Wii U vs PS4 vs Xbox One FULL SPECS (January 24, 2014)

[Chark]

superchunk said:

MSony did drop their prices during the holidays. But it was mascaraded as holiday sales and bundles. Pretty soon here both will have a conference to introduce non-holiday related price structures as well as their hints for next-gen hardware.

Nintendo doesn't ever try to sell its hardware for a loss, so the pricing is intended to be as close to break-even or with a healthy margin at launch. 3DS of course screwed that up and as such WiiU was launched at a break-even point. (they stated a single game sell with it gives it a profit... and who doesn't buy a game with a new console)

I doubt Nintendo considered Vita when pricing the WiiU. I'm sure they only focused on other current hardware and where they think MSony will be at for their next consoles later in 2013.

It is likely we'll see WiiU go to a single sku later this year with a reduced price before MSony launch. It just makes sense, especially in US where neXtBox will do well and EU where Sony does well. Japan will likely remain with Nintendo.

Just to clarify I wasn't saying Wii U's price was based around Vita's, but PS3's price was based around Wii U's. Vita's price was a factor in 3DS's price drop and Nintendo will probably be willing to do the same if the Xbox or PS launch more powerful consoles around the same price. Granted if Wii U's sales slow like 3DS did. Still it would be in Nintendo's favor to sell cheaper than their competition having released first and having agreed upon weaker hardware. I'm just wondering if Xbox and PS are expensive $400-$500 that Nintendo will hold off any price cuts as a financial measure.

At least I think that's how they seem to price their consoles recently. Wii has always been more afordable, but I'm not sure at what profit margins. I doubt Wii was ever needing to sell at a loss. With Wii U, they obviously didn't want to do what they did with 3DS and aren't risking selling for a profit. By the time the competition comes Wii U production costs could afford a price cut but if either MS or Sony manage a cheap console or sell at a loss than Nintendo might be willing to do the same to avoid being the same price as their competitors.

Just like what the market is willing to pay for something can determine a price, so can the pricing of a competitor.

EDIT: By the way, what are the likely production cost reducing routes the Wii U hardware could take?