Topic: Should/will Nintendo follow PS4 price cut

[Ian Sane]

Sony just lowered the price of the PS4 to $350.  https://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/release/151008_e.html

So that puts it only $50 more than the Wii U's $300 price tag.  This price covers bundles too.  I look at Best Buy's site and the Uncharted bundle is at $350 so both Sony and Nintendo are offering pack-in games.

So does Nintendo cut the Wii U price now?  Of course we don't know if they actually can without taking a loss.  I also figure that "will they" and "should they" are different questions.

I want them to and I haven't shut up about that over the last several months.  They cut the price and I'll buy it.  Now that Sony has cut the price, and seemingly out of nowhere as I don't feel they needed to, I don't see how Nintendo can get away with not doing so.  It just seems like misplaced arrogance to keep the price up now, unless they really are facing serious losses if they do so.

[ClexYoshi]

of course they won't. I'm pretty sure if they could have afforded to do it, they probably would have hit that prince cut at Splatoon or at the Super Mario Maker bundle. I think they're staying the course because I don't think they want to bleed money on hardware that no ammount of price cut is going to move it in a significant manner.

I think hardware revision is in order before price cut is.

[broodwars]

"Should they?" Yes. The Wii U has been ridiculously overpriced since launch, and it's especially comical now that 2 vastly superior competing devices are only $50 more. "Will they?" Of course not. Nintendo lives in their own delusional little world where no other competing companies exist.

[Mop it up]

You're right, "should they" and "will they" are two different questions. Should they? Yes. Will they? Doubtful.

I find it kind of hard to believe that the Wii U costs so much to manufacture that they can't sell it at $249.99 or even $199.99 without taking a loss on it. Not that I know anything about what the components cost, but it just doesn't seem like anything in it should be that much. That screen can't be that much.

[Evan_B]

What's the new Mario Kart and Splatoon bundle priced at? Two games being bundled in for around 300 would essentially prove the system can be sold at a lower price, but that doesn't matter. I think Nintendo is happy screwing you out of their system, Ian, and as long as you won't buy it, then it won't be dealt the critical blow of you obliterating Nintendo's reputation by reviewing their latest slew of titles. So it's a safety measure.

[NWR_insanolord]

I think Nintendo could afford to sell it for less without taking a loss, they just don't believe a price drop would result in enough new sales to make up for the lower profit per unit.

[Enner]

Now that Sony has cut the price, and seemingly out of nowhere as I don't feel they needed to,...

The PlayStation 4 price cut is parity to the price cut in Japan. Also, the Xbox One has practically had a similar price cut since last year's holiday season. This PS4 price cut is Sony making efforts to keep their lead.

"Will they?" Of course not. Nintendo lives in their own delusional little world where no other competing companies exist.

Hey, it's unfair and mean to make assumptions on a company's mental fortitude! It is quite possible that the company is cognizant of market realities, even if they don't react in expected or desired ways!   /joking :p

I find it kind of hard to believe that the Wii U costs so much to manufacture that they can't sell it at $249.99 or even $199.99 without taking a loss on it. Not that I know anything about what the components cost, but it just doesn't seem like anything in it should be that much. That screen can't be that much.

When the Wii U Pro Controller, Xbox One Controller, or PlayStation 4 Controller cost $50+ to maintain a certain level of quality and make a profit, I don't think it too much of a leap to imagine that the Wii U at $299 might be at cost or a slim profit.

Perhaps the resistive touch screen, plastic, radio, and other parts don't cost much on their own, but whatever logistics solution Nintendo has set up is setting the GamePad's cost at ~$80-100. Also, there's however much money Nintendo put in to research & development. Then there's the system itself which is probably not cheap to make.

As for the would/should question, what difference would it make at this point? Instead of finishing 2015 with 11-12 million Wii U systems sold, it would be 12-13 million? Maybe 14 million if Nintendo is lucky? It's nice that Ian Sane would get a system if the price was cut $50+, but Nintendo has to calculate how many Ian Sanes in the world are on that fence. I just don't think there's enough people to capitalize on a price cut.

It's just not going to happen this year.
But I can definitely see it happening next year along side a Zelda U bundle. Give the beleaguered system one loud, last gasp.

[MagicCow64]

From what I've read they're still sitting on console stock from the original run, which they can't make cheaper retroactively.

I also wonder how much they could drive down the cost of new units given the small scale and the pariah status of PowerPC for consumer electronics at this point.

[Shaymin]

What's the new Mario Kart and Splatoon bundle priced at?

