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archbrix on 15 September 2014
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curl-6 said:
Soundwave said:

Well basically Iwata never said that the Wii U wasn't being sold at a loss. People got hold of a Japanese Q&A financial briefing and mistranslated a bunch of his answers. 

When the officially translated English version was put up by Nintendo, it turned out Iwata didn't say what people thought he did. 

Logically too ask yourself if the Wii U is making a profit, and the 3DS is making a profit (that has actually been confirmed by Iwata), then how is Nintendo still losing money pretty much every quarter like clockwork? I mean they've had some big selling games like Pokemon X/Y, 3D World, Animal Crossing, etc. so that can't be the culprit. It has to be Wii U hardware that's negatively impacting their bottom line. 

R&D seems a likely culprit; first for Wii U, then for amiibo, then for the "new 3DS", and now probably for a Wii U slim or whatever they're cooking up next.

Exactly.  The WiiU launched at $349 with about a $50 loss per unit.  Within its first year it had to have its price slashed by $50 so it stands to reason that it took until May for the system to stop incurring a loss.  The fact that they are opting for bundles this holiday instead of another price drop speaks volumes that Nintendo is going for profit right now, and a $299 Smash bundle during the holidays should move a decent amount of consoles.

If Nintendo is able to report a profit for fiscal 2014 next March/April, then it would be the perfect time for a drop to $249 - and I think that a Mario Maker bundle is the way to go.  Call me crazy; the game could certainly release to a mediocre reception, but until it does, I still maintain that Mario Maker could be WiiU's best chance at building some mass-market hype.