Wii U To Sell 7 Million, Won't Replicate Wii Success - Pachter

Nintendo’s Wii U will ‘comfortably’ sell 7 million units by next March but will struggle to capture the same sort of audience as the Wii, that’s what Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter believes.

Speaking exclusively to NowGamer, Pachter explained that although Nintendo has a great deal of fans which will account for an initial sales spike when the system launches, the Wii U won’t see the same growth as the original Wii because it doesn’t have the same mass appeal. 

“I think [Nintendo] have about three and a half months of production by Christmas, they have another six months by the time their fiscal year ends,” explained Pachter. “They’re going to make 7.2 or 7.5 million units and it takes a little bit of time to get to market, so you’re talking about 7 million Wii U's selling by March. And there’s absolutely demand for that many.”

“I’m very comfortable it will sell out over six months,” continued Pachter, “but once they satisfy the hardcore Nintendo fans I don’t think the masses are going to respond to it as eagerly as they did with the Wii, so I don’t think the Wii U will sell anywhere near what the Wii sold. Once it sells its first 7 million or so it’ll probably sell about 10 million or so a year. Which is fine and Nintendo will make money.”

Wii U launches in the US on 18 November, following in the UK on 30 November.