Target store told us the units were all gone as of that morning. Sales clerks at both stores said they expected more units to arrive later in the week, but didn’t know when. There were, however, an unspecified number of Target stores that “still have some” Wii Us available, Target said Monday morning. Target.com didn’t have any units of either SKU available Monday afternoon.

BestBuy.com was sold out online on both Wii U SKUs Monday and the site didn’t indicate what Best Buy stores had units in stock. The retail chain didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the Wii U launch. Walmart.com was still selling a $359 Wii U “Gamer Bundle” on Monday afternoon that included the customer’s choice of either ZombiU or New Super Mario Bros. U. Walmart.com wasn’t selling the Deluxe or Basic bundles. Availability on the Deluxe bundle varied by Walmart location, according to the website. The site didn’t list availability details for the Basic SKU, and Walmart didn’t immediately comment on that and other details about the Wii U launch. Amazon.com didn’t have any units of either SKU available directly from it Monday, only via third-party sellers at inflated prices. Toysrus.com listed the Wii U as “temporarily out of stock” Monday afternoon. It wasn’t immediately clear how supplies were at Toys R Us stores. The Wii U was advertised on the front page of Sunday ad circulars by retailers including Best Buy, Target and Toys R Us.

The Nintendo TVii application that Zach Fountain, NOA director of Network Business, had said would be available on day one of the Wii U launch in the U.S. and Canada (CED Sept 14 p8) has been delayed until December, NOA said Saturday. It didn’t say why. The Netflix streaming application was made available on day one of launch, but Hulu Plus, which had been expected to be available at launch, wasn’t. Hulu Plus will come soon, NOA said.