South African Retailer Slices Wii U Price in Half

Boy, Nintendo really needs to get on the ball and start releasing the titles we all want. Then again, if they're rushing the end product could be even more disastrous. Did Nintendo mess up by releasing too soon?

I'd buy a Wii U for $175.

Slashed prices in half?
So the deluxe Wii U costed over $500?

Does anybody know how much that is in USD?

I'm South African and I bought a ZombiU bundle for R2999 ($330) last week at Btgames. The original price was R4800 or $530. Which was just ridiculous.
So that's a $200 price reduction!

Loving ZombiU on my new Wii U

@Felix_ Wow, do u know why its priced soo high there?

Not sure if we have a hefty import tax or something. But thanks to these radical price reductions I finally own a Wii U ...
yay

Playing ZombiU and Trine 2 this weekend

And I thought that 419 euros for Zombi U pack was a ridiculous price in my region... It has not been discounted here yet.

Wii U may not be expensive is US but certainly is in many PAL regions when a lot of stuff is overpriced.

419 euros is R4800 or R4900 ....so that European price matches the South African price...

Good for consumers... Bad for Nintendo.

Those are some pretty good deals

Price reductions mean only one thing, people are not interested in Wii U.

Actually, currency exchange rates have a big part of making that price look high. Using exchange rates isn't a very accurate way of determining the value of products. I used an example in the post about Nintendo's stock going up because of a weak Yen. In the early 2000s, you could get about 1.5 dollars for 1 pound. Games in the UK typically sold for £35, which would have been $52. Then the dollar crashed in value. Suddenly you could get 2 dollars for 1 pound, so the UK game price of £40, was now translated at $70. You'd then get UK people doing these conversions themselves, and whining about how they paid $70 for a game over here, when the price hadn't changed at all. What they failed to realise was that the shift in the exchange rate would also make it look as if their yearly salary had gone from say... $30,000 to $40,000, when it actually hadn't changed at all.

It's the same with these consoles. People try and figure out the prices in other countries using currency converters, but it just doesn't work that way. £30 will buy you $46, but it does not mean that what £30 is worth to someone in the UK is worth the same as $46 is to someone in the US. It's why even super serious economic journals such as The Econimist use their Big Mac Index to calculate the true value between different currencies. Exchange rates don't give a proper value.

@Felix_ Thanks for clearing this up. We have the same pricing.

@Peach64 I agree with you generally. Taxes in Europe are higher too. But Vita on launch cost 249$ and 249 euros at the same time and Nintendo consoles are priced way higher in Europe. 3DS cost 279 euros on launch. The Wii U basic costs 319 euros. In the end it all falls to the company setting the prices and it is a mistake for Nintendo not to set prices in Europe.

Q - How many bitcoins is that?

A - Depends what time it is.

I think the real test comes this Xmas for the Wii U...

@banacheck Well, it already went through one holiday season

my local asda hasn't even started to stock in the wiiu yet. and the rest of the retailers on the high street aren't exactly players choice for nintendo gaming.

@Lopezdm I can't believe you just said that,pure American ignorance!The world is bigger than your declining nation you know!

If the Au prices get cut in half I may just buy a second Wii U (one for the bedroom).

Man that hurts! I got it launch day. Consoles are normally more expensive here in SA, and seldom see price drops as quickly as the rest of the world. Guess that's changing.

Heh, lucky in South Africa. Here in my country, the Wii U in dollars is around 750-850$! And if there'll ever be a price drop, the price will still be high. I live in Nigeria. And they don't know how to price things....

If gamers aren't willing to buy a WiiU at $249.99 then will they even look at the PS4 when it releases at $300+??

@belmont
I'm not certain what the case is in the rest of the EU but I believe that it's the same as in the UK. A manufacturer is not allowed to set a price point on a product - that's known as price-fixing and is illegal. That's why you often see "RRP" stated online (usually in the context of an alleged discount). The manufacturer can recommend a price but it cannot set one - it is always up to the retailer what price to charge.

Nintendo can control its wholesale price in Europe but it cannot dictate retail price - that all comes down to what margin retailers expect to make and what they think they can get away with.

I hope that clears things up a bit. I'm a little tired of the "Nintendo should fix prices in the EU like they do in the US" rants online (that's not directed at you). The simple fact is that they can't.

If this deal is online, I might consider importing a Basic from there.

@Nodesfornoids you should prob go see a doctor mate. I think you need to change your meds.

@Dambuster
Then i need a doctor too.

