According to an interview with computerandvideogames.com, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter claims that the Wii U "must be priced below $300 to succeed, in my opinion, and best at $249 or less." Pachter went on to say that, "Nintendo is intent upon repeating their success with the Wii...While I agree that the Wii U controller is sufficiently novel and different from traditional controllers, I am not sure that there is a killer app that will drive Wii U adoption the way Wii Sports did for the Wii."
This is unfortunate, especially with the news that in certain areas, the Wii U will reportedly be sold for more than the hopeful $300. Online reatailer ShopTo recently listed its pricing for the console as £279.99, approximately $435. Games for the console like ZombiU and Assassin's Creed 3 are listed as slightly higher than average, retailing for £39.99 ($62), about $3 more than the average new game.
But this is likely a guestimation on the retailer's part. Nintendo itself hasn't released an exact figure. However, during E3 last week, Nintendo's global president Satoru Iwata pegged the figure at more than 20,000 yen, the equivalant of $250, saying only "This is not going to be cheap." Granted, "cheap" is a relative term. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime also uses the $250 amount as a benchmark of sorts. Comparing the Wii U launch price to other consoles at launch, Reggie thinks that people will be pleasantly surprised. "Nintendo believes in being a mass market product, so unlike our competitors when they've launched historical systems to maybe start at a really high price and work their way down, we don't believe in that...We want to launch at a price that's going to represent an ongoing great value...You look at the Wii. Wii stayed at $250 for a really long time, and so we're going to give that same level of thought to the Wii U."
Hopefully Nintendo has something up its sleeve, because stockholders are getting scared. Nintendo recently reported an annual loss for the first time in the company's public history. In May, Nintendo was facing a loss of over $500 million, and a 36% drop in sales. Ironically, what analysts say the Wii U will need to succed is the very same thing credited towards Nintendo's recent loss: price cuts. Nintendo reduced prices in an attempt to generate sales, but too little too late. After what analysts considered a paltry showing at E3, the company's share price sunk three days in a row. Nintendo contends it can pick up sales, forecasting sales of over 10 million units for the Wii and Wii U combined.
But this will only be achieved if Wii U has a decent library when it launches. 36 games are confirmed so far, but while Wii U will be getting new and exclusive takes with Pikmin 3, New Super Mario Bros., and ZombiU, it's also getting ports that will make, and have already made the rounds, like Mass Effect 3, Batman: Arkham City, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2. While this should appeal to the "hardcore gamer" demographic (Black Ops could help winkwinknudgenudge) , Nintendo is coming a little late to the party. Both Batman and Mass Effect have been out for over 6 months, and save for the play mechanics with the controller, Nintendo, as of yet, has little if anything "new" to bring to the games. And even more fans are planning to hold out on purchasing until Nintendo announces plans for new additions to the Metroid or Legend of Zelda franchises.
Hopefully Nintendo will give us something more to go on, including a launch date and price. Nintendo's Wii U is set to launch this holiday season.
