Wii U Still Selling Below Cost

[Karloff]

Wii U Still Selling Below Cost

Iwata really wants to return to Nintendo-like profits.

"In this first half of the term before the launch of the Wii U, we were not able to make a profit on software for the system while we had to book a loss on the hardware," said Satoru Iwata way back in 2012, "which is currently in production and will be sold below cost." Trouble is, the Wii U really hasn't sold that well since Iwata made that statement, which means that if you were hoping for a price drop as the other new consoles come on the market, forget it. Nintendo's still selling its next generation console at a loss, and while Satoru Iwata would dearly love to return to "'Nintendo-like' profits" in the coming fiscal year, price drops aren't on Nintendo's agenda.

Back when Iwata first announced that the Wii U would sell at a loss, Reggie Fils-Amie was confident that this hardware sales loss was a temporary problem. "In the end, the business model is still to drive the install base of hardware, and then to drive a strong tie ratio with all of the other software and experiences for the consumer," said he. everything it can to support the Wii U [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121778-Wii-U-Sales-Forecast-Cut] is a boost, and there may be more good news on the way yet.

But if you were thinking that a price drop was the way to go, it's not happening. Not while the console still can't recoup its costs.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-08-07-nintendo-still-selling-wii-u-at-a-loss]


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[Roxas1359]

Well damn, I would love to have a price drop on the thing. I'm still getting a Wii U probably this month or next, but a price drop on the Deluxe would've be nice, or an even better thing would be to allow the games to be region free.
...a man can dream of a region free Nintendo can't he?

 

[Morsomk_v1legacy]

Well I would love to get the price on the Deluxe lowered. Even if that happened in America, no way it would happen in Iceland, so either way I'm boned and I'm still forced to pay more for the price of games and consoles then other countries, go figure.

For those who are interested, lets go check out the price of a Wii U Deluxe Edition at...lets say Gamestop...350 Dollars. Not bad, not bad. Well I don't exactly know if that is bad or not considering I'm living in Iceland with different currency and such. But lets check out the price of a Wii U at one of the stores in Iceland. It costs...78 Thousand ISK and if we converted that to the dollar, then that would be 662 dollars.

So yeah. The cost of Wii U is almost double for me here then it is for people in the States. Goddamit I love hate being a gamer in Iceland. Not even going to mention the cost of the games. But hey, you take what you get and just keep on loving Nintendo Games.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

I just want to point out, that the Article is written horribly, and it's filled with inconsistencies.

Regardless, I knew it wasn't really going to get a price cut any time soon.

 

[Teoes]

Well I would love to get the price on the Deluxe lowered. Even if that happened in America, no way it would happen in Iceland, so either way I'm boned and I'm still forced to pay more for the price of games and consoles then other countries, go figure.

For those who are interested, lets go check out the price of a Wii U Deluxe Edition at...lets say Gamestop...350 Dollars. Not bad, not bad. Well I don't exactly know if that is bad or not considering I'm living in Iceland with different currency and such. But lets check out the price of a Wii U at one of the stores in Iceland. It costs...78 Thousand ISK and if we converted that to the dollar, then that would be 662 dollars.

So yeah. The cost of Wii U is almost double for me here then it is for people in the States. Goddamit I love hate being a gamer in Iceland. Not even going to mention the cost of the games. But hey, you take what you get and just keep on loving Nintendo Games.

In the UK we seem to be knocking up towards $400 give or take for a Wii-U but that's a bit nuts. I wonder if I'll ever buy another console..

 

[Morsomk_v1legacy]

In the UK we seem to be knocking up towards $400 give or take for a Wii-U but that's a bit nuts. I wonder if I'll ever buy another console..

It's kinda interesting being a gamer in Iceland, most of the flock decide to only buy second hand copies of games because its way cheaper. I'm not that sort of fella cause I like to buy brand spanking new games and keeping them. So I've gotten into this mindset that I have to be careful into my buying decisions, meaning I don't buy every game that the masses scream out that it's a "Masterpiece".

I'm also boycotting the stores that sell videogames in Iceland cause its only one company that buys the games in huge quantities, meaning that it's basically a Monopoly for games here. That's why they've jacked the prices to such a ridiculous standards.

So yeah, being a gamer in Iceland is quite interesting on the account that it's not as mainstream as its in the states. Also did I forget to mention that we don't get online support for consoles? And sometimes on the PC aswell?

 

[Dragonbums]

It's not like we as gamers are helping out either.
When every single article talks about how the WiiU is garbage, or devs lie out of their ass about hardware capabilities- It leaves a rotten image of the WiiU that so far it hasn't been able to shake off.