@belmont
Yes, it certainly is. If you convert the price to dollars of the ZombiU bundle (at least the launch price of it) in Sweden, it cost $676.
With games being very expensive as well. The cheapest shovelware games currently costs around $62, while the more expensive games cost $94. However, in game stores I've seen prices up to $102-$109. It's seriously insane!

I'd go to the store and pick up a Wii U right now if it was 175 US dollars.

@Lopezdm Man don't talk to me about exchange rates.I live in Thailand but unfortunately for me my clients need to pay me in US dollars.Right now it's the lowest it's been since I moved here a few years back,losing me a fortune.

@Felix_

I live in Kenya and the Premium pack is 69,000 KES and basic pack is 55,000 KES. Just do the math and see why I still can't afford the WiiU for now

@OorWullie how do you kno he's american?

@uximal that's ridiculous! i never had any idea of this. i guess brand new video games in other countries are considered luxuries for the rich while they have it priced for anybody with a job in US, EU and other places. correct?

@Lopezdm

Thanks, I will consider that but will have to research whether credit cards from my country can work in the American eShop.

@yuske05

hmm, 69,000 KES = 811 US dollars but with that kind of a price clearly its out of reach and I think that price tag of 811$ the gamers in US & EU would have issues purchase Wii U.

Great, so you've sailed around to military bases and now you know the world? And somehow South Africa is so backwards that they don't play video games? the South African gaming market surpassed film in revenues last year which is also a huge industry. There are more than 50 mil people there and an estimated 3.5 mil of them are games consumers. 2011 saw 1.7 billion (R) in sales. Maybe it's time to talk to some people next time you're democratizing the world, or read a book. I can't stand this kind of misinformed arrogance that further confirms stereo types about us americans.

@Lopezdm Exactly,the lowest its been since I've been here,it was 31 not so long ago.From your answer though I'm guessing you don't really understand how exchange rates work so I'll leave that for you to educate yourself on.

The price reductions in the remotes and games actually made me fork out a lot of money. Also we finally got the eShop, although we still don't have the eShop prepaid cards. The prices are good so far, if we get those cards and the prices remain affordable like this, the Wii U might gain traction here fast.

Currently I'm playing ME3 which I bought for R200 new (less than $20).

The wii u sucks .... You can't even get a second game pad for it. You better off sticking with the ps3 of 360 Xbox of wait for the new one to come out this Christmas. Nintendo will alway fall behind, high def has been around for a while with the ps3 and the 360 Xbox and Nintendo is just now coming up with it that's just plain stupid. Nintendo should have just waited made its consul better and came out with the other one that are coming out at the end of this year. why buy a wii u when you can wait and get something way better

It would have been nice if they had added the 3D

@Lopezdm I get paid in US dollars and convert it to Baht and it converts to 15% less than I was getting a few months back and the lowest I've received since I moved here and as matter of fact the Baht is the strongest it's been against the Dollar since 1997.So if you were to come here on holiday with a few G then you won't get much baht for yer buck compared to even just a few months back.On the other hand if I was coming to the States I would be doing rather well.Hope that's made it clearer

hey guys, can we chill with this argument, please? last I checked the article at hand was about South Africa, not Thailand, the US, or anywhere else for that matter. Thanks in advance! :/

@theblackdragon Yep yer right,sorry but he provoked me :0
_{I've already edited that out, please don't bring it back up — TBD}

@Superslick40
There's no point in releasing a second gamepad until there is a release of a game which requires 2+ pads. I doubt anyone is developing such a game as it is too risky and likely to flop.

DreamDrop
If gamers aren't willing to buy a WiiU at $249.99 then will they even look at the PS4 when it releases at $300+??

The Wii U is more or less on the same level as the PS3/360, so why would some people pay around £299 for a Wii U when they can buy a PS3/360 for a lot less? Not only that look at Human Revolution full price on the Wii U, £7 on other consoles and that more or less the same for other port on the Wii U.

@Void My guess is because that particular country has a massive import tariff

@belmont "Wii U may not be expensive is US but certainly is in many PAL regions when a lot of stuff is overpriced."

This is your government applying that "Value Added Tax" to everything you buy, right? No offense but, I mean you voted to be taxed to death, this can't be too surprising.

Although I have no room to talk, we currently have a communist as president here in the US that would LOVE to add a VAT and would jump at the chance as soon as he can.

Here in Peru the Wii U cost 1,600.00 Nuevos Soles. It's about $640.00.