Nintendo's Wii U Will Be Sold At a Loss

another random user tips news that Nintendo will be selling its upcoming Wii U console at a loss in the hopes that spurring earlier adoption will work out for the company in the long run. This differs from the Wii, which made money from the start, but it's a similar strategy to those used with the Xbox 360 and PS3, which both lost money for their companies at release. "The Japanese firm's president revealed the news after the firm cut its profit forecast. It marks a change in the company's business strategy. The decision to abandon the prospect of immediate profits in order to maximize later earnings is part of a growing trend in the tech world. Nintendo might have altered course to take advantage of the fact that neither Microsoft nor Sony have announced their next-generation consoles yet. Its pursuit of the more casual gamer means it has also had to take account of the keenly priced tablet market which attracts a similar consumer."

Comments

Why aren't people more hyped about the Wii U?

[crazyjj]

The controller raises a lot of interesting possibilities (though it's a little bulky for my tastes). And, unlike some, I think that the $300-$350 price tag is fine (compared to the $600 debut price tag of the PS3, that's a frickin' bargain bin price!). But I haven't been hearing a lot of buzz about it, considering it's supposed to be launching next month. I know it's supposed to be as powerful as the PS3/360. And, of course, I know about the controller. But I haven't heard much about the debut game lineup. And even gamer podcasts and shows don't seem to be giving it much attention.

Frankly I think Nintendo, for all their faults (most notably, their admittedly piss-poor online support), kind of gets the short-shrift in the gaming community. Their systems may not have the cutting edge CPU's and GPU's, but they do what they do pretty well. And they offer a pretty good bargain most of the time. I think they're underrated myself and wish they got more respect. Not every console and handheld has to cater 100% to hardcore gamers, you know.

Re:Why aren't people more hyped about the Wii U?

[malraid]

Dude, chill... It's only a new console. Now, if Apple were to release an iPhone in a different color, that would be real news!

Re:Why aren't people more hyped about the Wii U?

[trdrstv]

People aren't more hyped because the console is as powerful as current gen consoles but costs more.

Then why are 3rd party games running at 1080p60 instead of 720p30 like they are on the PS3 / 360 ?

The special controller is crazy expensive and you are only going to get one per system.

And it's being designed so you only have to use 1 to play the games.

Online play is poorly supported, you can't go out and purchase all of the old school Nintendo games through an online market for the system (like literally everyone who games wants to),

?? The Wii-shop from the Wii carries over to the Wii U and you can port over all your downloaded games from the Wii to the Wii U. Seriously there's hundreds of games (including most old school nintendo games) that you can download.

and the system itself doesn't have as rich a supported application set as the PS3 and the Xbox360.

Probably not right away, but they are launching with: Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, Universal remote control, and a browser. What other applications are on PS3 / 360 that you feel you'd miss ?

Re:Why aren't people more hyped about the Wii U?

[killmenow]

I was going to down-mod you as troll or flamebait but fuck it...I'll respond instead. I'll probably regret it later. I was a Wii early adopter. Had it reserved ahead of schedule and skipped the lines to just walk in and pick it up on day one. We have probably 50 games for it. Up to that point, I'd never bought a current gen console. I've never invested so much money in a console platform. I bought a PS1 when the PS2 came out. But when the Wii was coming out, I couldn't wait. Because it was that interesting. It was a game changer. Now you've got kinect and move and you can see how this thing forced Sony and Microsoft to innovate.

And our Wii gets played almost daily. Between my kids, the wife, and me, it gets plenty of use. Still.

So you think the Wii sucks. You and your XBOX/PS3 brethren, most likely. But "sucks" isn't an objective measure, is it? It doesn't suck...for me and my family and our friends and their families because I know a lot of them that still play.

But I have ZERO interest in the Wii U. Not because it sucks. But because...well, why should I care? It's a Wii with a better CPU & GPU and a tablet controller. Okay. But people who bought the Wii in the first place aren't graphics snobs. Oh, wait. Many of them must be, right? Because 80 million people have dust covered Wiis that they don't play with any more. What a ridiculous statement. If that were even remotely true, the market for new & used Wii games would be nonexistent. Any new game released (if there were any) would be sold for $1.99. And used games would sell for a nickel. But last time I walked through a local Game Stop there were still rows and rows of shelves with new & used Wii games still selling for typical prices. Because it's still a viable market. Because people still use their Wiis.

But again, what does the Wii U offer? I don't care about super awesome triangle counts and NOW WITH EVEN MORE PIXEL SHADERS!!! Wooh, who gives a fuck?! People who just want to look at a screen and think, "sweet jesus that's a beautiful looking game." Guess what? That's what my gaming PC is for. It can drive higher than 1080p resolutions and do multi-monitor gaming and makes the power of the XBOX/PS3 look exactly like they are: years old and obsolete.

Nintendo forgot their market. The new controller is the *only* remarkable feature of the Wii U. And it's not that big of a deal, really. Sorry to say it, but there's just nothing revolutionary about it. It's an evolutionary product. It's a "Version 2.0" that should be a point release if we are honest about it. And it gets exactly the hype it deserves...which is very little.

It's not that it's underpowered...

[realmolo]

It *is* a little underpowered for a system coming out in 2012, but honestly it's powerful enough. We've reached a bit of a plateau with graphics on consoles. PS3 and 360 games look *damn good*. If the WiiU can do that, people will be happy.

The bigger problem for the WiiU is that I think the console market has changed. People have SO MANY gaming options these days that game consoles just aren't as interesting as they used to be. Especially for the price. Nintendo wants to sell this thing for $400, but that buys you an iPad.

Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft need to realize that they don't have the gaming market to themselves anymore. Not like they used to, anyway. And in this economy, cost is king. If they think they are going to be selling new consoles for $400, they are nuts.

Honestly, I think that both Sony and Microsoft should keep their current consoles alive indefinitely. I mean, why not? Keep lowering the price, and keep them alive. I'd love to be able to pick up an fully-loaded 360 with a Kinect for $100 in 2016, and still have new games coming out for it. Like I said, we've reached a bit of a plateau with consoles. Why not stay on that plateau for a while?