Of course when looking at the boom of the 3DS I am confident that they can turn things around, and shove that negativity right back at the third party devs who doubted them.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Well damn, I would love to have a price drop on the thing. I'm still getting a Wii U probably this month or next, but a price drop on the Deluxe would've be nice, or an even better thing would be to allow the games to be region free.
...a man can dream of a region free Nintendo can't he?

There are ways to make that dream a reality my friend.

 

[Lightknight]

Wait, the console is selling at a loss? That tablet controller must cost a lot.

@Dragonbums,

Yeah, the devs are lying... wait, what? Are you saying that you are personally more familiar with the capabilities of the system than developers are? What benefit do developers have in lying? If they don't want to develop games for the console because not enough people have purchased it then they can simply say that. What's the motivation here?

 

[medv4380]

Saying that they can't do a price drop because they are selling at a loss is faulty logic. Nintendo does have a significant amount of cash reserve, and has very little debt. It would not be impossible for them to tap into that to create a price drop. The issue is that a price drop is pointless unless there is games to sell the system. They'd be better off using their money ramping up staff to make more games in a shorter period. Which happens to be one of the things they're doing. Once games are out a holiday price drop would be practical.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

It's not like we as gamers are helping out either.
When every single article talks about how the WiiU is garbage, or devs lie out of their ass about hardware capabilities- It leaves a rotten image of the WiiU that so far it hasn't been able to shake off.

Of course when looking at the boom of the 3DS I am confident that they can turn things around, and shove that negativity right back at the third party devs who doubted them.

Hate to sound like a fanboy here, but why exactly should we be "helping out"?

If they aren't putting out games that people want, then people aren't going to buy the console. Nintendo spent most of their efforts last generation courting the casual market, which is fine, but it appears to have shot them in the foot as they aren't a demographic that's gonna rush out & buy the new console on release; after all, they already have Wii Bowling, so why would they? Teh Hardcore market, on the other hand, became disinterested in Nintendo games a long time ago. Props for their prior successes, but it appears that was a short-sighted business model.

We're constantly reminded by publishers that they are in fact a business above all else. Well, the consumer doesn't want your products; that's business

 

[Roxas1359]

It's not like we as gamers are helping out either.
When every single article talks about how the WiiU is garbage, or devs lie out of their ass about hardware capabilities- It leaves a rotten image of the WiiU that so far it hasn't been able to shake off.

Welcome to the PS3's launch circa 2006. As for Devs lying I wouldn't say something like that unless you actually have been making games for the system, because while some devs don't know how to work within certain limitations, saying they are outright lying isn't always the case. Take Bethesda for example, in their case all console versions of their games aren't the best and developing for say the Wii U in there case would be like them developing for the PS3 again, and we all know how well that worked out. (I'm mainly talking about RAM limitations in this case, which RAM limitations have always held back PC game ports and developers)

Well damn, I would love to have a price drop on the thing. I'm still getting a Wii U probably this month or next, but a price drop on the Deluxe would've be nice, or an even better thing would be to allow the games to be region free.
...a man can dream of a region free Nintendo can't he?

There are ways to make that dream a reality my friend.

There is!?
Do I just have to believe hard enough, because I've been trying that with Megaman Legends 3 and things seem to not be getting better for that. T^T

 

[Phrozenflame500]

No price drop and games?

No Wii U for me.

 

[Pyramid Head]

Whaaaaaaaaat?! The bulky gimmicky monstrosity with a difficult to hold controller that dies every two hours isn't selling well and the system is having problem with third party support?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!![/sarcasm]

 

[Covarr]

Saying that they can't do a price drop because they are selling at a loss is faulty logic. Nintendo does have a significant amount of cash reserve, and has very little debt. It would not be impossible for them to tap into that to create a price drop.

I don't think anybody said they can't. Nintendo is saying here that they hope to return to a profit on the console itself regardless of software sales, as was the case with every Nintendo console before that, and they can't make a profit on strictly hardware if they implement a price drop.

That said, I have no clue why they aren't taking advantage of their huge library of potential Virtual Console games. Seriously, those cost next to nothing to put up on the eShop; they're basically pure profit. If they're not making their money back in game sales because of a small library, that's a good way to quickly and significantly boost the library's size.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Dragonbums]

Wait, the console is selling at a loss? That tablet controller must cost a lot.

@Dragonbums,

Yeah, the devs are lying... wait, what? Are you saying that you are personally more familiar with the capabilities of the system than developers are? What benefit do developers have in lying? If they don't want to develop games for the console because not enough people have purchased it then they can simply say that. What's the motivation here?

