A new Wii U price and release date rumor coming from a games distributor suggests that Nintendo will launch the Wii U with 3 SKUs — 3 different Wii U models — at different price points. The cheapest is said to be $249, the middle at $299, and the high end model at $349. This comes from Video Product Distributors — one of the largest video game distributors in the US. In addition to price and models, Video Product Distributors claim the Wii U launch will happen on November 11, 2012. You can find a screenshot of the company’s intranet ordering system below, which clearly shows 3 different Wii U models and their prices.
Nintendo is expected to announce the Wii U price, launch date, models, bundles, and what not, on September 13 at a special Nintendo event in New York. To launch with three different models could be a bit confusing to consumers, especially since the original Wii will still be on sale. It also presents the “paradox of choice”: the more choice consumers have of a particular product, the less likely they are to buy it at all. Nintendo kept things simple with the Wii, and no console has been on the market in recent years in 3 different SKUs (not counting limited special editions). Two Wii U models/SKUs seems like the sweet spot. We’ll have to wait and see what Nintendo decides — we’ll know in exactly one week.
