We know that EA has suspended Wii U game development indefinitely. But I don't think that should preclude them from squeezing the most they can on the platform.

From what I can tell, EA's shipment of WiiU games was fairly small and sat on shelves for a depressingly looong time in 2013. But now the stock levels have dropped as several titles seemed to have finally sold through their shipments. Mass Effect 3 and NFS prices basically bottomed out, but now are back on the rise on Amazon. Mass Effect 3 once sold for $9, but now is sold at $15 on Amazon. Need for Speed bottomed out at $15, but now sells for over $30 on Amazon, retail copies of NFSMWU are actually getting hard to find.

Nintendo looks to have a healthier 2014, even with a chance of being competitive with other next-gen consoles if MK8, Smash Bros, and others can exceed industry and consumer expectations. Say WiiU makes a huge turnaround by holiday 2014 (improbable, but not impossible) -- what precisely would EA do? I don't think they know. They have very little sales data to work with. And with their games basically being out-of-print, they don't have much of an opportunity to find out should such a turnaround event occur.

They probably can't take the risk of developing a new game. Producing a new shipment of existing games would likely be more trouble than it's worth. But  a more aggresive eShop offering may pad EA's wallet while also giving them new insight on the WiiU's new/current userbase. Should they return to the WiiU platform (unlikely as that may seem), they deserve to know: Does the new WiiU userbase have any interest in sports games? Have Nintendo fans turned a corner in regards to their appreciation for Need for Speed or Mass Effect? A more competitive eShop offering is a profitable, logical, and basically risk-free way of finding answers to such questions.

 Here are EA's current eShop offerings:

Fifa 13 - $60

Madden 13 $60

Need for Speed $60

Mass Effect 3 -- Not Available on the Wii U eShop

Here's how I'd propose they reposition the games on the eShop.

Fifa 13 -- $15

Madden 13 -- $15

Need for Speed -- $25. Do a cross-promotion with the new NFS movie this may.

Mass Effect 3 -- $20

These are very aggresive prices, but they do match approximate retail/Amazon prices now. If they want to be even more aggresive, see if additional DLC (released on PS360, but not on WiiU) on ME3 sells at all. At the very least, they should have parity between PSN and XBL prices.

What do you think?

Why would I think about buying something they made?  All of those is half-a$$ games except for "NFS: Most Wanted".   And "NFS" is not my type of car game.

I'd never pay full price to download a full retail game. When I saw NFS still $60 on eShop, my heart stopped beating. I was clinically dead for like two minutes. Lower the price already!!

Are any games priced that low? The UK eshop has totally retarded prices all round.

Yes, they should adjust their prices on eShop titles to make them more inline with retail prices.

Out of curiosity, what are eShop prices like for 1+ year old Nintendo 1st party titles?

well said. I wont buy another EA game, at least until they let up on their NFL monoply

but none the less, they should fix those eshop prices, but knowing them, they rather it do poorly to support there cause for ditching wii-u

Nintendo's retail and eShop offerings pretty much stand firm at full retail price. The only one to get a price cut was Game & Wario. Wii Fit U is offered @ $30, but you need to buy the fit meter and balance board anyway.

Ubisoft generally has more contemporary prices. AC3 is $20. Rayman Legends is $40. But for some reason, they still sell ZombiU for $60 on the eShop.

Thanks for the info.

Is it common for Nintendo to continue selling 1+ year old titles at full price? They could probably drum up more interest in the Wii U if they dropped the price on older title.

Sixty bucks for Fifa 13?

It costs eleven dollars in Amazon!

Nintendo's own pricing is so often stuck in the past it's way past silly, but they're starting to improve.

At retail, you'll still pay $50 for Zelda : Skyward Sword and many other Wii titles from several years ago.

I find it amazing that Mario Kart Wii -- which was released in 2008, regularly charts in weekly top 75 at $40 a pop. Maybe Nintendo just knows things we don't with regards to pricing. But why they take pass on the marginal profits that can be made off laggards is still beyond me.

As for Wii U titles with a significant retail price cut, the Wonderful 101 sells at retail/Amazon for $20-30. I think it's still $60 on the eShop, but they've had some flash sales on it in the past as well. Nintendoland sells new for around $20-30 too. Seems to have helped TW101 -- it didn't have a lot interest to begin with, but now it charts regularly in the top 5 best-selling wii U games on Amazon. Given that Nintendoland is a bundled game, it's hard to say what the price cut does for its sales.

To their credit, they seem to have gotten a little more pragmatic. They give an 10% back in eShop credit if a game is purchased digitally -- but that only applies if you have the deluxe set. The redemption process for that could be improved significantly.