No, but EA hasn't exactly been honest when they slammed the console on Twitter. Especially when people have showed them saying the exact opposite when it just released.
All the other developers either haven't bothered trying or just didn't care.
It's confusing when Crytek says the WiiU can handle their engine yet have a bunch of other devs call it weak.

EDIT: I guess I should of thought twice about saying they "lied" that was a bit of a jump. Pardon me.

 

[Dragonbums]

It's not like we as gamers are helping out either.
When every single article talks about how the WiiU is garbage, or devs lie out of their ass about hardware capabilities- It leaves a rotten image of the WiiU that so far it hasn't been able to shake off.

As for Devs lying I wouldn't say something like that unless you actually have been making games for the system, because while some devs don't know how to work within certain limitations, saying they are outright lying isn't always the case. Take Bethesda for example, in their case all console versions of their games aren't the best and developing for say the Wii U in there case would be like them developing for the PS3 again, and we all know how well that worked out. (I'm mainly talking about RAM limitations in this case, which RAM limitations have always held back PC game ports and developers)

I guess I should've taken more care for what I typed. I was thinking along the lines of the EA incident where they trashed the Wii U on Twitter and promptly got called out on it. Of course that didn't stop anyone from furthering the whole rumor of crap hardware (then again I don't know why people would listen to anything EA says, but whatever.)

 

[Roxas1359]

It's not like we as gamers are helping out either.
When every single article talks about how the WiiU is garbage, or devs lie out of their ass about hardware capabilities- It leaves a rotten image of the WiiU that so far it hasn't been able to shake off.

As for Devs lying I wouldn't say something like that unless you actually have been making games for the system, because while some devs don't know how to work within certain limitations, saying they are outright lying isn't always the case. Take Bethesda for example, in their case all console versions of their games aren't the best and developing for say the Wii U in there case would be like them developing for the PS3 again, and we all know how well that worked out. (I'm mainly talking about RAM limitations in this case, which RAM limitations have always held back PC game ports and developers)

I guess I should've taken more care for what I typed. I was thinking along the lines of the EA incident where they trashed the Wii U on Twitter and promptly got called out on it. Of course that didn't stop anyone from furthering the whole rumor of crap hardware (then again I don't know why people would listen to anything EA says, but whatever.)

Yeah I was figuring it was a miswording on your part, but with EA if I were you I'd take anything they'd say with a grain of salt because they aren't really the most trustworthy if you ask me. As for other companies I'd be more angry with UbiSoft and this whole Rayman Legends thing to be honest. >.>

 

[Dragonbums]

It's not like we as gamers are helping out either.
When every single article talks about how the WiiU is garbage, or devs lie out of their ass about hardware capabilities- It leaves a rotten image of the WiiU that so far it hasn't been able to shake off.

As for Devs lying I wouldn't say something like that unless you actually have been making games for the system, because while some devs don't know how to work within certain limitations, saying they are outright lying isn't always the case. Take Bethesda for example, in their case all console versions of their games aren't the best and developing for say the Wii U in there case would be like them developing for the PS3 again, and we all know how well that worked out. (I'm mainly talking about RAM limitations in this case, which RAM limitations have always held back PC game ports and developers)

I guess I should've taken more care for what I typed. I was thinking along the lines of the EA incident where they trashed the Wii U on Twitter and promptly got called out on it. Of course that didn't stop anyone from furthering the whole rumor of crap hardware (then again I don't know why people would listen to anything EA says, but whatever.)

Yeah I was figuring it was a miswording on your part, but with EA if I were you I'd take anything they'd say with a grain of salt because they aren't really the most trustworthy if you ask me. As for other companies I'd be more angry with UbiSoft and this whole Rayman Legends thing to be honest. >.>

I know a mom who's little girl bought a WiiU specifically so she could play Rayman Legends on it's original launch date and it continued to get delayed.
Granted the girl was like five, but the woman told me that she continuously played the demo version over and over again on her WiiU. Also Ubisoft fans at the conference are done with Rayman. They all have stated one way or another that the game should of been released at original launch price so they can have their conference talk about something else.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It's not like we as gamers are helping out either.
When every single article talks about how the WiiU is garbage, or devs lie out of their ass about hardware capabilities- It leaves a rotten image of the WiiU that so far it hasn't been able to shake off.

It's everybody's fault, but Nintendo's, right?

Maybe Nintendo simply overplayed their hand with another hardware skewing console that didn't take off like a rocket among mainstream audiences this time?

It's Nintendo's job to make the Wii-U worth our money, and they're not doing a very good one.

And hey, remember when everybody was hating just as much on the Wii, but Nintendo was laughing all the way to the bank, because soccer moms and grannies were buying it? I guess their console was impervious to gamer hate back then.