Nintendo has expressly ruled out the possibility of introducing a Wii U price cut in order to boost lower-than-expected sales of the recently launched console.
The company said yesterday that worldwide Wii U sales topped three million units between the console’s November launch and the end of 2012, but adoption has since slowed, leading Nintendo to cut its sales forecast for the business year ending March 31 from 5.5 million units to four million.
In a briefing republished on Nintendo’s investor relations website, global president Satoru Iwata discussed the console’s performance to date and the company’s position on pricing, noting: "With Wii U, we have taken a rather resolute stance in pricing it below its manufacturing cost, so we are not planning to perform a markdown. I would like to make this point absolutely clear.”
The executive went on to say of the console: "We have yet to communicate its value to the wider public. To put it another way, we delivered Wii U to those consumers who we thought would be the first to buy it, but information has not successfully been passed on to those consumers who we think will be the next people to buy it.
"In addition to this, because of some delays on the development side, we were unable to continuously supply software at the beginning of this calendar year. This has further upset our scenario for market penetration, for which momentum is the key."
Iwata added: "We are putting our lessons from Nintendo 3DS to good use, as I have already publicly stated. However, given that it has now become clear that we have not yet fully communicated the value of our product, we will try to do so before the software lineup is enhanced and at the same time work to enrich the software lineup which could make consumers understand the appeal of Wii U."
Last week Nintendo confirmed that it’s working on two new Mario games for Wii U - a 3D action title developed by the team behind the Super Mario Galaxy series and a new Mario Kart. Playable versions of both games will be present at this year’s E3 in June.
