Nintendo Chief: Wii U Sales ‘Not Bad’

13 responses to “Nintendo Chief: Wii U Sales ‘Not Bad’”

1. 

   dnr

   January 8, 2013 at 10:07 am

   What struck me was that the difference in the 2 packages was not enough for people to go the basic, for the $70 less, for an extra $70 you get 4 x the “storage”, a better looking console imo, and nintendo land, which seems to be the game of choice for any group of people atm, omg i love getting all the candy 😀

   if the price difference was in the hundreds then yeah, the basic would have sold, it just seems a silly choice from nintendo.

   Reply
   1. 

      kermitron

      January 8, 2013 at 10:19 am

      I was just thinking that. I don’t want a Wii U at all but (if I did) for that price difference I’d be crazy to buy the basic package.

      Maybe if it was under $300, that would make more sense.

      Reply
      1. 

         thom

         January 8, 2013 at 10:36 am

         I think the idea is that you get better ‘perceived’ value with the pro console.

         Reply
         1. 

            dnr

            January 8, 2013 at 11:23 am

            See its not even a “perceived” value, its a full blown legit more value system

            Reply
            1. 

               thom

               January 8, 2013 at 11:31 am

               I mean that you get a ‘good’ deal with the pro console against not buying a wii u at all. I think the lower price point model was never meant to sell, just to make the pro version look like a good price.

            2. 

               dnr

               January 8, 2013 at 11:52 am

               ahh, yeah that makes sense. point of reference type thing.

            3. 

               bigguss

               January 8, 2013 at 12:04 pm

               Sort of like the steam sales. Sure, you get 50% off a game, but its still a shit game.

2. 

   Boomzzilla

   January 8, 2013 at 10:24 am

   Add to that if you don’t own a Wii you need to buy a sensor bar as well so that $70 becomes $50.

   Reply
   1. 

      fezmonkey

      January 12, 2013 at 2:31 pm

      No, there’s a sensor bar packed in with the Wii U. The problem is if you don’t own a Wii, you need to buy Wii remotes and/or nunchucks for Wii U multiplayer. That’s a huge additional investment.

      Reply
3. 

   mrtaco

   January 8, 2013 at 11:12 am

   I’d be interested to see how the numbers played out if both units came in both colours.

   Reply
4. 

   Bob

   January 8, 2013 at 11:21 am

   I bought a basic package as I already have a wii so dont care about a sensor bar and am just going to plug an external hard drive into it anyway so space isnt an issue for me. 32gb or whatever the premium is isn’t much anyway so figured id buy the game I wanted with the money saved.

   Great decision though, am really loving the console.

   Reply
5. 

   stu

   January 8, 2013 at 12:14 pm

   This is different to how it was with Microsoft and Sony. With them, customers who didn’t really know what they wanted would get confused with all the different models of 360 which were available. You’d explain the hard drive, but all they’d hear is “$100 extra”. By five years in, when Kinect came out, there were so many different versions on sale at once (7 different SKUs, I counted at one point) that you’d not bother explaining half of them. It wasn’t as bad with Sony, fortunately, as the hard drive was really the only differentiating factor.
   At least there’s an easy distinction to make with Nintendo – whether or not it has a game included. Regardless of their stock balancing issues, at least they know what people want now. I’d expect that white bundle to slip quietly away sooner rather than later – a game bundled in is always a good incentive, particularly to people who are used to how Nintendo do things from when they bought their Wii.

   Reply
6. 

   shpeshal_ed

   January 8, 2013 at 3:22 pm

   I bought the basic.

   Worked out cheaper for me.

   Wii U basic $349 including Zombi U and Just Dance 4 (from JB)
   Sensor bar $20 (from Nintendo)
   32GB USB $15 (anywhere)

   Sold Just Dance 4 for $49.

   White Wii U Premium with a better game? $335

   Check mate, and I don’t have to deal with the a fingerprint magnet console and controller.

   Reply