Shane Satterfield: Wii U will cost $299

This thread is filled with so much hate, so much pointless argument, that the only thing I have to say for it is

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I love the SMG games, SMG1 is the best game I've played to date. Nonetheless, on a technical level it does not compare to PDZ. The levels are much less detailed. I thought you were talking about the technical level. Otherwise we could also say that Wind Waker looks much better than all Wii U games ...
On the other hand, Project P-100 blows away most PS360 games on a technical level, still people don't like it because of the style.
 
I think Nintendo's best strategy is to simply follow the 3DS pricing model. A good number of consumers are going to expect a rapid price drop anyway (constant drum beating by the media, recent 3DS fiasco, etc) and hold off buying regardless of intial pricing (see: 'waiting on two stick 3DS revision' etc).

There's a number of Nintendo fans/core enthusiasts that would buy this at almost any price (see: PS3 launch). Nintendo sold almost five million 3DS units before the price drop, which was $400,000,000USD they would have left on the table had they simply launched at $170.

I say Nintendo should launch either at $400, rake in all that early adopter dosh, then price drop to $250 and let all the Ambassadors into the Smash Bros beta or something. Problem solved.
 
That argument comes up every time there is a release of a sequel to a major franchise. It's not that there is a horde of halo players waiting around to buy a 360. It's that MS are going to roll out a huge marketing campaign with halo which brings interest to the 360 in general.

That plusdid you notice something about all those halo games you listed? I've been harping on about this for a while but only one of those games actually has the chief in it. I think MS will focus a lot of this campaign around the return of the chief which i think could work quite well.

Then again the bump may just be caused by halo fans as mentioned above by donny :p.

I think Nintendo's best strategy is to simply follow the 3DS pricing model. A good number of consumers are going to expect a rapid price drop anyway (constant drum beating by the media, recent 3DS fiasco, etc).

There's a number of Nintendo fans/core enthusiasts that would buy this at almost any price (see: PS3 launch). Nintendo sold almost five million 3DS units before the price drop, which was $400,000,000USD they would have left on the table had they simply launched at $170.

I say Nintendo should launch either at $400, rake in all that early adopter dosh, then price drop to $250 and let all the Ambassadors into the Smash Bros beta or something. Problem solved.

I think this would be a massive risk considering how the wii brand is performing right now. If the wii U limps out the gate i think that could be really bad for nintendo in the long term.

In general i just feel like they aren't in that geat of a position going forward in the home console market.
 
I think this would be a massive risk considering how the wii brand is performing right now. If the wii U limps out the gate i think that could be really bad for nintendo in the long term.

In general i just feel like they aren't in that geat of a position going forward in the home console market.

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This is from Nintendo's July 3rd shareholder Q&A, showing a random selection of respondents and their preferences.

The Wii didn't fall off the cliff because of fads, smartphones, or anything else, it's simply because it's a six year old tech that everyone already has. This also shows why they stuck with Wii U despite the peanut gallery suggesting doom; the Wii branding still holds a ton of mindshare.
 
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This is from Nintendo's July 3rd shareholder Q&A, showing a random selection of respondents and their preferences.

The Wii didn't fall off the cliff because of fads, smartphones, or anything else, it's simply because it's a six year old tech that everyone already has. This also shows why they stuck with Wii U despite the peanut gallery suggesting doom; the Wii branding still holds a ton of mindshare.

I don't know what else to say other than i think that graph isn't indicative of what is actually happening in the market right now.
 
Most people will have already played batman and ME3 and if the Wii U comes out in November most people will have already played AC3 on ps3/360. There's also no noticeable differences on the wii u versions of those games other than a tablet gimmick here and there. They don't have the luxury of using HD as a benefit like 360 did, not to mention the 360 was a lot more powerful than xbox 1.

Most people? 70m+ owned a Wii. ME3 and Batman sold what, 5m each, if that? There is a huge untapped audience out there for these tent pole third party games. It's utterly wrong to say that 'most people' have played them already. A very small percentage of total 360/PS3 owners have played these games.
 
Most people? 70m+ owned a Wii. ME3 and Batman sold what, 5m each, if that? There is a huge untapped audience out there for these tent pole third party games. It's utterly wrong to say that 'most people' have played them already. A very small percentage of total 360/PS3 owners have played these games.

