Nintendo exec responds to Wii U limited holiday availability

Wii U supplies have been fairly limited across all the major retailers — especially the console's $349.99 Deluxe SKU — an issue which Nintendo of America executive vice president of sales and marketing Scott Moffitt addressed in a recent GamesIndustry.biz interview.

Moffitt explained that demand has indeed been high for the console, particularly for its higher-priced model, which "seems to indicate that the pricing's in a good spot and the proof is in the consumer response." He also added that despite the high demand and seemingly low supply for the console, it's still more than the company had on hand for the launch of its current-gen console.

"But I can tell you this," Moffitt said, "on opening week we will have more systems on hand for the Wii U than we did for the launch of Wii. And, second, our replenishments will be more frequent this holiday time than during the Wii launch.

"But, having said all that, it's impossible to exactly predict demand, and so I can't say that we won't have some shortages out there and that people won't have to be a little patient with the replenishment truckload and shipments and boatloads to arrive," Moffitt added.