UK supermarket Asda has reduced the prices of its Wii U bundles for the second time this year.
The Basic Wii U pack now costs £149 and the Premium £199.
For the benefit of our North American readers, that roughly equates to $231 for the Basic and $309 for the Premium. Nintendo doesn't specify retail prices in the UK, but the "recommended" values are £250 ($388) and £300 ($466) respectively.
Calls for an official price cut have been raging for months, but so far Nintendo has refused to entertain such an idea — despite recently missing its reduced sales forecasts for the system.
3.45 million Wii U consoles have made their way into gamer's homes worldwide since the console launched late last year, but only 390,000 machines have been sold since Christmas.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 36
While it will increase the sales figures but not to the point where it would be at full price with that Killer Game the Wii U needs.
Dick Smith in New Zealand slashed the prices from 450 to 300 needless to say I got one! So excited for its arrival in the mail!!! See, price cuts do work
That's it, I'm getting one!
just sold out damn
Does anyone know if this is a permanent reduction? As I have a birthday in 11 days and may get the premium model!!!
It seems like this is part of a temporary sale that they're doing for all Nintendo products. However the premium model is now sold out, but they still have stock of the basic model.
I don't think they intend to get more stock in. They've had launch units taking up warehouse space for over six months so this is to get rid of it all and they're taking a loss on every one.
HMV already did the premium and Zombi U for £199.99 and this won't be the last of it. Most people think you're going to see it drop even lower before the end if the year. You can see the apathy in the comments for this news on Eurogamer. It doesn't matter how cheap it becomes when there's no games that most people want to play.
I'm feeling a little stupid for having paid a Wii U at the full price of 340€ only 4 months ago... knowing what is happening, if I could turn back time I would never have bought it on day one and instead I would have bought it at christmas 2013 for half its original price with some triple-A games that I hope will be finally available for that date...
Come on Nintendo, cut the price officially and give me some free games again
Asda and other Supermarkets do special sales on various entertainment products from time to time, the catch being when the sale stock is gone its back to normal price.
I've picked up some great bargins over the years from these flash sales.
Unless Asda say, its the new price they will be selling the console at then this is no way related to overall sales numbers of the WiiU, but more that it's a promotion to encourage people to buy a WiiU from them, and then make money on games they can sell to people when they buy the console.
But if you in the UK basic bundle from asda, and a 2tb harddrive from Amazon will equate to about £220.
Edit typo- 2gb to 2tb
Damn i paid £300 for the Premium i feel robbed ..
@Peach64
I don't think they intend to get more stock in.
Where i live Asda are not stocking anymore Wii U's, things like this doesn't not look good to the general public overall.
I'd buy a few premium consoles and sell them for full rpice on Ebay.
@Barbiegurl777 - NA retailers have had a lot of discounts on the WiiU systems in the form of GCs or a free game. I think they prefer that over direct sales, though I'm pretty sure Target has had the Basic at $275, probably Best Buy as well. I think a lot of these sales aren't advertised in flyers, just in store, probably to keep from making Nintendo mad.
That is a pretty good price for a Wii U but I would prefer to wait until at least christmas before getting one since there would be more games released then I would know what to do with. Well, that is assuming that the new Super Mario and Mario Kart don't get delayed. They probably won't though.
It is about time Nintendo stopped messing around, officially reduce the price and give another Ambassador promotion to its loyal customers who bought the system at launch. I've given up asking for games to be released!
My guess is they (Nintendo) are waiting until E3 to announce a price cut. Then it would seem strategic, and a huge announcement that might give them an edge on their E3 competition. Before that it would seem like something embarrassing they were forced to do because of low demand.
Not worth it atm. Maybe in 3/4 years.
@Banker-Style Good luck with that, profit monger.
@GiftedGimp Surely you mean 2TB (1024GB * 2)?!
I always prefer to buy on day one, and admittedly I don't get the best price for it, but it allows me to get used to the hardware etc so there are no regrets from me, loved every minute of playing my Wii U so far.
If I knew what I knew now, I never would have bought one on launch day. I've played a couple of hours of the underwhelming, juddery Lego City Undercover, and a couple of hours of F-Zero SNES on it since Christmas. I've had more use out of the Gamecube I got a couple of weeks ago, and that's no lie.
@Assassinated I have a feeling that people are going to view it as embarrassing even if they cut it at E3. And to be fair, cutting the price of your console less than a year after launch IS embarrassing. They already did it once with the 3DSXL, and got away with it by giving away free games. What are they going to give away when they slash the Wii U price by 33%? There's nothing TO give away.
