No Wii U price cut

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says company has no plans to reduce price of new system; Google StreetView, TiVo delayed.

 

Gamers holding out for a Wii U price cut are out of luck. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said during a recent financial call that due to the system being sold at a loss, a price cut is off the table.

"With Wii U, we have taken a rather resolute stance in pricing it below its manufacturing cost, so we are not planning to perform a markdown," he said. "I would like to make this point absolutely clear."

Iwata also admitted that Nintendo has not done the best job communicating "the value of our product." The executive said Nintendo will try to correct this before it launches upcoming marquee Wii U titles like Mario Kart and Zelda, among others.

Iwata added that unlike the original Wii, consumers have had difficulty instantly understanding the appeal of Wii U. He said those who have purchased a Wii U have shown a "certain degree of satisfaction" with the system, but this has not yet spread to the wider gamer populace.

"But since its value by nature is something that takes time to appreciate and hence cannot be spread amongst society instantly, we have yet to communicate its value to the wider public," he said. "To put it another way, we delivered Wii U to those consumers who we thought would be the first to buy it, but information has not successfully been passed on to those consumers who we think will be the next people to buy it. This must be one big factor with which Wii U could not maintain its momentum."

Also during the call Iwata confirmed that Google StreetView compatibility for Wii U has been delayed. To be titled "Wii Street U," the service was announced in December and was expected to launch this month. It is now targeted to release in mid-February so Nintendo can spend "more time on final development work."

Another service yet to launch for Wii U is TiVo. Previously targeted to launch in January, Nintendo has confirmed with Polygon that the feature will not release until later this year.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot


"No Wii U price cut" was posted by Eddie Makuch on Thu, 31 Jan 2013 06:35:16 -0800
Filed under: Video Games

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