Nintendo not planning Wii U price cut

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said in a recent results briefing that he wanted to make it "absolutely clear" that the company is not planning a Wii U price drop.

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Nintendo's recent admission of "lower-than-expected" Wii U sales led to a downward revision of its projections, but that hasn't deterred the company from its current price point. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has now said he wants to make it "absolutely clear" that the company is not planning a price drop.

"With Wii U, we have taken a rather resolute stance in pricing it below its manufacturing cost, so we are not planning to perform a markdown," Iwata said in a results briefing. "I would like to make this point absolutely clear. We are putting our lessons from Nintendo 3DS to good use, as I have already publicly stated. However, given that it has now become clear that we have not yet fully communicated the value of our product, we will try to do so before the software lineup is enhanced and at the same time work to enrich the software lineup which could make consumers understand the appeal of Wii U."

The lessons of the 3DS were hard learned, as low sales forced a price drop that brought the sale price below the manufacturing price. It wasn't until fiscal results from the following year that Nintendo announced the 3DS had become profitable again. The Wii U sales aren't too far off Nintendo's former estimates -- 4 million this fiscal year instead of 5.5 million--and the console is already selling at a loss.

As for making the system more appealing, the company's recent Nintendo Direct conference announced new Mario and Mario Kart, Zelda, and various others in development.

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  • reply
    January 31, 2013 12:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Nintendo not planning Wii U price cut.

    Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said in a recent results briefing that he wanted to make it "absolutely clear" that the company is not planning a Wii U price drop.

    • reply
      January 31, 2013 12:11 PM

      rtrson not planning to buy Wii U at current price.

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      January 31, 2013 12:12 PM

      Hopefully they're still planning the Revision 2 hardware that doesn't require the giant day one firmware patch.

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        January 31, 2013 12:55 PM

        That patch is supposed to be preinstalled with wii u's heading to retail very shortly (like a couple of weeks IIRC).

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      January 31, 2013 12:12 PM

      That's ok, I've got no reason to buy one until Wind Waker HD comes out.

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      January 31, 2013 12:13 PM

      [deleted]

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        January 31, 2013 1:01 PM

        Just like cnn.

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        February 1, 2013 8:39 AM

        Most of the imporant WiiU news shack never reported about, pretty biased site.

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      January 31, 2013 12:46 PM

      The games just don't justify the price. I can play super mario on the wii and get almost the same experience as the Mario on the Wii U. I'm not gonna pay 300 bucks more just so I can pop platforms for my friend to jump.

      that's retarded

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        January 31, 2013 12:57 PM

        Right now I agree, hopefully what's coming out this year does at some point.

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      January 31, 2013 12:52 PM

      They should plan giving me one for free, it's the only way I'll get to play Bayonetta 2.

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      January 31, 2013 12:53 PM

      I was telling granpachook the other day that I might be interested in one of these down the line after a price drop or two. Nevermind!

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      January 31, 2013 2:05 PM

      Price cut is not the answer. Bringing in software is.

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        January 31, 2013 2:12 PM

        Wouldn't more sales of the console stimulate more development?

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          January 31, 2013 2:23 PM

          It's a chickend and egg scenario but then every console launch is. They need to market this thing better to the audience that bought the wii and bring the software that everyone who actually knows what it is wants out.

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          January 31, 2013 3:44 PM

          You and I both know that the success of a nintendo console rests firmly on the quality of the first party development.

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      January 31, 2013 3:53 PM

      ZombiU is incredible and pretty close to a system seller but only a subset of gamers will be attracted to it. I'm sure more great games are coming and I am happy with my purchase.

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        January 31, 2013 4:18 PM

        Yeah, they did a great job with it. Between that and Nintendoland with my little one it's already been worth the cost to me. Really looking forward to Wind Waker also!

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      January 31, 2013 4:59 PM

      [deleted]

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        January 31, 2013 6:46 PM

        I've stopped playing games on it, but I'm still getting use out of mine since it's such a damn good YouTube machine. For anyone that doesn't have a HTPC, it's awesome to have it work nice, fast and easily, and you can pass the gamepad around to queue up another video while the current one is playing.

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      January 31, 2013 5:06 PM

      Ive been playing mine a lot. I guess I just don't have the gaming time some do, of even than I use to. I have NSMB , ZombiU , NG3 Razors Edge, and Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper and I havent beat any of them yet, even though Im aying regularly. Oh and the Cave and Trine 2.

      I've only turned on my 360 to crush DMC in a single night. And LOL at the last time my PS3 was used for something other than a BluRay.

      I still think its a great system. Needs more games, but Im excitedfor W101 Pikmin 3 Lego City and all the other recent announcements.

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        February 2, 2013 1:58 PM

        I love my Wii U as well. It's a sweet system. I still play it on good occasion, but I'm mainly gaming on my PC these days. Really excited fro Monster Hunter Tri though.

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      January 31, 2013 5:08 PM

      Why the fuck would someone expect them to cut the price already? The damn thing just came out a few months ago. We're LUCKY if companies price cut once a year.

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      January 31, 2013 6:13 PM

      So I have no need to buy a Wii U. First off the price of the system to games doesn't work for me there is nothing out that I'm like "I have to play this game". Nintendo needs to get there heads out of there asses and start looking at the hardcore gamers again. If you wanna see great sales bring something out at launch not three to six months down the line. If I was working for Nintendo I would before even giving a launch date of the system make sure we have a killer launch line up. IE Zelda, Mario, Brawl, Metroid and a few other titles that are to me system sellser. Look and Sony and Microsoft they had Killer PS3 launch games. Yeah I've heard from friends that have the system that really like it but, for me nothing other tan a cool piece of hardware and I rather go buy myself a table for the 300-350. Sorry Nintendo no money from me just yet.

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        January 31, 2013 6:18 PM

        Show me 4 first party titles that compare in name/quality to Zelda, Mario, Brawl, and Metroid.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_launch#Titles
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_launch#United_States_launch_titles

        Both lists are pretty pathetic.

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          January 31, 2013 7:21 PM

          Completely agree.

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          January 31, 2013 10:13 PM

          I don't know what other companie's bad launch lineups has to do with Nintendo doing a better lineup. Seems to me Nintendo should launch with a better lineup so they can make more money. Just because some other company had a crappy lineup is no reason to decide to make less money.

          Nintendo is in the best position here because their system is so underpowered and not the selling point so they can afford to wait until they actually have good software to launch. Sony and MS wouldn't want to wait too long because eventually their hardware will get outdated. The wii U is already outdated so there is nothing to lose.

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