"We are not planning to perform a markdown. I would like to make this point absolutely clear."
- Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, notes that the Wii U will not be receiving a price drop anytime soon.
There have been murmurs online that the company may choose to drop the price of the Wii U sometime in 2013, given that the console isn't meeting sales expectations, plus the fact that the Nintendo 3DS saw a price drop under similar circumstances. Michael Pachter of analyst group Wedbush Securities also said recently that he expects Nintendo will drop the price of the Wii U in 2013.
However, as part of Nintendo's third quarter financial results briefing, Iwata explained that the console is already priced below its manufacturing cost, and that Nintendo is now "putting our lessons from Nintendo 3DS to good use."
"However," he continued, "given that it has now become clear that we have not yet fully communicated the value of our product, we will try to do so before the software lineup is enhanced and at the same time work to enrich the software lineup which could make consumers understand the appeal of Wii U."
Part of this lack of communication, says Iwata, is where the console's GamePad is concerned. The controller's potential usability has not been sold well enough to customers, he admitted, and Nintendo plans to make people more aware of what the GamePad is capable of in the future, when it comes to both games and apps.
The gamepad and its many features are the best part. It's not just a touch screen. In fact the touch screen is the part of the gamepad I use the least. The camera and mic built-on are clutch. The cost isn't really that high (iPad Mini range). However, $50-$60 software is now outdated and they don't even offer a discount on the eShop (should be half price). The retail link is what will kill game consoles. If stores can't sell the software then they won't stock the hardware (unless Nintendo raises the price quite a bit higher). In that regard though Apple devices pay for themselves and they do a lot of economic gardening by spreading the wealth to more than just a handful of developers.
True - my game is the Fire Emblem cross-over. But that doesn't come out for a while. I'm just trying to point out there are many people that are waiting for more games and system sellers. Telling us a price cut isn't happening doesn't tell help us to bite the bullet yet at all.
@ Eric Geer - I'm thinking about getting that game as well as the Batman game. Also, Tank! Tank! Tank! is not a bad game, in my opinion, but you have to be a fan of the original arcade game to enjoy that one. Of course, unlike the arcade game, Tank! Tank! Tank! for the Wii U has additional features and does take pretty good advantage of the Wii U Gamepad functions.
I think the games will communicate the idea the best. They can talk all day long about how great it is but its the consumer that needs to talk about how great they think it is as well.
Wii U is great as well as Nintendoland and Tank! Tank! Tank! :D. Epic Mickey 2 wasn't bad, but it felt rushed (as in, not enough time was put into programming the game to take a whole lot of advantage of the Wii Gamepad) and had a whole lot of problems/bugs in comparison to Epic Mickey.
I don't think the game pad is enough to drive sales. It is very meh with the current software. Until they have software, they'll continue to have poor sales. Even then, with the competition with all the general devices out there, they'll probably not sell as much as the Wii did.
I think they overestimated their ability to compete in this sector.
Day one purchase for me. It will be an expensive day--as I don't have a WiiU yet!
I think they overestimated their ability to compete in this sector.