Reggie's got some big plans for Wii U

Nintendo of America president hints on the future of Wii U

In an interview with the Seattle Times, Nintendo of America President Reggie-Fils Aime left open the possibility of selling Wii U consoles through cable providers.

While this might seem pretty far-fetched, it's well-known that Nintendo is hoping for big things from its Nintendo TVii service, which aims to combine Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu Plus, and TiVo all into one centralized service. And although Reggie asserts that Nintendo is a game company first and foremost, the interview touched upon the possibility of selling Wii U consoles through cable TV providers.

Seattle Times: Will you sell this system through Comcast or other TV partners?

Reggie: It's certainly possible.

Seattle Times: Why didn't you just buy TiVo and go the whole DVR route?

Reggie: That's not what we do.

This strategy, which provides a service or product for a subsidized cost by requiring owners to sign contracts, is nothing new of course. Apple has been very successful with their line of phones, which they provide for a fraction of the price if you sign a two-year contract. Granted, we haven't seen Nintendo do anything like this before, but gaming stalwart Microsoft provided a similar service with their Xbox 360, which was sold at a heavily discounted price in return for subscribing to multiple years of their Xbox Live Gold service.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/10/reggie_certainly_possible_wii_u_consoles_could_be_sold_by_cable_providers

The times they are a changin' ...

If Nintendo TVii takes off it will change Nintendo forever (in a good way IMO).

I see nothing good abou becoming a generic media componant. I buy consoles to play games. I do not need them bloated with features that make them cost more even though I'm never going to use them.

If I wanted a loaded media platform, I would just buy a new PC.

Hey you guys should count yourselves lucky you get TVii! I wish we'd get it here in EU as well!!

In Canada the XBox 360 was included as a bonus when you signed a contract for television/cable/internet from Telus for several years. While I don't think that it is a strategy that will get you the most game sales per console, if you can avoid losing (too much) money by shipping systems in this way it can certainly help drive adoption.

This seems to be the next logical step as videogame consoles are faced with more and more competition in the living room from other multimedia devices and entertainment options. It's not going to happen anytime soon though, that's for sure. They'd have to ramp up production considerably to meet both standard retail demand and the potential demand from cable / network providers.

But you can bet that if M$ or Sony go this route, Nintendo will follow suit since they've already designed the Wii U to be compatible with most cable and satellite providers right out of the box.

Cable companies suck ass in USA. The only thing I let them rip me off on is internet. Might be another option for some but not for me. The last thing I want to be is in a contract with a cable company.