archbrix said:
I agree that they likely won't do it, but while I wouldn't have contested this line of thinking at all a year ago, WiiU's sales are so grim presently that losing a bit more money on the hardware in favor of moving more software may be the lesser of two evils at this point. I say this because even now at $299 the WiiU is still about one hundred smackers more than the traditional launch price for Ninty hardware. I think we can all agree that at the very least a Mario Kart 8 bundle at $299 is practically a given. The problem is that WiiU really needs a one-two punch to have a major impact. If they were to introduce a MK bundle and drop their bundle prices to $249 upon its release in May, they wouldn't need another price drop for a long, long while and hopefully the increase in software sales that would result would help to offset the losses they'd incur. |
They'd have to sell about 5 units of software to offset the loss they'd incur from the price drop alone, and they'd still need to cover what they're losing to begin with. The current brass really needs to return to profitability quickly, and especially with the 3DS release slate lacking oomph, I don't see how they're going to turn a decent profit this year with such a price cut.
As for a one two punch, I think the date of Mario Kart Wii U is so close do the date of E3 for a reason. This may be just wishful thinking, but hopefully Nintendo will have some big announcements at E3 to maintain momentum and buld on Mario Kart 8. Of course, I've been thinking "oh they're planning something..." since the Wii U launched, so I could be wrong.
