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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Wii U to be priced at $299?

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archbrix on 29 February 2012

I've always stood by $299-$349 but kind of figured the latter because of holiday demand, leaving room for a price drop, etc.

However, I definitely thought $299 was the better price point for it market-wise, even if sold at a small loss; few people will buy WiiU without picking up a first-party Nintendo game for it (assuming there is at least one launch gem), and if they can remain profitable or at least break even with this strategy they'll prosper nicely in the long run and sell a ton of consoles.



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NightDragon83 on 29 February 2012
RolStoppable said:
$299/€299 is the most they can aim for, if they want this thing to be successful. Kinda surprised though that it's supposed to be only 20,000 yen. That's really cheap for a new home console.

I hope they include a Wiimote and Nunchuk with each system, otherwise the Wii spirit will die completely. Third party developers won't necessarily support controllers that not every Wii U owner is guaranteed to have, this goes especially for singleplayer games.

Why?  Their entire focus with the Wii U is centered on the new tablet controller, as will be the vast majority of software that is released for it.  And the Wii U's primary audience already owns multiple Wiimotes / nunchucks so it's not really necessary.  Besides, Nintendo makes a good chunk of their change forcing people to buy more controllers / peripherals seperately, so there's no way they'd pack multiple controllers in with the system, especially if their aiming for the $299 price tag.



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

poroporo on 29 February 2012
NightDragon83 said:
RolStoppable said:
$299/€299 is the most they can aim for, if they want this thing to be successful. Kinda surprised though that it's supposed to be only 20,000 yen. That's really cheap for a new home console.

I hope they include a Wiimote and Nunchuk with each system, otherwise the Wii spirit will die completely. Third party developers won't necessarily support controllers that not every Wii U owner is guaranteed to have, this goes especially for singleplayer games.

Why?  Their entire focus with the Wii U is centered on the new tablet controller, as will be the vast majority of software that is released for it.  And the Wii U's primary audience already owns multiple Wiimotes / nunchucks so it's not really necessary.  Besides, Nintendo makes a good chunk of their change forcing people to buy more controllers / peripherals seperately, so there's no way they'd pack multiple controllers in with the system, especially if their aiming for the $299 price tag.

This. Wii U buyers most likely own a million wii accessories.



Mr Khan on 29 February 2012
superchunk said:
The yen price is wrong, definitely..

Wii launched at 25,000Y and they need the yen profit to make up for weak dollar/euro. Nintendo nearly always has the yen to dollar price in a in a *100 scenario. So if WiiU is $300, then it will be 30,000Y.

Example, 3DS launched at $250/25,000Y now its $170/15,000Y. If they do similar to 3DS pricing, then I think at best we'll see a 25,000Y launch. Definitely no where near 20,000Y if its $300 in US.

The Yen is weakening, too (and the dollar/euro/sterling thus strengthening by comparison), which makes them pricing it so far under make less sense.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

Khuutra on 29 February 2012
RolStoppable said:

The Wii U's primary audience will be people who don't want to play with the Wiimote/Nunchuk and if the vast majority of software is tailored to the Wii U controller, then there's not much of a reason to buy the system for the people who like the Wiimote/Nunchuk.

I'm just going to stare at this, out of the context of the rest of your post. Just gonna let it roll around in my mind a while.



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NightDragon83 on 29 February 2012
Khuutra said:
RolStoppable said:

The Wii U's primary audience will be people who don't want to play with the Wiimote/Nunchuk and if the vast majority of software is tailored to the Wii U controller, then there's not much of a reason to buy the system for the people who like the Wiimote/Nunchuk.

I'm just going to stare at this, out of the context of the rest of your post. Just gonna let it roll around in my mind a while.

I was doing the exact same thing for about 2 minutes straight before scrolling down to your post lol.  I really can't tell if Rol was just being Rol here or not.



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

VGKing on 29 February 2012

That site doesn't seem very reliable.

The price point is most likely true. It won't fly off shelves at $300 though.
I think $250 is the perfect price point for a Nintendo console.



NightDragon83 on 29 February 2012
RolStoppable said:
Khuutra said:
RolStoppable said:

The Wii U's primary audience will be people who don't want to play with the Wiimote/Nunchuk and if the vast majority of software is tailored to the Wii U controller, then there's not much of a reason to buy the system for the people who like the Wiimote/Nunchuk.

I'm just going to stare at this, out of the context of the rest of your post. Just gonna let it roll around in my mind a while.

Perhaps it's easier to read if the first half is switched around. Like this:

If the vast majority of software is tailored to the Wii U controller, then the Wii U's primary audience will be people who don't want to play with the Wiimote/Nunchuk and then there's not much of a reason to buy the system for the people who do like the Wiimote/Nunchuk.

Because the starting point is that the vast majority of the software will be designed around the tablet controller and ultimately it's the software that determines the audience that buys a system. You know, like on the 3DS where pretty much everything was designed around stereoscopic 3D which led to games using 3D gameplay. People who like that kind of gameplay bought the system, others did not (and the DS library wasn't defined by 3D gameplay titles).

Rol my friend, I think you need a bit of a refresher on the Wii U.  Watch this E3 trailer again, and then tell me who the Wii U is tailored for...

Hint:  it ain't the non-Wiimote / Nunchuk crowd!



On 2/24/13, MB1025 said:
You know I was always wondering why no one ever used the dollar sign for $ony, but then I realized they have no money so it would be pointless.

Shadowfest3 on 29 February 2012

As much as I would love for this to be true and if it is then I'm onboard. However, until there is an official annoucement from Nintendo concerning the price then I hestitate to get excited by this.



superchunk on 29 February 2012

@ those arguing about a wiimote/nunchuk in the box.

Its going to happen. It costs Nintendo probably less than $10 to produce a wiimote/nunchuk combo. It will have plenty of games with multiple control options and will help push multiplayer in the built-in game that will include those tech games from the E3 demos.

There will be a new console, new tablet controller, game to push hardware similar to how Wii sports worked, wiimote/nunchuk.