Topic: Customers actively driving down the WiiU price

Something has been bugging me lately and that is how potential customers are forcing Nintendo to drive down the Wii U price. Everyone knows that if they wait long enough Nintendo has no choice but to drop the price of the Wii U. People are even holding out for a $99.00 Wii U on some forums. Wii U price drop is all over twitter even tho NOA is saying there is no price drop happening.

In other parts of the world it is slightly different. Shops are dropping the price at crazy levels like half of the launch price. The most current one is £144 at Scan.co.uk.

I have seen some forum posters actively telling customers in Best Buy during the Experience not to buy the Wii U because there is going to be a price drop later this year.

I should be happy of this happening and I am happy most of the time of price drops but it is a little unsettling in this case for some reason. Maybe because I bought my Wii U at launch or if customers drive the price down too much with the possibility of Nintendo exiting the console race?
This same people that want such a cheap price are the first that are going to laugh at Nintendo when they release their financial with losses.

Are people going to do this to the PS4 and Xbone? Just no buy it and force MS and Sony to drop the price? They do have a better launch line up geared towards the general customer I have to admit.
Maybe Nintendo deserves this because of the launch games.
I know, I know, big corporation, screw them.

What are people's thought on this?

Regardless of people wanting it to happen or not, Nintendo really will have to drop the price later this year.

They cannot expect Wii U sales to pick up when the PS4 has much, much stronger hardware and is releasing for only $50 more. Especially when some consumers still don't realize the Wii U is an entirely new console.

I completely agree with the $400 PS4. That put more pressure on Nintendo than MS. I am more talking about before the PS4 announcement. I have no clue how Sony got the price down to that but all power to them. Amazing price, but there are hidden cost tho. Such as buying 3 new controllers at $50 then $60 for online which would make it $610 if online and offline multiplayer is your thing.

Let's see I have lived through many gaming company meltdowns like Atari, Commodore, NEC, Panasonic, Sega and if Nintendo were next in line I would just go with the flow like I always have mate... The thing is they have more bank to keep carrying on unlike those that I have listed

Some sort of hybrid handheld that can stream to the TV then take anywhere on the go would be awesome. But I think they might be already onto that idea with their latest merge... But who knows

Well the hardware itself isn't that expensive. They're not using the latest greatest technology which is why some people have commented on there not being a HUGE graphical leap (though there's still a great difference, especially in regards to on screen physics). My last graphics card though cost as much as the entire PS4. lol

The reason why everyone else seems high in comparison is because Microsoft is throwing in a $200 camera, and Nintendo is throwing in what is likely between a $100 and $150 tablet. Sony is skipping the accessories and just offering the base package (which is what most people want anyway).

As for the extra costs, those vary so much from person to person that they're unreliable to use for purposes like this. People said that about the Wii as well (well not the online, but nobody would pay for that anyway) since you needed a new remote + nunchuk for every person in some cases. The main thing people focus on is the original price of the console. Sell that, and people often don't care as much about spending much more down the road.

The only people wanting Nintendo to drop out of the console race are those that don't want to buy hardware just for the software. It is a little weird when that is part of what makes Nintendo games so good, the unique Hardware that the Software uses. Would Skyward Sword have been as good on any other platform? Would Metroid Prime have been as amazing of an accomplishment using Two Analog Sticks? Would Wario Ware be as funny and exciting using the same controller as Halo or Uncharted? People seem to forget that a part of the reason why Nintendo is in the Hardware business is to move the industry forward. With out the Wii opening up the casual market would Smart Phones be as popular? I know these are impossible questions to answer but in my opinion if Nintendo leaves the Hardware business then the Game Industry is in trouble.

Who said anything about them dropping out of the console race?

That doesn't refer to people 'wanting Nintendo to drop out'. That refers to the TC's concerns that driving the price down and not making the console profitable enough would drive them out.

Entirely different topics.

And I was talking about why people don't want to purchase the Hardware and why Nintendo shouldn't drop out of the Hardware race... To me it sounds on topic.

