Wii U Price Drop: Console Now $299 for Black Deluxe Bundle
The Nintendo Wii U will be dropping in price next month to seem more appealing to gamers who may be in the fold for an Xbox One and PS4.
After weeks of denying any sort of price drop by Nintendo's top executives, it appears starting Sept. 20, $50 will be taken off the console, bringing it down to $299.99.
The console will sell in two formats, the black deluxe 32GB with game Nintendo Land, or with the brand new The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.
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"Obviously we want to drive Wii U momentum," Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo of America said of the price drop to Kotaku. "We've been very clear that software is what drives hardware. And we feel very good about the line-up of software for Wii U. Taking the added step to improve the value just reinforces our commitment to make sure that Wii U has a strong holiday this year and is set up to be a strong platform into the future."
Well aware of the struggles of the system, they are switching focus to providing quality games for the holidays.
"All you need to do is look at the numbers," Fils-Aime explained. "At this point in time the Wii install base was beginning to approach three million- this is U.S. numbers- and as we sit here today, the Wii U installed base is at about 1.5 million. So clearly the sales pace is different. But I will also tell you that the focus on making sure that this holiday-its second holiday-is really strong is actually quite consistent with the way we've always thought about our hardware launches."
Nintendo just released a trailer showcasing the Wii U's exclusive games coming to the console in the next coming months.
The trailer showed clips from The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker HD, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Super Mario 3D World, Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, and the already released New Super Marios Bros. U and Pikmin 3.
Wii U knows part of the reason why they only sold 160,000 units last quarter was because of their lack of exclusive first party games.
"As soon as we get the consumer to buy one piece of software, then that entire transaction becomes profit positive," said Fils-Aime.