I own a 360 and held off on these games to get them on Wii U. Silly me :-P
 
I had $300 for a while now, I was thinking that was the highest with $350 just turning everyone away.


If it was $250 though, that'd be crazy


Wonder if it will come with a game now
 
They're asking quite a lot for a console thats the same power and cant play as many games as a PS3 or a 360. I predict if MS or Sony drop the price it could seriously damage them.
 
I don't know what else to say other than i think that graph isn't indicative of what is actually happening in the market right now.

Wii sales are perfectly explainable without involving "doom"

-Market saturation (largest factor)
-Dated tech (HDTV adoption is finally over 50% in the US)
-Six year old machine in what is typically a five year cycle
-Infrequent game releases
-Supply side (and possibly demand) have moved on to Wii U

None of these require that the Wii brand is struggling or consoles are dying etc, and Nintendo's market research backs this up.

I'll say that Nintendo is at least one year late with the Wii U--notice how the 360's two best years were the past two ones? I'd argue that a number of Wii owners looking to upgrade didn't have a Wii option and went 360 instead. 360 was doing what, roughly 8mm consoles a year, but then that jumped to about 13mm/year? So that's potentially 10+mm users Nintendo missed out on by waiting.

They're asking quite a lot for a console thats the same power as a PS3 or a 360. I predict if MS or Sony drop the price it could seriously damage them.

If Microsoft or Sony released an updated 360/PS3 SKU that included (at least) a slight power boost and a brand new tablet controller, what do you think they would charge for it, especially considering what they charge now for consoles/bundles?
 
Anybody saying the potential WiiU launch line-up is shitty must think the Vita's actual launch lineup was dog-shit, even though the general consensus is that the Vita provided the best launch line-up since Dreamcast.

360, seriously? Pretty bad when an up-port (GUN) was the best game available at launch. Condemned and PGR3 were pretty good, Kameo, Perfect Dark, and King Kong were decent, and the rest was un-noteworthy. In fact, the only really noteworthy game released within the 360's whole launch window was Oblivion. While Oblivion was great, the 360's launch window is extremely lacking compared to what we know is coming for the WiiU's launch window (critically or sales-wise).
 
How are they going to get people to play thier online service? Asking people to buy multiplayer games for the Wii U when all thier friends are on the PS3 or 360, its going to be impossible.
 
How are they going to get people to play thier online service? Asking people to buy multiplayer games for the Wii U when all thier friends are on the PS3 or 360, its going to be impossible.

How did Sony get people on PSN when everyone was on Live? By differentiating the service (exclusives, no fee, PS+, etc).

So my guess would be Nintendo will differentiate their service (exclusives, no fee, Miiverse, etc). In other words, you will come for the Smash Bros and stay for the Call of Duty.
 
I don't know what else to say other than i think that graph isn't indicative of what is actually happening in the market right now.

It's accurate (statistically) for what it is, but it's not an "intend to buy" indicator. Iwata explained it as playing Wii games tends to stick in people's minds, so even a long time after playing a Wii game, it still stands out as an "attractive" experience.

-Market saturation (largest factor) PS2 says "no"
-Dated tech (HDTV adoption is finally over 50% in the US) *insert latest survey saying most HDTVs aren't showing HD content due to cables used/non-HD sources*
-Six year old machine in what is typically a five year cycle PS2 says "no"
-Infrequent game releases Ding, ding, ding! Lack of support is the biggest reason :P
-Supply side (and possibly demand) have moved on to Wii U Mainsteam probably doesn't even know it exists, at this point.

.

In fact, the only really noteworthy game released within the 360's whole launch window was Oblivion.

Call of Duty 2 was the first million-seller on 360, IIRC.
 
How are they going to get people to play thier online service? Asking people to buy multiplayer games for the Wii U when all thier friends are on the PS3 or 360, its going to be impossible.

I'm sure they can build a little bit of an online base. But people wanting to primarily play multiplayer for ME, CoD, AC, etc. online are not going to be doing it on the Wii U. Hell, the system is months away from launching and what do we know about its online interface? Friend codes? Voice chat? Party chat for that matter? All we know is that weird Wii U-verse thing that seems like a hassle to use (delays in posts due to Nintendo having to screen and vet everything..).
 
How did Sony get people on PSN when everyone was on Live? By differentiating the service (exclusives, no fee, PS+, etc).

