UK games retailers want Nintendo to revitalise Wii U sales with a fresh marketing push and a price drop.

Console sales have slowed since its December launch. Last week, it lost exclusive rights to Rayman Legends andNinja Gaiden 3, and Activision boss Bobby Kotick said the publisher is “disappointed” in Wii U’s performance so far.

In January, Wii U’s second month on sale, the console only accounted 1.6 per cent of UK game sales. In the US, Wii U has sold 38 per cent less units than its predecessor at the same stage of its own launch. 

But retailers, including members of MCV's Retail Advisory Board, have said they believe Nintendo can turn this around if the platform holder acts now.

“Wii U has not caught the public’s imagination yet,” Tesco games buying manager Jonathan Hayes told MCV.

 "We need a killer app to drive sales, and a big marketing push to clearly communicate what Wii U is all about – it will probably be better to focus on the premium edition to do this.”

Sainsbury’s games buying manager Gurdeep Hunjan added: “A new strategy needs to be communicated and launched for Easter, the school holidays, the summer holidays and beyond.”

ShopTo buyer James Rowson said: “Nintendo needs to show there’s a wide range of games available and on the horizon so consumers see Wii U as a good long-term investment.”

Indies believe a price drop would lift the Wii U, but warn that it cannot be the only solution.

“A price drop on the console or extremely competitive bundle options to encourage consumer take-up would be ideal,” said Grainger Gamers’ commercial director Simon Peck.

Nick Whitehead, founder of Xbite, added: “Both the machine and software prices are too high to compete. The price point needs looking at but this alone will not fix the issue.”

Barkman Computers’ Nick Elliot said: “Lower prices should be led by Nintendo and publishers – not left to retail to discount down to the optimum price point.”

Publisher support is a more divisive subject among stores, with debate about which companies will produce the biggest system-sellers.

“Third-party support will be vital over the coming months, especially as triple-A Nintendo launches are so infrequent,” said Games Centre MD Robert Lindsay.

Gameseek MD Stephen Staley disagrees: “I don’t think Nintendo can rely on anyone other than themselves to get the most out of Wii U. I hope they can do it.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/retail-calls-for-wii-u-price-cut-and-new-strategy/0110982

I'm afraid we ain't getting one until the summer.

Personally i hope Nintendo makes a Wii U 2.0 or something like that (redesign or slim version) and drop the price to 200 euros. That would me make me buy it very fast. Realisticly i think it will take 2 more years before that happens though.

I'm not sure about the price cut but i think we will get a re-launch of sorts or at least a new marketing push, bundles etc. but not until they have some games to back it up. i.e. not for another couple of months.

Some interesting perspective, though it should probably be noted that a lot of these people are speaking with their own profits in mind.

My guess would that Nintendo will make a big advertising push next holiday season, with a price cut/aggressive bundles and the release of more than one big title. It should be an all-new campaign to re-introduce the system to the market, hopefully focusing on the totality of the system rather than just the gamepad. The gamepad focused marketing has been a failure.

as far as i know wiiU is already sold at a loss. in order to be meaningful a price cut would have to be at least $50. ...that would be a big loss per unit and frankly it would only help out for a few week.

price cut, not an option imo.

Well, they're going to have to wait until the Fall. A price cut right now would do pretty much nothing.

Nintendo should just relaunch the console.
Iwata did right in cutting the price of 3DS when the time was right. If they can`t drop the price of Wii U - and they shouldn`t - it must do the next best thing: re-launch Wii U.

Better marketing, better advertising, change the look of the console and gamepad and if possible, although drastic, change the name of the console or presentation altogether.

If this happened at least by E3 things would get better. Although Nintendo must change and push advertising this month already to try to sell the games coming out on March and beyond.

I don't think they'll do anything until E3 at the earliest (and why should they, they have time on their side). Then they'll release Mario/Mario Kart/Zelda in a month or so (as we know they're coming) with a Basic Bundle dropped and the Premiun down to the Basic price. Then they'll really pump in the advertising. This will not only cover off the PS4 or 720 launch (which was successful with the 3DS), but it will also revitalise the system.

The question is, will companies have enough faith to wait that long?

No price cut, just more games along with more advertisement