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Forums - Nintendo - Why Nintendo won't drop the price of Wii U this year

Cold-Flipper on 20 June 2013
TheLastStarFighter said:

Nah, what I was saying is the 3DS is ideally designed and Nintendo has just about everything going for it in the handheld market, while their competition is challenged.  PSP put up a fight, but when Nintnedo dropped the price and secured MH4 exclusivity, the battle was done for Vita, at least in Japan.

With home consoles, Nintendo is in a much less favorable position with much tougher competition.  A price drop and a 3rd party exclusive wouldn't (necessarily) have the same effect.  XBOx and PS are stronger brands at home, and Wii U already has a price advantage that may or may not be a factor.  3rd parties are a bigger factor at home.  THe demographic is older.  THere are lots of differences between the home and handheld markets.

Well, honestly speaking, Nintendo has much bigger series than any other publisher out there including Sony & Microsoft. Nintendo could do very well in both markets with 3rd party support. I disagree about Monster Hunter being Sony's only shot because the PSP sold 75 Million which is a great accomplishment. I do agree that Nintendo all but wins because Sony just chooses not to support Vita for whatever reason. They don't even care themselves.



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zorg1000 on 20 June 2013
Cold-Flipper said:
TheLastStarFighter said:

Nah, what I was saying is the 3DS is ideally designed and Nintendo has just about everything going for it in the handheld market, while their competition is challenged.  PSP put up a fight, but when Nintnedo dropped the price and secured MH4 exclusivity, the battle was done for Vita, at least in Japan.

With home consoles, Nintendo is in a much less favorable position with much tougher competition.  A price drop and a 3rd party exclusive wouldn't (necessarily) have the same effect.  XBOx and PS are stronger brands at home, and Wii U already has a price advantage that may or may not be a factor.  3rd parties are a bigger factor at home.  THe demographic is older.  THere are lots of differences between the home and handheld markets.

Well, honestly speaking, Nintendo has much bigger series than any other publisher out there including Sony & Microsoft. Nintendo could do very well in both markets with 3rd party support. I disagree about Monster Hunter being Sony's only shot because the PSP sold 75 Million which is a great accomplishment. I do agree that Nintendo all but wins because Sony just chooses not to support Vita for whatever reason. They don't even care themselves.

Ya while Monster Hunter was possibly PSP biggest hit, it also had exclusive Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto, Gran Turismo that helped it sell very well. Those are the type of games Vita needs, Uncharted, Assassins Creed and Call of Duty are a good start but it needs more.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

DevilRising on 21 June 2013
Desertghost said:

Do you really think 3D World will have that much of an impact? I'm sorry but I dont see anything Nintendo can do to turn this around. Sadly the Wii U will just keep selling the way is selling now, maybe get a little better for a couple of months every time they lunch a big hitter, something like the Vita but that's it. Sorry but Wii U and Vita are just too materializations of mistake.


I'll quote you on this, this time next year, when Nintendo's sales are doing fine, and either the PS4 and/or Xbox One are experiencing slow sales.



Soundwave on 21 June 2013

The SNES, N64, and GameCube all had price cuts within the first year. So did the DS and 3DS.

The Wii is really the anomaly actually, but the Wii sold at a rate its first few years that we probably will never see again in the console business.

At bare minimum, I'd expect Nintendo to take the $299.99 Wii U model, and throw in 24GB extra flash RAM + a copy of Nintendo Land (which probably paid off its modest dev costs already) ... as a raw "cost" to Nintendo this is only maybe an extra $1-$2 at the manufacturing level for a small bump in flash RAM and another 50 cents for a Nintendo Land disc.

Also factor in that over a year, the Wii U components will have come down in price, I can see a 32GB Nintendo Land bundle for $279.99 this holiday.

Throw in a special holiday promotion, like say a free Zelda: Wind Waker HD download for people who buy the system before the end of January say (holiday shoppers) and voila -- that's a nice bundle that probably doesn't incur Nintendo too bad of a loss and gets the system into more homes so they can actually make money from software (which is the whole point).

