No price drop on the Wii U will be coming for years

If you're waiting for a price drop to buy the Wii U, you'll be waiting for a while. According to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, there won't be a price drop for the Wii U for a few years. Nintendo doesn't believe in releasing a console and dropping its price a short time after launch (while the 3DS had a price drop not too long after launch, it was a "very painful proposition" for Nintendo), and because the Wii was $249.99 for 3 and a half years, Reggie believes that the price will remain the same for a few years.

“The way that we approach consumer value is we want to make sure we give the consumer a lot for what they pay, and when you look at that basic model you get the innovation in the GamePad (and all of the gaming options that presents), you get Miiverse in terms of a gaming community, you get Nintendo TVii, you get video chat… all of that is included in the base proposition. We think $299 is a really strong value, and it’s a value that’s going to be strong for a long time.”

“That gets into another one of our pricing philosophies; we don’t believe in pricing a product and then having to reduce the price some short time later. When we had to do that for 3DS, it was a very painful proposition for us. And what we did with the Wii at $249 and leaving it there for, I think, about three and a half years is very much consistent with our pricing philosophy.”

“In terms of profitability, we don’t comment on our internal byproduct P&L, but as a philosophy, we believe in making money on our hardware, even if it’s small amounts of money at the start. We don’t believe in losing a lot of money on hardware. I brought up 3DS – after the price cut, we were losing money on 3DS hardware and that’s what led to our posting our first operating loss ever as a public company.”

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/09/24/nintendo-doesnt-plan-to-reduce-wii-u-price-for-years/

Anyone could have seen that coming.

The Wii U is reasonable priced unlike the 3DS when it came out.

Meh, I can wait. Though I wish I had the requisite funds to keep me on the cutting edge of gaming technology, I think I'll be happy with my current consoles for the forseeable future. The Wii U looks moderately fun so far, but I don't have a strong desire for it like I did when the Wii came out. I'll take Reggie's forecast of no price drop as a challenge- I think I can wait him out. And getting things as pricey as gaming machines used really is the best way.