[Feature] 3DS Parallels – Nintendo’s extraordinary rescue of 3DS, and whether they can do the same for Wii U
Can Nintendo find it in their 3DS playbook?
Author: Austin
It was a curious thing when 3DS launched. Nintendo pushed to get the handheld out within their 2010 fiscal year for the sake of pleasing their impatient investors, and as a result, the stereoscopic system squeezed through the closing gates of time onto an open market in the middle of March with no system-selling games, unfinished firmware, and a beefy $250 pricetag. It was a mistake– a huge mistake, even– and one that Nintendo quickly learned from.
And then, in holiday 2012, it turned out that they didn’t learn from it. Although backed up by a slightly more reconcilable lineup of games, Nintendo’s follow-up to the Wii– the poorly named “Wii U”– seemed to saunter slowly through the extravagant launch gates with its face obscured by confusing a marketing strategy, before tripping on its own lack of feet and face-planting into the mud. It, much like 3DS, didn’t have any truly exciting pieces of software, its operating system was unfinished, and its price point largely unjustifiable due to those things. Perhaps in order to capitalize on the situation, Nintendo delayed all of their worthwhile launch window titles into the second half of 2013. Which certainly didn’t help matters.
Given all of the parallels between 3DS and Wii U, it’s only natural that we ask the question: Can Nintendo save Wii U using the same strategies that saved 3DS?
It’s not a simple question by any means, so let’s take a look at what’s there to consider.
The main thing that had a hand in bringing the 3DS back to life was its substantial price cut less than half a year after launching. The system went from $250 to $170 in the U.S., and the cut was even larger (nearly 50%!) in Japan where the system was struggling the least. It was a drastic move by Nintendo, but one that paid off: After the price cut, and prior to the launching of any key software, 3DS sales jumped 260%, with the system selling 235,000 units for August of 2011 in North America alone.
And sales were even stronger in Japan, where the system managed to move 215,000 in just one week. So the price cut worked for them– but what about Wii U?
If Nintendo were to slash the price of Wii U by a similar margin as they did 3DS, it would mean pushing the system from $350 for the Deluxe SKU down to a paltry $238. I think we can all agree that such a thing would never happen as Nintendo’s financial loss would be far too great. If it did happen though, and if the sales improved at a rate comparable to 3DS, we would end up with roughly 120,000 Wii U consoles selling per month in North America. Better, but still not great.
So let’s say they do cut the price of Wii U by a reasonable amount, from $349 to $299 for the Deluxe SKU. On the upside, it’d likely have the same psychological effect as the 3DS drop, and it’d put the higher-end Wii U $100 away from the lower-end PS4, which will be launching this holiday season. It’s a risky move, however: You don’t want consumers thinking Wii U is some budget console for those that simply can’t afford Sony or Microsoft’s offerings, and perhaps Nintendo thinks it’s in their best interest to keep the price of Wii U commensurate with PS4 and Xbox One so people don’t get the idea that it’s somehow less desirable than those consoles when the games are looking to be just as good.
Of course, that didn’t end up being an issue for 3DS.
Nintendo says: The last we heard from Nintendo regarding a price drop was back in June, when company president Satoru Iwata said “Because from the very beginning we came up with a very aggressive price point. We do not think [a price cut] is a very easy option to take.”
Austin says: A price drop is probably coming. Nintendo will likely phase out the “basic” model of Wii U in favor of a $299 Deluxe model without the Digital Deluxe Promotion, but still containing the 32GB hard drive and copy of Nintendo Land. Nintendo Land may become a digital copy instead of a boxed inclusion, however.
