RolStoppable said:
You are overestimating the appeal of the Wii U. This thing, at the very least, must officially be $299 with a game included. Besides, suggesting a $100 price cut in spring 2014 is more radical than my suggestion. It may only be a $50 price reduction, but this is where consumer psychology comes into play. Having a "2" as the leftmost digit makes a difference. It's basically the sole reason why Nintendo made the Basic set in the first place, but the problem with that was that it was perceived as a gimped version and thus the real price of the system was $349. On a sidenote, the Basic set must be phased out as quickly as possible. Only one hardware configuration, the only difference between SKUs from then on should be bundled games. |
But is Nintendo overestimating the appeal of the Wii U?
Their most recent system was the 3DS which failed out of the gate just the same with a lack of games and no one jumping at the gimmick. Nintendo slashed the price, released great games, and brought the system back from the dead. Meanwhile the coming competition failed even worse. After realising the Vita was a joke, they practically did a reverse price cut with the xl.
The Wii U's sales are worse, but it also has better games coming than the 3DS at this point. Nintendo could be believing they can replicate the 3DS's turn around with just software and no price cut. If the coming competition also struggles, Nintendo is in a much healthier position. If things go south this holiday and the xbone/PS4 explode, I'd wager Nintendo would do the price cut right before Mario Kart 8.