I wish things were different - I had high hopes for the machine, figuring that Nintendo's inventiveness would see it stand proud against more powerful opposition - but Nintendo needs to realise that right now, the Wii U has very little to convince users to buy it, when they can get a competing machine for very similar money.
They need software, and quick - or this thing will go the way of the Gamecube. A bunch of second-rate or "as-good" ports, some decent first-party titles, the very, VERY odd gem of a game from a third party publisher, and then pushed into oblivion by the competing machines. It really wouldn't surprise me to see Nintendo announcing a new home console, or a "Wii U Plus"-style affair with a beefier processor and graphics chip within the next 3 years.
either nintendo is taking the hit or these retailers will not be stocking the wii U in the future.
It makes me laugh when people say that the Wii U needs a killer title to sell it (the console). It'll need a lot of killer titles to sell it, even at £150. Nintendo sending messages to all Wii and Wii U owners explaining what the Wii U is, is just desperation. Nintendo have made way too many mistakes with the Wii U and I just can't see how they're going to get out of it. New games from Nintendo, it doesn't happen often, which is the case with every Nintendo console. The same old franchises isn't going to do the Wii U any favours. Thirdparty support for the Wii U will never be strong and at some point, cross format games will start to thin due to its weak tech compared to the Xbox 720 and PS4. And the Wii U selling cheaper than the 3DS XL is just comical. As a matter of fact, the 3DS should be around £100. Even discounted, the Wii U is just too expensive when you add the extras (hard drive, controller and remote etc.). As much as I like Nintendo, they've messed up big time. And once the Xbox 720 and PS4 come along, it's going to hit Nintendo hard. On top of that, by then, the Xbox 360 and PS3 will be discounted. Tough times ahead for Nintendo.
@HaNks Rumour has it that Asda needed to discount the Wii U as they had too many consoles. I can see certain stores not stocking it or it may just be a case that all stores will just stock this and that (I can't see Asda not stocking it at all). All retailers will have to plan for the Xbox 720 and PS4 (shelf space). Once those 2 consoles come along, Nintendo will be forced into an official price drop, probably making a loss. Nintendo gave in to a 3DS price drop after about a year (from £229.99 to £149.99), so it look like a re-run with the Wii U.
@Agent75 Because Wii consoles are in direct competition with MicroSony consoles
@ledreppe lol, yeah i did.. my bad, and now fixed
When you start calculating costs, Asdas price cut is roughly what the WiiU itself works out at once you take the games also bundled with the console into account offered at dedicated games retailers, especially online.
Its just Supermarkets don't often do hardware bundles, and never to the effect of dedicated game retailers.
If Asda had kept the prices as standard and just bundled a couple of games with the WiiU then this wouldn't of even made the media.
However headlines which falsly indicate the desperate times for WiiU will always provide the most traffic. YES Nintendo are not where they wanted to be, but considering the WiiU overall is roughly on par with 360, in terms of console sales 5 months after launch, and is ahead of the amount of Ps3 units sold in the same time frame Nintendo/WiiU are far from sinking, but headlines showing positive comparisons, pr comments just don't direct enough traffic to websites to be used.
^This, I don't believe the Wii U is doomed. But Nintendo needs to do something nonetheless.
For those still interested, Amazon have price matched the Wii U Basic pack.
YES! I live in the UK and I was thinking of getting a Wii U so this is perfect!
I'd rather invest in an Xbox 720 or PS4, then just buy a Wii U later as a budget console. I think Nintendo will announce an official price drop soon, or maybe it'll be a case that they're forced to.
@BestBuck123 It should be £199.99 with a 250GB hard drive, sensor bar, remote, nunchuk, gamepad, controller and game. Even in 2005, the Xbox 360 came with a hard drive. In fact, the Wii U doesn't even have a hard drive bay. In the future, there might be a hard drive model released, but can't see it because the Wii U will be joining the Dreamcast in Console Heaven.
Good price about 236.072 EUR. i payed 379 euros my premium november.
@CasuallyDressed Must admit that £150 is a great price, but if you add the extras (hard drive, sensor bar, remote, nunchuk and 2 games), it's just not worth it. I think Nintendo will have to come up with bigger packs and cheaper prices.
I can confirm too that Amazon.it has also slashed the price of Wii U Basic and Deluxe models from 299€ / 349€ to €199 / 249€.
Tap here to load 36 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...