Wii U price cut? Nintendo: Don't count on it ... seriously

If you've held out on picking up a Wii U until the price drops, you may want to change your mind. During an investors call, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata crushed any dreams of the brand new console dropping in price. Joystiq reports that the head of the Mario maker pointed to Nintendo's "resolute stance" on the price, and with admittedly good reason.

"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," Iwata said. "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."

That's all well and good, but $350 for the high-end Wii U model--a console that finally catches up to competitors in terms of power, but still lags behind in storage--is more expensive than both the high or mid-range Xbox 360 and PS3 models. (Though, it's safe to say that the next Xbox and PlayStation will cost more than $350.)

This statement comes just as Nintendo cut its forecast for hardware sales for the end of this fiscal year from 5.5 million Wii U consoles shipped by March 31 to 4 million. So, what's the battle plan?

"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."

Are you digging the Wii U so far? Will it succeed against the upcoming Microsoft and Sony consoles? Add Comment.