GameFly: Game and Wario June 30th NA

[TheLastStarFighter]

Cheebee said:

TheLastStarFighter said:

Pavolink said:

Cheebee said:

Nah, they'll release MarioKart and the new 3D Mario this holiday, for sure. They said those games will be playable at E3, and that WWHD would be a fall release. Besides, with both PS4 and the next Xbox (likely) releasing in Q4, they can't afford NOT to have both Mario and Mariokart out by then, in addition to all the other big (but less important) games that will be out by then, like aforementioned Wario, WiiU Fit, WiiU Party and Pikmin 3. Plus, Iwata said they have WiiU games in the pipeline for release in 2013 that they haven't announced yet. Retro's game would be nice, too.

Maybe, and I wouldn't rule out a price cut, maybe something like 299 for the premium with big games like Mario 3D and MK along with third parties like WatchDogs, ACIV and COD. Sometimes I think they want to mirror the 3DS holiday 2011 this year.

But rumors like the release date for Game and Wario just make me shake my head and ask what is Nintendo doing and what was the point to release a console if there wasn't enough software.

Just two more weeks to see the new release schedule.

I think without question they want to mirror 3DS 2011. If they are able to do that, they will be very pleased. 30 million sold in a couple years?

Obviously they'd want that, but I doubt they could afford to. 3DS was losing a modest amount of money, but with WiiU Nintendo ar making a significant loss on each unit sold. According to them, they'd need to sell 'more than one' game with every WiiU to break even. That means a loss between 50-100 Dollars, most likely. At the end of this year, that number might have gone down a bit, but there's no way they'll be close to breaking even, let alone make a profit.

Would they then want to cut price even more, increasing their losses? I doubt it, especially since by then, WiiU will have a solid library, including some veritable system sellers, plus its competitors will be out, with far heftier pricetags, making WiiU look appealing and pretty cheap in comparison.

Actually, analysis of the chipset in the WiiU suggests that the custom unit would probably come down rapidly in cost year over year.  Let's assume a 20% savings from launch last year to Christmas 2013.  Losses per system will probably be greatly reduced by then - it's one of the advantages of launching first.  Sony used it well on both PS1&2, getting the costs down before competitors and reducing price.  Then you look at the massive change in the yen vs Euro and US dollar.  Launch assumed 80yen per US$, it's now pushing 100.  That's a 25% gain in revenue per system sold in foreign markets.  Combining those two factors, Nintendo could possibly slash the Wii U price by 25% ($75) and maintain even better margins than at launch, or better yet, cut the system by $50 and make a profit on each unit sold.  The weak yen makes it much easier for Nintendo to slash prices than it was when the 3DS was in the same situation.

I think we can expect a price drop in the fall on Wii U to a $249-$299 range, or perhaps a dropping of the basic model (which probably had the worst margins) and new bundles.  Nintendo can then also copy 3DS strategy by launching the now-ready Super Mario U and MarioKart U, and the WindWaker HD (SM3DL, MK7, OoT3D anyone?).

I wouldn't expect it to turn Wii U into the dominant presence that 3DS is, but I would expect a massive jump in sales and a product that is very appealing to a lot of customers when compared with what will likely be more expensive new systems from MS and Sony that also have somewhat limited libraries (Vita?).