Topic: Why is the Wii U price drop not until Sept 20?

The Wii U has been all over the news the past few days w/ the $50 price drop, but nobody is talking about why the delay until Sept 20? Why not do it now when everybody is talking about it? It's 3 weeks away. I thought the retailers would drop now, but Bestbuy.com, TRU.com and Target.com still have it for $349.99. By the time the price drops everybody will be talking about PS4/X1 again.

I have 2 theories -
Conspiracy theory - "price protection" plans so retailers don't have to refund $50 to recent purchases. If true, Nintendo is purposely screwing over Wii U purchases, and that's just wrong.
Stupidity theory - Nintendo just keeps screwing up the Wii U.

I know the Zelda bundle releases that day, but it's easy to drop the price TODAY and still have the bundle come out on Sept 20. Really, that's a lot easier than a 3 week delay.

All the people on all the other threads who keep saying "no ambassador program, price drops are normal" - is 3 weeks notice for a price drop normal?

Probably because the price of the parts needed for a functioning Wii U system will go down by then. Or it could be something else, I'm just adding my two cents.

I have no clue. When it's any other company, they'll announce a price drop and it will go down the day of. Just look at the Vita as a recent example. Maybe they're trying to appease some retailers and try to get some sold before the price drops? I don't know, because there's no reason to buy a Wii U until September 20, unless if Nintendo announces some sort of ambassador program.

Wasn't the information first leaked out by Gamestop and not Nintendo?

Third theory: because Nintendo said so!

It probably has to do with an increment of some sort. There are schedules that must be met.
Perhaps $50 is the exact ammount that gets the Wii U into people's homes based on instinct alone.

Theory 3: Let's silently phase out the basic.. and replace it with all 32 GB models... There is still stores that have the Basic Model.. and I don't think they would mind the chance to sell them at whatever before the price cut takes place.. because consumer logic would be.. if there is a price cut to Wii U Deluxe.. there should be a price cut on the Basic.. so I think this was to give them time to phase it out.. and then just let them reorder nothing but 32 GB sets.. as thus Basic get's silently phased out.. all the evidence.. if you think about it.. has more or less pointed this way anyway..

#1 Nintendo is probably prepping up dose advertisements. Wiiu advertisements as of now is pretty light. That date would be the opportune opportunity to advertise the wiiu. Of course it's made better because of.....

#2 Boatload of games at the fall/winter season. Heh, there's a long list of games but i can't be bothered to type it out.

and @ScroogeMcLz pretty much
pointed out the 3rd.

As others have stated my guess is that they want to start advertising once more games available. They will have enough to show what is already out and plenty to show upcoming while keeping a good balance, it also coincides with the Zelda release.

They did the same with the 3DS when they dropped its price so it's not that crazy. Plus when the 3DS price dropped they already had their first killer app out with Ocarina of Time 3D, maybe they are wanting to capitalise on the Wind Waker launch and the price drop combined? Maybe they don't think Pikmin 3 and New SMB U is enough to really start selling units.

My guess is that they're giving time for stores to change their prices... And sharing it with the public to make sure no store plays dirty with their customers.

Don't think too hard about it. Retailers actually have to have time to prepare and adjust. While higher-ups would get some form of communication before the announcement Wednesday, individual stores would not, to prevent a leak. and there are a lot of retailers who carry the Wii U - Wal-Mart, GameStop, Best Buy, FYE, Toys R Us, Target, etc. etc - it would have leaked somewhere along the line. After the public announcement, the corporate offices of each retailer sends out the memo to their district and store managers, giving them time to advertise or make their own competitive deals, adjust SKU and inventory, make orders, figure out what to do with existing unsold product, etc.

I will go with this answer.

To continue this discussion from the article where you first brought this up...

I disagree with your thought process and your grand conspiracy argument does not hold up.The only thing I can guess you are thinking is that Nintendo thinks if the price drop is immediate it will upset retailers and they will not want to promote their product etc. Do you think it would affect nintendo and the retailers relationship one bit if the retailer had to refund $50 to a) the handful of people that purchased a Wii U within three days of a price drop (typical coverage for the policy you are basing your argument on) b) even know that these policies even exist c) follow the business enough to even be aware the price is being dropped. The reason no one has brought up the price protection policies in the comments section as you pointed out is because there are very few people who even realize that such policies exist. Retailers do not usually go out actively promoting these policies.I happen to know about them because my father use to be assistant manager at a Wal-Mart It is a retailers policy so it has absolutely nothing to do with Nintendo. So why would Nintendo care one bit? There is no way for me to know why Nintendo announced the price drop three weeks early. My guess would be to build 3 weeks of social media buzz. They did the same thing with the 3DS. It is their business and they can do whatever they want to do with their business model (as long as it is legal).

Most people would.

So more quality games can come out like Rayman Legends and Wonderful 101, giving people more games to choose from when they buy a cheaper Wii U and more of a need to even get one. Also Wind Waker HD releases on eShop the same day as the price cut, so it's obvious they're gonna be advertising that ALL OVER the eShop for new Wii U owners to see when they enter the eShop for the first time.

count one more that goes with this theory!