GameStop sold 320,000 Wii U consoles in six weeks

Global retail giant GameStop has announced sales of 320,000 Wii U consoles over the Christmas season.

GameStop's sales report includes the nine weeks leading up to 29th December last year, although Wii U sales will only cover the six weeks since the US launch on 18th November, and then in Europe and Australia since the 30th.

GameStop revealed global sales for the holiday period as $2.8 billion (£1.7bn), down slightly on the year before. It described these figures as a "mixed result", but claimed the Wii U launch was "successful".

While these figures are but a portion of the overall number of Wii U consoles sold during this period, it is interesting to note the amount considering GameStop's global reach.

The chain has around 6700 stores in North America, Europe and Australia, where it trades online and on the high street under a number of guises. In Australia it is market leader EB Games, in France it is Micromania.

Nintendo announced 425,000 Wii U consoles were sold in the US during its first week, although has since remained quiet on any further milestones. Whether the company can maintain a healthy level of sales will be the console's true test. Monthly sales information, expected from NPD in the coming days, will likely shed more light on the matter.

In Japan, where hardware sales are handily disclosed each week, Wii U had sold 638,339 units in its first three weeks.

Nintendo has previously set an ambitious target of 5.5 million Wii U consoles shipped by the end of March - although that number is the amount it wants to sell to retailers, not actually bought by consumers.