So my guess would be Nintendo will differentiate their service (exclusives, no fee, Miiverse, etc). In other words, you will come for the Smash Bros and stay for the Call of Duty.

It took Sony years to do that and they still have problems to this day, more people play Cod on Live then they do PSN. At this point its going to be even harder for Nintendo.
 
I'm sure they can build a little bit of an online base. But people wanting to primarily play multiplayer for ME, CoD, AC, etc. online are not going to be doing it on the Wii U. Hell, the system is months away from launching and what do we know about its online interface? Friend codes? Voice chat? Party chat for that matter? All we know is that weird Wii U-verse thing that seems like a hassle to use (delays in posts due to Nintendo having to screen and vet everything..).
It has the same possibilities as Live & PSN, depends on the developer what he's going to do.
 
Why are you discussing $200 or $300 without mentioning a more reasonable price point ($250)? Nintendo is not in a position to dictate the price right now, $300 is too risky. 360 + Kinect will likely be $250 this holiday. I don't see Nintendo having much advantage even with a 2D-Mario game.

While I agree with you in what you're saying, here's the problem, though: Kinect is already drying up, & sales for it are already winding down.
 
I'm pretty sure they said that was a misquote, and that not every post is delayed, just those that are flagged or from posters with prior ToS violations, though I may have misremembered this.

If true then ignore what I said in that regard. I was just going off of what I thought I heard Nintendo say in E3 and their event afterward.
 
Wii sales are perfectly explainable without involving "doom"

I'm not claiming they are doomed my personaly feeling is that things will be difficult for nintendo with the wii U. It could be as successful as the wii but right now i don't feel very confident about that.

-Market saturation (largest factor)

Wii still hasn't moved 100 million consoles. I just don't buy this when the PS2 has moved over 150 million consoles. If this is the case it kinda indicates that nintendos maximum reach isn't anywhere near as big as it's rivals.

-Dated tech (HDTV adoption is finally over 50% in the US)

The wii was dated tech when it was released and it's not like it's competitors have actually released any better HW since the release of the wii. I really don't buy this argument but even if it's true i still don't think that's a good thing for nintendo or the wii brand.

-Six year old machine in what is typically a five year cycle

360 released a year earlier and is having its best years. PS3 also continues to sell well so i don't see that as an excuse of any sort.

-Infrequent game releases

Sure that is one of the reasons the wii is struggling i agree. I was never implying that the wiis failing sales were just because of the brand dying (in fact i never suggested that was the reason at all). I think there are a lot of things going against nintendo this being one of them.

-Supply side (and possibly demand) have moved on to Wii U

This is the first month i have heard of any supply issues, sales started dropping off a cliff long before that so that's not a valid point. I also don't buy that demand is switching to the wii U. Despite being shown at big shows like E3 i don't think most people really know about the wii U yet. I really doubt that is affecting the sales of the wii much at all.
 
It took Sony years to do that and they still have problems to this day, more people play Cod on Live then they do PSN. At this point its going to be even harder for Nintendo.
It will be hard, but if their network is like live a little with the mario kart and smash and stuff they wont have a problem bringing a few cod players and stuff from time to time. Its gonna take awhile I can tell you that though.
 
-Market saturation (largest factor) PS2 says "no"

Hmm... I dunno. I guess you have to consider that the PS360 sold more than the CUBEBOX. Taking up a larger percentage of the market, giving the Wii less of the market to sell to.

But then the Wii also increased the market size...

I dunno. =S
 
It took Sony years to do that and they still have problems to this day, more people play Cod on Live then they do PSN. At this point its going to be even harder for Nintendo.

And Nintendo doesn't have years? They could post the same losses they did this year for 10 years straight and still have money in the bank, so I'm not sure that's an issue.

And so what if more people play on Live than PSN or NiN? One of the three has to have the most users, that doesn't immediately invalidate the other two. Also, there is some number of XBL/PSN users that are only there because Nintendo doesn't have a similar service and will migrate immediately, paving the way for their friends and family as well.
 
It took Sony years to do that and they still have problems to this day, more people play Cod on Live then they do PSN. At this point its going to be even harder for Nintendo.

Nintendo has popular franchises as well. And some of them also have online. It's not hard to imagine mario kart u or something similar getting alot of people to go on Nintendo Network. Mario Kart wii made alot of casuals take their wii online and the wii's online infrastructure wasn't even that good
 
It's accurate (statistically) for what it is, but it's not an "intend to buy" indicator. Iwata explained it as playing Wii games tends to stick in people's minds, so even a long time after playing a Wii game, it still stands out as an "attractive" experience.

