Nintendo Wii U Price Cut & Sales News: Console $100 Cheaper Than PS4, $200 Cheaper Than Xbox One
It is confirmed. The Nintendo Wii U 32GB Deluxe Model is getting a $50 price cut, says Bloomberg Business Week.
The price cut will bring the price tag from an original $349.99 suggested retail price down to $299. The price reduction will take effect starting September 20 - a good couple of months before the much awaited official release date of PS4 (November 15) and Xbox One's rumored release date, November 8.
The Nintendo Wii U Deluxe Model will also be available in a Zelda Wind Walker bundle priced at $299 by September 20 online and October 4 in stores. The bundle will include an exclusive Zelda-inspired GamePad complete with gold accents, a full game download and a free digital version of Hyrule Historia which contains the history and artwork of the Legend of Zelda series.
The second generation Wii was launched November of last year and has made not so impressive sales so far. To date, Wii U has reportedly sold a mere 3.6 million units since its launch.
Global figures for sales from the first day of April to the last day of June this year reveals that there were only 160,000 Wii U units sold, reports Kotaku. That's an average of only 53,000 Wii U units sold all over the world each month.
With impending threats from two game console giants, it seems that Nintendo is taking a very risky and unexpected plunge that will either turnaround sales or plunge them deeper to flop.
"It's negative for Nintendo shares. The price cut will affect earnings directly. Nintendo is counting on a weaker yen to help absorb the impact" from the price cut," says Eiji Maeda, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. in Tokyo in a report by Bloomberg Business Week.
Nintendo is looking to improve sales through releasing key first-party titles. A statement from the company reported by Kotaku reads:
"For the 'Wii U' system, we will attempt to concentrate on proactively releasing key first-party titles from the second half of this year through next year to regain momentum for the platform. Starting with 'Pikmin 3,' which was released in Japan and Europe in July and will be released in the United States in August, we plan on releasing key titles such as 'The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD,' 'Wii Party U,' 'Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze,' 'Super Mario 3D World,' and 'Wii Fit U.'"
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