There's been lots of speculation about a Wii U price drop. Will it happen in the coming year? How much? Is it needed? Well, if Nintendo liked its business model with a $299 basic and a $349 deluxe at a 80 yen per US dollar, the dynamic has changed now. The difference between deluxe and basic pricing is about 15%. The yen has fallen rapidly since launch to as much as 91 per dollar. That's over 13% in extra revenue from US sales. Right now Nintendo could move the deluxe model to the basic pricing with nearly the same revenue. I think if the yen continues its slide - which seems likely - Nintendo will drop the price of the deluxe Wii U package by fall. I would say a 95 yen per dollar would make it likely; a 100 yen per dollar would make it guarenteed. A $299 deluxe pack could be a very appealing proposition this Christmas if the big titles hit store shelves at at the same time. Thoughts?

They should phase out the basic and reduce the deluxe to 299 around late October for the holiday season.

Said the same thing in another thread awhile back.  Give the early adopters some ambassador games.  Sure it would admit they were a little wrong on pricing but I see little backlash if compensating the early adopters like they did with 3DS.  Investors wouldn't like a price drop but I believe it would help fuel Wii U sales and the price of their stock would eventually go back up after they realize that it is selling.

Interesting, are there any indications that the Yen might increase throughout the year? If no, then Nintendo should make a price cut and will still be ok. If on the other hand the Yen suddenly increase then Nintendo could be in some big problems. 

I expect to see a price cut by the end of the year, with the possible release of Mario Kart and 3D Mario (although knowing Nintendo the latter is probably going to get delayed), it should sell very well.

The original wii had its price for 34 months before its first price cut and that was at a time where the Yen was weaker than it was now. Any move on price between now and the next 32 months will be perceived by the market as negative. I also believe that the loss the wii U is making at 80 yen still would not cover its losses even at the Yen's current 91.

90 is a very key level, much more decrease in YEN level, we will start seeing some backslash from companies that rely on imports as well as Japanese consumers. The change has been so swift, my year end fx research from my banker is already out of whack but they have yet to issue forecast revisions. For the sake of Nintendo and Sony, let's hope we get to 95 this year.

Nintendo can credit the Yen for the price change, which would help in market perception. Also, I don't think people care that much. They abruptly dropped the 3DS price when it wasn't selling and consumers didn't say "ha! you don't have faith in your product!", they said "Woo hoo! it's cheaper now. I'm buying one!". Nintendo needs to get as much hardware in peoples hands as soon as possible so that they can sell the software, and so that 3rd parties will want to sell their software on the system. And it doesn't matter if the yen drop covers nintendo's loss per system. They are ok with the loss as they have priced it as such. The yen drop just needs to cover the drop in price of the system to maintain the revenue per system level they budgeted for, while having the benifit of moving more hardware. A 100 yen per dollar would put it at a level that would cover a 15% price drop and still generate an extra 10% revenue per system.

They will price drop by summer, book it. My guess is a $269.99-$279.99 Nintendo Land bundle. Nintendo can't make things work at a premium pricing structure, the 3DS was not a coincidence.

The PS3/360 will probably also get price reductions ahead of the fall.

@osed... currency fluctuations can be hard to predict, but Japan's new governement is trying to drop the yen as much as possible. Now, if other regions' currency also weakens it may not go further, but assuming a reasonably stable US and Europe the yen could continue to fall throughout the year. 95 or 100 is certainly possible.

@Soundwave I think if both sales and the yen continue to be weak a price drop for the deluxe to $299 could be very likely at the 6 or 9 month mark after release. Perhaps they would time it with WiiFit U and sell a bundle with the board.

True, but the point is Nintendo *could* do it without it being ruinous. And with the BOJ signalling their commitment to the LDP's 2% inflation goal, Nintendo could likely get still more wiggle room.