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Forums - Nintendo - The Yen and Wii U Price

Soundwave on 25 January 2013

One of the problems with multi-SKUs is $299 doesn't really feel like a price drop because the Wii U is already advertised at that price.

Sure you can try to explain that this is the deluxe bundle, but it really doesn't excite consumers in the same way. And I think $299.99 is still too expensive, especially if PS3/360 cut their prices further. They are going to have to go even lower than that to have any big impact in sales.

A $299.99 Nintendo Land bundle doesn't light sales charts on fire IMO, especially if Sony/MS keep the 360/PS3 $80-$100 cheaper.



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TheLastStarFighter on 25 January 2013

The key is who they are battling. If it is PS360 they will always lose in the price/games content battle until Sony and MS stop supporting those systems. If the new systems launch this fall, major title support for PS360 slows down, and Nintendo launches big titles like WWHD, SuperMario3D and others, and drops the price to $299 for deluxe, suddenly there is a very good value proposition there. And ditch the basic. People want the 32gigs and the game.



Soundwave on 25 January 2013
TheLastStarFighter said:
The key is who they are battling. If it is PS360 they will always lose in the price/games content battle until Sony and MS stop supporting those systems. If the new systems launch this fall, major title support for PS360 slows down, and Nintendo launches big titles like WWHD, SuperMario3D and others, and drops the price to $299 for deluxe, suddenly there is a very good value proposition there. And ditch the basic. People want the 32gigs and the game.


Devs are going to be supporting the PS3/360 for a long time. Basically all the third party content on the Wii U will be on the PS3/360 and then some.

I also don't think Wind Waker HD is a "big" title, outside of a vocal group of Nintendo fans, you're talking about one of the lowest selling and polarizing Zelda titles, and it's a GameCube title from 10+ years ago.

It would be like Sony banking on a Jak & Daxster HD remake from the PS2 era to sell PS3s. It's a nice filler title with some nice fan service, nothing more.



TheLastStarFighter on 25 January 2013

We don't know that. PS360 will have fine support for this year...maybe next... from third parties but they will be moving on. Dragon Age 3, for example, is going next gen. And more importantly I think its safe to say that almost all 1st party content from the fall onward will be next gen. I think games like Assassin's Creed have seen their last iteration on 7th gen systems.



Soundwave on 25 January 2013
TheLastStarFighter said:
We don't know that. PS360 will have fine support for this year...maybe next... from third parties but they will be moving on. Dragon Age 3, for example, is going next gen. And more importantly I think its safe to say that almost all 1st party content from the fall onward will be next gen. I think games like Assassin's Creed have seen their last iteration on 7th gen systems.


That probably means the Wii U isn't getting Assassin's Creed then either. Because it's likely to be far closer in hardware performance to the PS3/360 than what we're hearing about the Orbis/Durango.

I think more likely what you see is developers making one version of their games for PS3/360 and maybe Wii U if the userbase picks up significantly. And Durango/PS4/high-end PCs will get certain other games.



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Train wreck on 25 January 2013
Mr Khan said:
Train wreck said:
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.

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.

 

Don't think they have any wiggle room at all and that any move would be ruinous.  Nintendo noted that they did not want to make the same pricing mistake they did with the 3DS.  The Wii U is already cheap in Japan @ 31500/26250 (instead of common 34900/29900).  The PS3 is still 24980 and that console is seven years old, had multiple revisions and Im sure Sony is making very little on it.  So im sure any price below the PS3 would be a serious hit financial wise for Nintnedo (brand new console and all).

The West is the same story.  We know the wii U is not profitable now, the current mix is more premimus than standards.  Nintendo corrected Reggie's statement and indicated you need more than one game to be profitable.  Looking at the anatomy of a $60 game, the best sceneario would be $34 dollars from nintendo first party game, $7 dollars for 3rd parties and a little bit more for digital, multiply everything by at least two.  Im looking at least $75 (over three retail games with 2 being first party) dollars, after everyone takes their cut, for the wii U to be profitable and 3rd party sales have been lackluster.  Since you cannto buy another wiipad you cant make any money on accessories on that and there is no disclosure on its current peripherals.  I dont htink the yen drop will make up that kind of number.

 



TheLastStarFighter on 25 January 2013
Train wreck 51 minutes ago
Mr Khan said:
Train wreck said:
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.

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.

Don't think they have any wiggle room at all and that any move would be ruinous. Nintendo noted that they did not want to make the same pricing mistake they did with the 3DS. The Wii U is already cheap in Japan @ 31500/26250 (instead of common 34900/29900). The PS3 is still 24980 and that console is seven years old, had multiple revisions and Im sure Sony is making very little on it. So im sure any price below the PS3 would be a serious hit financial wise for Nintnedo (brand new console and all).

The West is the same story. We know the wii U is not profitable now, the current mix is more premimus than standards. Nintendo corrected Reggie's statement and indicated you need more than one game to be profitable. Looking at the anatomy of a $60 game, the best sceneario would be $34 dollars from nintendo first party game, $7 dollars for 3rd parties and a little bit more for digital, multiply everything by at least two. Im looking at least $75 (over three retail games with 2 being first party) dollars, after everyone takes their cut, for the wii U to be profitable and 3rd party sales have been lackluster. Since you cannto buy another wiipad you cant make any money on accessories on that and there is no disclosure on its current peripherals. I dont htink the yen drop will make up that kind of number.

 

Since you're bringing up Japan I don't think you get the gyst of the topic. This isn't about Japan. It's about western markets, and the effect of a falling yen.  None of your essentially baseless calculations matter.  If a unit ships to the US and is sold at say, $349, and sells at a loss of $75 as you say, with a yen at 80 per dollar, then the scenario is different at 95 yen per dollar.  Nintendo is ok with its current WiiU loss margains.  So, to maintain those loss margains at a 95yen per dollar, the price could be redused to $293 and still have the same margian per unit.  This may be a good strategy if it means more WiiU's in people's homes. It's not about the profit from the WiiU since we know Nintendo is OK with selling at the current loss levels, whatever they are.