| bonzobanana said: So much doom and gloom on wii u but the solution for Nintendo is really just a revised smaller gamepad, a lower retail price and some value bundling of games plus some decent marketing. It is not a ps4 or xbox one and it won't sell at anywhere close to their pricing. It's really just Nintendo's entry into the last generation of consoles and should be priced accordingly. |
Slightly modifying the design of the console and lowering the price of the console won't help that much in the long-term. The tech industry has shown time and time again that if a product is desirable, people will be willing to pay top-dollar for it. If it isn't desirable, then lowering the price can only do so much and might send a message to consumers that the product is of little value. People might say they'll buy it if it's $XXX, but when it is that price, they might still say it's not low enough because it's not a product they really wanted that much anyway. Not to mention that they'll be incurring further losses.
I think the problem is, to large extent, is the Gamepad. It looks confusing to kids/casuals and stupid to hardcore gamers.
They basically have two options right now: either relaunch the system at a cheaper price without the Gamepad or try to communicate the value of the Gamepad by investing into titles that use it. If they kill the Gamepad, they make the system almost indistinguishable from the PS3 and the X360 and piss off the people who bought the Wii U with the Gamepad baecause they'll feel like they've wasted their money. If they focus on the Gamepad, they risk continuing to repel hardcore gamers and confuse kids/casuals. I think they should go for a compromise: sell the console with and without the Gamepad and invest some money into the Gamepad to communicate the value to those who bought it with the console and those who are interested (and with bundling). They can then evaluate demand and leverage shipments and their strategy from there. What thye said in their investor meeting seems to lean toward the latter option, but we still have to wait fpr E3 to see what they plan to do.
