Nintendo Firms Up, No Price Cut for Wii U

It was revealed that Nintendo's Wii U has moved more than 3,000,000 units worldwide. That number, however large it may seem, is smaller than what Nintendo initial forecast for the brand new console.

With all of that in mind, Nintendo firmed the company's position on the issue of a Wii U price cut following yesterday's investor briefing. It's not happening. Here's the exact wording from the briefing, bold emphasis my own.

"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. 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."

For most consumers, the current problem with the Wii U isn't necessarily its price point. $300-350 is completely reasonable for a new gaming console.

The problem with the Wii U is its software library. Specifically, Nintendo released the system into the marketplace with only a handful of banner titles. They don't plan to support the machine with a first party title again until March. That's nearly four months between first party releases on a brand new system, and that's rather unacceptable in today's gaming market.

They know this is a problem. They even apologized for it in their most recent Nintendo Direct presentation. Hopefully the system will see loads more traction once the banner titles announced during that presentation release. I assume it will.

Nothing sells Nintendo machines quite like Mario, Zelda and Smash Bros.

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