There were a lot of rumors about the Wii U price. Most people and industry insiders expected a price in the $250 range, but Nintendo has priced the Wii U at $299 and $349. After the announced pricing, analyst Michael Pachter predicted that Nintendo would cut the Wii U price in 2013 as a response to the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft.
But Nintendo won’t. That’s according to company president Reggie Fils-Aime, who believes that the current $299 entry price offers “great value” to the consumers. In an interview right after the pricing reveal, Fils-Aime told GamesIndsutry that Nintendo doesn’t “believe in pricing a product and then having to reduce the price some short time later”.
Of course, this is exactly what happened with the 3DS in 2011, which received a price cut shortly after release. Fils-Aime acknowledges this and says it was a “very painful proposition for us”. He went on saying that Nintendo feels they have the right pricing structure with the Wii U, which offers consumers great value and makes a profit for Nintendo.
Finally, he mentioned how the Wii stayed at $249 for over three years, and that this is “consistent with our pricing philosophy”. Which means: don’t expect a Wii u price cut for a long time. Regardless of what analysts think.
Ultimately, consumers and the market will decide whether the Wii U price is correct or not. Recently, some analysts have claimed that the Wii U is priced too high for mass market. Clearly, with the 3DS, the price was too high, and Nintendo learned an important lesson. As for the gamers, not many have complained about the price. In fact, the console has sold out of pre-orders almost everywhere, which is a good sign for Nintendo.
