archbrix said:
Regarding the Gamecube to WiiU comparison, I honestly think price is a bigger factor than some people realize. The WiiU is still $100 more than the Gamecube launched at. While WiiU is $299 now in September of its second year, the GC was $99 in September 2003. That's a big difference for a console that has to rely on "second system" status for a lot of its sales. This is where the Gamepad really makes it a difficult situation for Nintendo, unless they want to take some pretty major losses again, which ain't happening. I think their best bet is to balance profits and price drops accordingly - ride out the holidays with their big titles (Smash along with Kart's evergreen appeal) and the introduction of amiibo, then drop to $249 in the first half of next year when they can afford to do so with zero loss, preferably with a Mario Maker bundle. Maybe it's just me but I think that game has more potential for mass-market appeal than a Wii Sports or Wii Fit is going to have today. |
Well no one is really putting a gun to Nintendo's head forcing them to continue pushing the Gamepad. They could have dropped it like MS did with Kinect for a lower price point.
That notwithstanding what people actually don't realize either is the GBA was a monster in sales in North America too, they only look at 80 million LTD but don't realize that that LTD was severely crippled by having to hand over the baton to the DS 3 1/2 years into its lifecycle. It would be like Nintendo phasing out the 3DS this year for 4DS/Fusion already, 3DS probably would finish at 55 mill LTD.