That makes sense, i still wonder how much that actually means going forward.
 
$250 with a pack-in would have been my "I'm not too interested but NSMB and Pikmin look absolutely gorgeous, so why not" price. $300 is starting to push it.

I probably won't buy it right at launch because I'm not much of a Nintendo fan these days but I understand the fans being excited.

The problem with $300 isn't going to cause fans to not buy the system, but it will make people such as me and others look twice at it when the other systems are the same price and with cheaper versions.

I also imagine MS or Sony might do some "leaks" about their new systems possibly to slow sales and get people thinking about the next iteration of their consoles.

It has to be impulse-buy price, and $300 isn't that. It's a good price for what you're getting, but so is the Vita and we see how that is working out.
 
Wii still hasn't moved 100 million consoles. I just don't buy this when the PS2 has moved over 150 million consoles. If this is the case it kinda indicates that nintendos maximum reach isn't anywhere near as big as it's rivals.

It's because of the majority of 3rd party games & 3rd party exclusives, as well as the DVD player & coming off of the successful PS1 that contributed to 150+ million sold PS2's.
 
I've learned to stop trying to predict what is going to happen to nintendo. I'm not sure how anyone else can sound so sure about what is going to happen when the wii u launches.
 
Most people? 70m+ owned a Wii. ME3 and Batman sold what, 5m each, if that? There is a huge untapped audience out there for these tent pole third party games. It's utterly wrong to say that 'most people' have played them already. A very small percentage of total 360/PS3 owners have played these games.

That's like saying COD "only" sells 20 million and there's still a 40 million audience each on 360 and ps3. It's not a realistic way of looking at things.
 
I've learned to stop trying to predict what is going to happen to nintendo. I'm not sure how anyone else can sound so sure about what is going to happen when the wii u launches.
Best post.Ever. I say some things to be optimistic but damn some people are almost more than sure that what they say is prophecy. Especially for a console..well lets say a Nintendo console that has not even launched yet.
 
No need to mock me dude, are you capable of having a conversation or do you want to resort to childish insults?

so 360 hardware for $300? Not too enthused. I'll still buy for first-party Nintendo titles though.


Come again? Why would anyone engage in a conversation on the basis of your statement. I apologise but really and truly, you shouldn't go around spouting fanboy sounding nonsense like that.

I don't see why people on here should be constantly bending over backwards going over old ground and video game corporation prejudice time and time again. If you haven't got the want or need to keep up to date with Wii U news and facts, which by your power statement you don't, then I don't understand your want or need to partake in a Wii U discussion what-so-ever, unless it's just to spread a bit of hate and bile.
 
-Market saturation (largest factor) PS2 says "no"
PS2 is not moving software though; Nintendo makes profit mostly on the software.

-Dated tech (HDTV adoption is finally over 50% in the US) *insert latest survey saying most HDTVs aren't showing HD content due to cables used/non-HD sources*
you can't say this is true for the HD consoles;

-Six year old machine in what is typically a five year cycle PS2 says "no"
again, PS2 is not moving software;

-Infrequent game releases Ding, ding, ding! Lack of support is the biggest reason :P
Yes, but 3rd party support was lacking from the beginning; it is Nintendo that stopped publishing any important Wii games since almost 2 years ago (bar Skyward Sword)

-Supply side (and possibly demand) have moved on to Wii U Mainsteam probably doesn't even know it exists, at this point.
but they don't see any new game being released for Wii either;

Also, Kinect has definitely cut noticeably into the Wii sales;
 
That's like saying COD "only" sells 20 million and there's still a 40 million audience each on 360 and ps3. It's not a realistic way of looking at things.

You can bet your ass that's how Activision look at it, but anyway, I'm talking about Mass Effect and Batman, not COD. There are lots of Wii-only owners who will be interested in these titles, they are not even close to being played by a majority of active gamers.
 
I've learned to stop trying to predict what is going to happen to nintendo. I'm not sure how anyone else can sound so sure about what is going to happen when the wii u launches.

Yeah or even the games industry in general. I would never have thought the 360 would done as well as it did after the original Xbox, would never have thought the ps3 would have done as poorly in comparison to the ps2, or that the Wii would be close to 100 million sold after the GameCube. Things can change quickly.
 