I think Nintendo should drop the 8GB system and drop the 32GB system's price down to $300. The 32GB system is the better selling version, $50 bucks wouldn't cause that big of an uproar for another ambassador program, Everyone would be getting a free game (NintendoLand), and they would be $100 cheaper than PS4 while being completely backwards compatible, free online, use old accessories that most people already have, and delivering a killer line-up this holiday. Nintendo just needs better advertising

Actually, it's the same topic. If they lower the price, and don't make the money they need, that leads to not having enough money to continue making consoles.

Nintendo is selling the Wii U for face value. There's not going to be a price drop of $50 until the Wii U actually costs $50 less to make.

Selling at a loss is exactly why I think Sony is more likely to fall out of gaming first. They sold PS3 consoles for half of what they were worth for 5 years straight pretty much.
It doesn't matter how good a console is, if the company that made it can't support it any longer.
Just look back at video game history. The consoles that died weren't always bad consoles. It was the business that created them, not being able to continue supporting them that caused consoles to drop out.
Not the actual console itself.

@SCAR392

It is normal for console makers to sell their systems at a loss. They normally make up for it with Software and Sony has some killer software lined-up for the PS4.

Hate to be that guy, but selling systems at a slight loss is a proven business tactic.

That has nothing to do with people actively wanting Nintendo to stop making hardware.

People aren't refusing to buy the Wii U because they're thinking 'Oh yes, if I buy this really cheap they might stop making hardware'

It may be a side effect, but we have to stop with the assumption that everyone wants Nintendo to fail if they don't want to purchase their console.

Also yes to this

How is it normal? GCN is the only console Nintendo has ever sold at a loss, I think. The only reason why it lost, was because there was a cheaper alternative called the PS2.
PS2 was not as good as GCN. That's fact in actual hardware arguments. The games are what sold PS2, despite being the weakest console.
Even the Dreamcast could have competed with PS2. The Dreamcast couldn't have competed with the GCN or the Xbox, which is why it died.
There are incremental improvements between every console generation, obviously.

PS4 is more at risk to fail than Xbox One or Wii U, because the financial situation of Sony is in worse shape.
It doesn't matter how great a consoles game libary or hardware is their console and games are if the business that produced those consoles can't support it past a certain point.

You cannot use the PS2 and GC hardware difference to compare the Wii U and the PS4. lol. The difference is so much greater with these consoles. Games generally looked identical across those platforms.

Also I understand you are concerned for Sony, but they did publish more titles than any other company last gen, so I don't see why we should assume their support is going to drift off.

@SCAR392
Still hate to be that guy, but most systems have been sold at a loss (not all, and the details are a bit sketchy) for the beginning of their lifespan. Also, the PS2 was $100 more than the GCN (At least at the beginning), and the Playstation branch of Sony makes enough profits to fuel itself and then some.

@SCAR392

But as an example if you sell a game console at a $50 loss but for the next 5 years you sell hundreds of games for it even at a $5 profit you will be making profit over all. During those 5 years the price to make the console gets cheaper and so you take less and less of a hit on it until you are making profit on each sell (which is where the PS3 and 360 are now). Over all it is more important to take a hit selling 1 item if in turn you are making profits that out weigh the loss using multiple games... I hope that isn't confusing. The big thing to take away is that you can't look at selling a console as 1 transaction, but several small ones due to the games you will be selling

I'm not concerned for Sony, as far as PS goes.
They did publish more games, but they didn't sell that well. All of PS3's exclusives sold low ammounts, not including digital, but that's only because it isn't as viable yet.
Uncharted 2 sold like 4 million, and probably costs 20 times more to fund than Wii Sports.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

It's a fact that Sony won't be able to continue supporting PS if they don't have money.

And what evidence do you have that their PS brand isn't profitable enough to sustain itself in the future?

Nintendo making money with Wii Sports doesn't somehow take money away from what Sony has made with Uncharted. Nintendo didn't go out of business when Sony made a large profit from games.