Nah, the Wii U's ship has sunk already. More price cuts aren't gonna change it's trajectory. At this point, it's best they try and get as much profit out of it as they can, even if it's barely anything. This'll better set them up for their next system.

If the Japanese buy the PS4 over the WIi U 4+ to 1 like in the USA I don't see how they function without price cuts.

I will check into a Wii U when it drops to 199.99 and I highly doubt any sooner, if not never.

I only wish to play Bayonetta 2 and "X" so I would prefer a Pro Controller bundle @ 149.99-199.99, but if those are the only 2 appealing games for myself that's a very tough sale for them to sell me.

Einsam_Delphin said: Nah, the Wii U's ship has sunk already. More price cuts aren't gonna change it's trajectory. At this point, it's best they try and get as much profit out of it as they can, even if it's barely anything. This'll better set them up for their next system.

Im not saying dropping the price is going to all of a sudden cause it to sell amazing numbers and I agree that profit is more important than marketshare but u have to also consider they really arent pushing much software at the moment. Every single game on Wii U that has passed 1 million has been or currently is heavily bundled with the exception of Super Mario 3D World. Nintendo Land, Wind Waker HD, NSMBU, Luigi U, Wii Party U have all had more than 50% of there sales coming from bundles meaning they arent able to offset the hardware losses by profitting from software.

A few people in this thread have suggested just bundling more games along with it which I think hurts Nintendo more, if u pack 3-4 games along with the console than ur getting rid of potential software sales and they may not need to buy another game for a few months. Dropping the price in theory will increase sales which in turn will increase software sales. Lets say Wii U sells 3 million this year if it stays at $299 but if they do a price drop to $249 it sells 4 million this year, thats 1 million more people that will potentially be buying software so I think the trade off is worth it.

Also im not talking about a price cut now, im talking about September which is 7 months away so production costs will come down somewhat in that time.

Honestly, if Nintendo is dead set on not providing an optional SKU without the Gamepad, then they should just bite the bullet and lower the price to $249 in May and bundle in Mario Kart, and the same with Smash this fall.

There would be a lot of slow sing'n and flower bring'n come "fiscal earnings time" next year, but at least they'd be able to have their hit games get much better sales and more of the recognition they deserve, and allow them to sell more software in general with a bigger install base.

zorg1000 said: Einsam_Delphin said: Nah, the Wii U's ship has sunk already. More price cuts aren't gonna change it's trajectory. At this point, it's best they try and get as much profit out of it as they can, even if it's barely anything. This'll better set them up for their next system. Im not saying dropping the price is going to all of a sudden cause it to sell amazing numbers and I agree that profit is more important than marketshare but u have to also consider they really arent pushing much software at the moment. Every single game on Wii U that has passed 1 million has been or currently is heavily bundled with the exception of Super Mario 3D World. Nintendo Land, Wind Waker HD, NSMBU, Luigi U, Wii Party U have all had more than 50% of there sales coming from bundles meaning they arent able to offset the hardware losses by profitting from software. A few people in this thread have suggested just bundling more games along with it which I think hurts Nintendo more, if u pack 3-4 games along with the console than ur getting rid of potential software sales and they may not need to buy another game for a few months. Dropping the price in theory will increase sales which in turn will increase software sales. Lets say Wii U sells 3 million this year if it stays at $299 but if they do a price drop to $249 it sells 4 million this year, thats 1 million more people that will potentially be buying software so I think the trade off is worth it. Also im not talking about a price cut now, im talking about September which is 7 months away so production costs will come down somewhat in that time.

Didn't Nintendo just report more overall losses or something? If the 3DS, both hardware n software, in it's peak year, can't offset Wii U losses, then damn I don't know what can lol!

Sadly, it's just no use trying to bring sales up now. Price-cut + SM3DW + New Bundles + Advertising + Holidays, all of that had little to no long term effect on sales. Just a short little bump, but that's it. Nothing changed in the Wii U's trajectory. The same will be the case with future price-cuts, game releases, and so ons, just as with the Gamecube, only this time their handheld isn't keeping them profitable, so they can't afford frequent price-cuts. Of course this is just what I think, and Nintendo generally does not do what it is that I'm thinking! xD

fleischr said: I think it's more likely we get a $300 bundle that adds in a Pro Controller along with Gamepad -- possibly even Mario Kart 8 if Nintendo feels ambitious.

The $299 bundle does come with Pro Controller & 1 or 2 games. (Deluxe)

zorg1000 said: http://www.the-magicbox.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9151 http://articles.latimes.com/2003/nov/14/business/fi-nintendo14 It appears Gamecube was sold at a loss as well.

I could of told U that.

shikamaru317 said: It'd be nice. I'm waiting for $200 before I get one.

You can get refurbished wiius at that price at the Nintendo Store, they still are warrantied. So It may hit the $250 price tag fro new ones.

https://store.nintendo.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=212209&catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&categoryId=70706&krypto=GrjJmjV7%2Fh%2BLquzlLeEgC0pM7E9p4HRUPrBBk5noDOUhysvG4h%2BRIMfOJ2hjwRRRKRVvdQqs1rg%3D&ddkey=https:SetCurrencyPreference

shikamaru317 said: I'd say that it's plausible. Production costs for consoles go down about 15-20% each year. So they could afford to drop the price $50 later this year, and possibly another $50 late next year.

Have to sell high volumes to switch manufacturing and reduce costs.

I'd expect a cut when they sell out their first 10 million.

Kaizar said: fleischr said: I think it's more likely we get a $300 bundle that adds in a Pro Controller along with Gamepad -- possibly even Mario Kart 8 if Nintendo feels ambitious. The $299 bundle does come with Pro Controller & 1 or 2 games. (Deluxe)

No it doesnt, it comes with the Gamepad not the Pro Controller