It's because of the majority of 3rd party games & 3rd party exclusives, as well as the DVD player & coming off of the successful PS1 that contributed to 150+ million sold PS2's.

The Wii didn't get most of the 'core' (or whatever) gamers who bought systems like the PS2. It did get a huge boost from a mainstream audience.

If the Wii had hypothetically gotten all the 3rd party core-oriented games, plus had still sold what it did to the mainstream, I kinda think it would have easily topped 100 million units sold.


Yeah or even the games industry in general. I would never have thought the 360 would done as well as it did after the original Xbox, would never have thought the ps3 would have done as poorly in comparison to the ps2, or that the Wii would be close to 100 million sold after the GameCube. Things can change quickly.

This is true and a cautionary note. Still... the more the industry ages, we probably have more data to work. Better expectations. With the benefit of hindsight, for instance,

1. 360 was underestimated due to the dominance of Japanese games and their association with Playstation exclusivity. Western development on consoles blindsided everyone - or at least core gamers who only played console games. It was new territory. Console gamers also didn't have much experience with sophisticated online multiplayer and huge online games. The draw of those (Xbox Live) was another unexpected turn.

2. Nobody could have seen Sony saying "$599". That caused meltdowns at the time because it instantly destroyed the foundation of everyone's model.

3. The Wii reached out to a potential audience invisible to the game nerd - I use that term with affection. Most gamers didn't ever stop to think that there was more to gaming life than the products aimed squarely at them. There were already suggestions of a new audience; Nintendo didn't invent the concept themselves. The rise of browser based games, PopCap, the fact that World of Warcraft was skyrocketing by appealing to apparently everyone alive... there were far more people who might like to play computer games besides Final Fantasy fans.

Heh... I remember at the start of this generation, an acquaintance said that the 360 wouldn't last, because the most important games were JRPGs. And only Sony had the JRPGs.

Such innocence!

And yet... do people really learn? Do we not see the same kind of assumptions made today, just updated for new genres and brand labels?
 
The PS2 was still selling software much longer than the wii has managed too. It doesn't still have to be selling software now to disprove the theory about the wii being on the market too long. That plus the 360 and PS3 do a perfectly fine job of disproving that argument anyway and they are apart of this gen too.

In terms of saturation it doesn't matter if the PS2 is still selling software. The fact is it has moved more than 50 million pieces of hardware more than the wii. If it's already at saturation point i don't think that's a good thing.
 
And Nintendo doesn't have years? They could post the same losses they did this year for 10 years straight and still have money in the bank, so I'm not sure that's an issue.

And so what if more people play on Live than PSN or NiN? One of the three has to have the most users, that doesn't immediately invalidate the other two. Also, there is some number of XBL/PSN users that are only there because Nintendo doesn't have a similar service and will migrate immediately, paving the way for their friends and family as well.

People will always buy thier first party games but thier aim is to lure the 3rd parties and to do that then thier going to need to get people away from Live to play Cod or Madden. Its going to be very hard imo.
 
The PS2 was still selling software much longer than the wii has managed too. It doesn't still have to be selling software now to disprove the theory about the wii being on the market too long. That plus the 360 and PS3 do a perfectly fine job of disproving that argument anyway and they are apart of this gen too.

In terms of saturation it doesn't matter if the PS2 is still selling software. The fact is it has moved more than 50 million pieces of hardware more than the wii. If it's already at saturation point i don't think that's a good thing.
It's not like that Wii has stopped selling software; the major multiplat releases (like lego games) still sell rather good on Wii despite being obviously the underdog; the problem is that no major game is being released to begin with, and it's not like that Nintendo was releasing games but stopped because they weren't selling.

The market is currently shrinking in general; it is not only Wii; people already did mention that 360 had the lowest shipment for the first 2 quarters since 2007; the market is experiencing 2 digit drop compared to the last year; it is only natural for the wave to reach the more expensive consoles later, but nevertheless this gen has sold over 200m consoles so far
 
I think some people are mad that Nintendo usually puts really cheap prices for their consoles ($200 for NES-GameCube & $250 for Wii) and now that the Wii U is going to be $50 more are getting mad, it's $50 does it really matter?.

I wonder what people would say if Sony made the same strategy with the PS4 and priced it at $300 would people complain?.
 
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