Since it's Europe only, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Ymeegod]

Here's an idea, drop the WII U Gamepad?  Spaltoon can easily be patched with a mini-pad same with the main OS.  So far Nintendo hasn't made a compelling case for a REASON to have to overpriced gamepad so it's long overdue they drop the damn thing.  MS dropped the Kinect 2.0 like rotten fish, Sony dropped VITA, yet Nintendo refuses to make any change with their home console?

They could have easily dropped the WII U price to $200, 2 years ago, and wouldn't be in this sorry state that they are in now.

[TOPHATANT123]

I think the story is that they still haven't gone through their initial product run on the Wii U.

[NWR_insanolord]

Here's an idea, drop the WII U Gamepad?  Spaltoon can easily be patched with a mini-pad same with the main OS.  So far Nintendo hasn't made a compelling case for a REASON to have to overpriced gamepad so it's long overdue they drop the damn thing.  MS dropped the Kinect 2.0 like rotten fish, Sony dropped VITA, yet Nintendo refuses to make any change with their home console?

They could have easily dropped the WII U price to $200, 2 years ago, and wouldn't be in this sorry state that they are in now.

Dropping the GamePad was never a real option, and it certainly isn't now. The system is dead, there's nothing they can do to turn around its fortunes, and the last thing they should be doing right now is making drastic changes that would require significant effort on their part and have virtually no chance of ever recouping their costs, let alone of making it more profitable.

[BranDonk Kong]

There's no reason to drop the price because it probably won't help sales at all, at least not enough to make up for the price difference. Wii U is not suddenly going to catch on.

[NWR_insanolord]

There's no reason to drop the price because it probably won't help sales at all, at least not enough to make up for the price difference. Wii U is not suddenly going to catch on.

Exactly this. It's not that they can't drop the price, they've just decided it's not worth it.

[Ymeegod]

As I said, 2 years ago, you know when they still had the lead and yes I would require Nintendo to put in some sort of "effort".   It's the totally opposite of what they did for the 3DS.  When the 3DS was failing, they went for an price cut and boom--sale spike.

Can't be done, please.  Games can be patched easy enough, most games wouldn't even need to.

[NWR_insanolord]

This is a completely different situation from the 3DS, in virtually every respect.

[Evan_B]

Hmm. In what ways? I mean, the 3DS was on the cusp of a huge library boost (something the Wii U is only NOW actually going to have), but it wasn't doing well.

And sweet jebas, Nintendo is STILL selling from their initial production run? They made 10 million Wii Us and thought they would be snapped up? That's just cockiness.

[NWR_insanolord]

The 3DS was earlier in its life, with far more realizable potential.
The 3DS was coming from more of a position of strength.
The 3DS had no real competition to speak of at the time.
The 3DS's "hook" was considerably more marketable.

If they wanted to really go after it and make an aggressive play to improve things for the Wii U, they're about three and a half years too late.

[Stratos]

Nintendo does notoriously well during the holiday season. If they are willing to do a price drop I wouldn't expect it until after they pass through their strong season.

[Soren]

Price cut? No!
Drop the GamePad? No!


What's next, Nintendo should just get out of the console business all together? The ultimate price cut!

[Evan_B]

If they wanted to really go after it and make an aggressive play to improve things for the Wii U, they're about three and a half years too late.

Oh, I thought we were talking about dropping the price earlier in the Wii U's life. I already knew this would never happen now.

[ShyGuy]

RAISE the price of the Wii U.

[broodwars]

RAISE the price of the Wii U.

Where do you think you are? Canada?

[Luigi Dude]

The Gamecube was down to $100 by now in it's life, had much better third party support and didn't have nearly identical handheld versions for most of it's biggest games to steal attention from it, and yet it still only ended up selling 22 million lifetime total.  The Wii U is currently at 10 million and still $300, and even without a price cut, considering this years sales are pretty similar to last years will probably end up around 12 by the end of this holiday.

If the Wii U was down to $200 by now it'd probably be closer to Gamecube levels but Gamecube level sales aren't really something Nintendo is going to be proud of either.  So to Nintendo, it's not worth the money they'd lose to cut the price when they did this in the past with a system that had a stronger presence in the home console market at the time and it didn't really do that much better.   

Especially when the Wii was able to do lightyears better then the Gamecube which I'd imagine Nintendo is expecting their next home console to just reset everything like the Wii did after the Gamecube.  Yes we can argue about how hard that is but that won't stop Nintendo from trying, hence why losing money to sell more Wii U's isn't worth it to Nintendo when in their minds the next home console has just as good a chance of being a hit no matter how the Wii U performs in the end.

[Ymeegod]

"console has just as good a chance of being a hit no matter how the Wii U performs in the end."

Doubt it, how many gamers are going lineup for the next system?  The WII was the only exception during the what 30+ years of console history.  Atari, Sega, ect.