Zelda: WWHD is just an HD up-port so gifting that away for free over the holidays doesn't sting too much either, especially if it means more people to sell Mario 3D World and DKC: Tropical Freeze to.

$279.99 Wii U w/Nintendo Land (32GB) in White or Black with free Zelda: The Wind Waker HD download through the holiday season ... that's a good bundle at a decent price.



Zero999 on 21 June 2013
Gamerace said:
I disagree with the logic of the OP. WiiU is getting crushed in sales by PS360 and if they get a price cut when the new systems launch (likely) they'll crush WiiU even more unless it gets a price cut as well.

Yes, great Nintendo games will bring in Nintendo fans but if Nintendo wants to expand beyond that limited base, they need the casuals or the core. The system is too pricey for casuals (and with cheap Android systems soon to flood the market will seem even more expensive to this audience) while offering too little for them (WiiU Party and a couple Mario side scrollers being the only titles they will probably notice). Price needs to drop to $250 (for the deluxe with pack-in game) for real success here.
Core is even worse. For core they need massive 3rd party support and more-over 3rd party exclusives. None of that will happen without vastly increased WiiU sales. They won't be any massive increase (aside from normal holiday increase) unless there's a significant price drop.

However I've given up all hope of predicting what Nintendo will do. Maybe they'll chance it with the higher price rather than take a loss and if it's still dead in the water come early 2014 they'll begin readying a replacement for 2016 and live off 3DS for the meantime, kinda like GC days.

You people need to stop this ARROGANT attitude that thinks nintendo's only chance is being WAY cheaper. Wii u, PS4 and Xone are all equal competitors no matter how much you try to undermine wii u. Price helps but the deciding factor are the GAMES so just keep quiet and see how each console does in the market.



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Osc89 on 21 June 2013
Zero999 said:
Gamerace said:
I disagree with the logic of the OP. WiiU is getting crushed in sales by PS360 and if they get a price cut when the new systems launch (likely) they'll crush WiiU even more unless it gets a price cut as well.

Yes, great Nintendo games will bring in Nintendo fans but if Nintendo wants to expand beyond that limited base, they need the casuals or the core. The system is too pricey for casuals (and with cheap Android systems soon to flood the market will seem even more expensive to this audience) while offering too little for them (WiiU Party and a couple Mario side scrollers being the only titles they will probably notice). Price needs to drop to $250 (for the deluxe with pack-in game) for real success here.
Core is even worse. For core they need massive 3rd party support and more-over 3rd party exclusives. None of that will happen without vastly increased WiiU sales. They won't be any massive increase (aside from normal holiday increase) unless there's a significant price drop.

However I've given up all hope of predicting what Nintendo will do. Maybe they'll chance it with the higher price rather than take a loss and if it's still dead in the water come early 2014 they'll begin readying a replacement for 2016 and live off 3DS for the meantime, kinda like GC days.

You people need to stop this ARROGANT attitude that thinks nintendo's only chance is being WAY cheaper. Wii u, PS4 and Xone are all equal competitors no matter how much you try to undermine wii u. Price helps but the deciding factor are the GAMES so just keep quiet and see how each console does in the market.


Yes games are the deciding factor, but publishers aren't giving the Wii U any more games until sales are up. So right now the only chance they have is to be way cheaper.



PSN: Osc89

NNID: Oscar89

Zero999 on 21 June 2013
Osc89 said:
Zero999 said:
Gamerace said:
I disagree with the logic of the OP. WiiU is getting crushed in sales by PS360 and if they get a price cut when the new systems launch (likely) they'll crush WiiU even more unless it gets a price cut as well.

Yes, great Nintendo games will bring in Nintendo fans but if Nintendo wants to expand beyond that limited base, they need the casuals or the core. The system is too pricey for casuals (and with cheap Android systems soon to flood the market will seem even more expensive to this audience) while offering too little for them (WiiU Party and a couple Mario side scrollers being the only titles they will probably notice). Price needs to drop to $250 (for the deluxe with pack-in game) for real success here.
Core is even worse. For core they need massive 3rd party support and more-over 3rd party exclusives. None of that will happen without vastly increased WiiU sales. They won't be any massive increase (aside from normal holiday increase) unless there's a significant price drop.

