Iwata’s direct-quote on its lack of Wii U price drop plans
Although the Wii U may be struggling in certain sales areas, Nintendo has no place to initiate a price cut.
A summary of Satoru Iwata’s financial results briefing has gone live, and it contains direct commentary from the president concerning the Big N’s stance on a possible reduction. Iwata noted that Nintendo has “taken a rather resolute stance in pricing it below its manufacturing cost, so we are not planning to perform a markdown.”
Nintendo will be looking to execute a couple of aspects going forward: 1) communicate the value of Wii U and 2) enhance the console’s software lineup.
“With Wii U, we have taken a rather resolute stance in pricing it below its manufacturing cost, so we are not planning to perform a markdown. I would like to make this point absolutely clear. We are putting our lessons from Nintendo 3DS to good use, as I have already publicly stated. However, given that it has now become clear that we have not yet fully communicated the value of our product, we will try to do so before the software lineup is enhanced and at the same time work to enrich the software lineup which could make consumers understand the appeal of Wii U.”
Iwata also briefly touched on the Wii U’s upcoming system updates:
“Also, we are receiving many comments and requests from consumers about issues such as the time to start up the system and switch between software, and the duration of the initial system update. I acknowledge that we will need to further increase the appeal of the platform through the system updates we have planned for this spring as well as this summer.”
