Did Microsoft just force Nintendo's hand?

[JEMC]

S.T.A.G.E. said:

JEMC said:

Sony's strategy is not the question here.

You said that Nintendo should drop the price of the Wii U to $250 and still make a profit (something that we don't know if it's true, btw), like Sony did with the PS3 after 4 years. But what we have to remember is that Sony is (or was) willing to take heavy losses on its hardware in their first years because they could get the money back from the other sides of the company, but that's not the case with Nintendo. Nintendo needs to profit from both software and hardware to still be profitable.

Look what happened in the last 2 years: even with the 3DS being profitable and its first party games, Nintendo has lost money because of the Wii U. And that's because they followed Sony/MSoft's strategy and sold their console at a loss. Nintendo can't do that, they need every machine to be sold for a profit and get back all the money they invested on it to use that money again in the next console.

That's the point here, Nintendo needs to focus on getting back all the money they can first, and once that goal is on track, try to get back some of the lost marketshare.

The Wii U hardware is old tech and its obvious that what is holding it back in possible cost today (if at all) is the tablet. Nintendo always operates at a profit. They never take very much risk when it comes to putting their hardware together for profitability. They even profitted during the Gamecubes situation (which most companies wouldn't have coming in third). Nintendo took the risk so now they need to take some responsibility, businesswise for their marketshare. They need to market that product as best they can. I still maintain that they should drop the price down to $250 to differentiate themselves from Microsoft by $100, because outside of that tablet thats where the consoles price should be. Microsoft will drop the price again and Nintendo got knocked off by them during the holiday season rather quickly. Everyone knows the Wii U is the weakest so why doesn't Nintendo just own up to it and try to remarket themselves as the cheaper option with their own spread of games? Come on, man. Microsofts console was only $50 more expensive than the Wii U during the holiday season..and Nintendo let themselves get trampled by Microsoft. Who was actually trying...Microsoft or Nintendo? If you say Nintendo...I don't know, bro. I don't know.

Well, of course it was MSoft who was trying harder, but at this point Microsoft and Nintendo doesn't have the same goal.

Microsoft still wants to be nº 1 (at least in their homeland) so they actively pursue that goal, even if they gave to price their console much lower than they want and loss money in the process. After all, they originally entered the market to stop Sony from dominating the living room with a multimedia, multitask capable machine. But Nintendo is in the business for the money and with the Wii U being a failure, their goal is to get back all they money they can and learn from their mistakes.

Now, to be clear, I do belive that Wii U needs a pricedrop, but I don't think Nintendo will do it until they can drop the price while still profiting from the hardware. Because of that, as I said earlier in this thread, I expect them to announce a $50 price cut at E3, maybe with a redesigned (and cheaper) Wii U or GamePad.