However I've given up all hope of predicting what Nintendo will do. Maybe they'll chance it with the higher price rather than take a loss and if it's still dead in the water come early 2014 they'll begin readying a replacement for 2016 and live off 3DS for the meantime, kinda like GC days.

You people need to stop this ARROGANT attitude that thinks nintendo's only chance is being WAY cheaper. Wii u, PS4 and Xone are all equal competitors no matter how much you try to undermine wii u. Price helps but the deciding factor are the GAMES so just keep quiet and see how each console does in the market.


Yes games are the deciding factor, but publishers aren't giving the Wii U any more games until sales are up. So right now the only chance they have is to be way cheaper.

If you think next gen only (no ps360 version) multis can pay thenselves on the Ps4 and Xone launch install base you'll be dissapointed. publishers will put heir games on wii u because they have to.



Osc89 on 21 June 2013
Zero999 said:
Osc89 said:
Zero999 said:
You people need to stop this ARROGANT attitude that thinks nintendo's only chance is being WAY cheaper. Wii u, PS4 and Xone are all equal competitors no matter how much you try to undermine wii u. Price helps but the deciding factor are the GAMES so just keep quiet and see how each console does in the market.

 


Yes games are the deciding factor, but publishers aren't giving the Wii U any more games until sales are up. So right now the only chance they have is to be way cheaper.

If you think next gen only (no ps360 version) multis can pay thenselves on the Ps4 and Xone launch install base you'll be dissapointed. publishers will put heir games on wii u because they have to.


Are there any games that are next-gen only multiplats that include the Wii U? So far, everything seems to be either only PS4 & XB1 or cross-gen. This seems to be because if you bother making a Wii U version, you might as well make a PS360 version due to the similarity in power.



PSN: Osc89

NNID: Oscar89

Zero999 on 22 June 2013
Osc89 said:
Zero999 said:
Osc89 said:
Zero999 said:
You people need to stop this ARROGANT attitude that thinks nintendo's only chance is being WAY cheaper. Wii u, PS4 and Xone are all equal competitors no matter how much you try to undermine wii u. Price helps but the deciding factor are the GAMES so just keep quiet and see how each console does in the market.

 


Yes games are the deciding factor, but publishers aren't giving the Wii U any more games until sales are up. So right now the only chance they have is to be way cheaper.

If you think next gen only (no ps360 version) multis can pay thenselves on the Ps4 and Xone launch install base you'll be dissapointed. publishers will put heir games on wii u because they have to.


Are there any games that are next-gen only multiplats that include the Wii U? So far, everything seems to be either only PS4 & XB1 or cross-gen. This seems to be because if you bother making a Wii U version, you might as well make a PS360 version due to the similarity in power.

let's see how long that lasts. if last gen games need more than 1M sales to break even do you think they'll make it on Ps4 and Xone small installed bases?

about your last statement: haters gonna hate. good luck trying to get Curé Syndrome.



flagstaad on 22 June 2013
zorg1000 said:
I think we could see better value bundles but at thr same price, meaning Deluxe goes down to $299 and release bundles at $349. Some possible bundles being

Deluxe w/NSMBU+Wiimote-$349

Deluxe w/Wii Fit+Balance Board-$349

Deluxe w/COD+Pro Controller-$349

So a true price cut isnt really necessary since there will be plenty of holiday deals/bundles.

This is also my solution, remove the Basic nobody is buying that thing, put deluxe WITHOUT games at $299, and create some bundles.

I would change the bundles proposed by Zorg 1000 and/or raise their price a little, to $359, like this:

Deluxe w/NSMBU+Wiimote plus -$359

Deluxe w/COD+Pro Controller-$359

Deluxe w/Pikmin 3+Pro Controller-$359

That will attract a lot of people.