Rumour: Wii U Parts Cost $180, Console Price Tag $300 or More
Ready for another next generation console rumour? According to anonymous sources cited by Forget the Box, it will cost Nintendo about $180 for the parts to make one Wii U unit. To break it down further, approximately $50 of that will go to the fancy controller we all saw at last year’s E3. However, that’s not necessarily the all-inclusive cost of production. For $180, all you get are the parts. This estimate doesn’t include labour, packaging, and so on. Throw these factors and others into the mix and Forget the Box’s sources are pitching the figure of $300 or more for a Wii U at retail. Nintendo is apparently very concerned “with cutting production costs to maximize profits” and to “build back confidence in investors” according to one source, and rightfully so, as the company’s stocks are at their lowest in years, the 3DS got off to a rocky start, and shareholders aren’t entirely sold on the idea that the Wii U will be a blowout success at retail.
Anyone want to take a stab at what the final price will be? You might be able to say “I told you so”.
Source: Forget the Box
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#2 written by Charles Sharam 1 year ago
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The tablet controller is either going to be the thing that makes this device, or it’s going to be what kills the system. First off, there’s no way in hell this thing is going to cost $50 or even $75 at retail, for a second one. Secondly, we don’t even know if a second tablet is going to work with the machine. Third, if the price of the tablet is something like $125, it won’t sell. Forth, if the controller itself is that high then the system could be $349.99, which again is a LOT of money for a NIntendo console. Their magic price-point is $299.99 right now, because they can’t get it to Wii’s $249.99, and they’ve already said so themselves.
Part of me actually thinks they were aiming for $399.99, but now they know they can’t price it that high because of the problems they had with the 3DS being way too expensive. I mean $250 for the 3DS!!! Imagine what they would have charged for the Wii U had it been a huge international success. Now that the price is down, I’m sure they’ll go for $300 myself.
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Man if they keep it restricted to one tablet per machine then I’m going to be disappointed. The idea is to have multiple tablets to work with it. 2 at least.
You reminded me of an excellent idea my friend had the other day when we were talking about the Wii U. Let’s say for argument’s sake, the Wii U can accept two or more tablets. An awesome game-changer in my opinion is for single-player games. Let’s say you and I are both in the same room and we want to play Super Mario Galaxy 3, but each one wants to have his own experience. If the Wii U can stream the same game to both of our tablets, but we’re both playing different saves…that would be absolutely awesome!! Never thought of it before, but I told my pal to not expect it because I don’t think the Wii U has the hardware to stream the same game off a disc to two different tablets playing it differently. One can dream though.
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That would be cool, but I’m not expecting much from muliple tablets. In fact I’m worried how multiplayer is going to work at all. I think the idea of using Wiimotes is both interesting and foolish. Interesting because it allows us to use our old controllers, but foolish if we can’t harness the power of the new tablet. E3 should be quite revealing this year.
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#7 written by Lena LeRay 1 year ago
A new Forbes article about the rumored WiiU price (http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/04/09/rumors-put-a-price-tag-on-the-wii-u/) suggests that they’re achieving the low price point by using low-end technology, too. With all three major companies set to use old stuff to keep the price points down, I’m less-than-excited about the next-gen consoles.
I think gamers may have unrealistic expectations of console prices these days. Yes, $300 has been the cap in the past. However, inflation makes it so that if we want to reap the benefit of technological leaps in gaming we have to be willing to forget comparing modern dollar amounts to ten-year-old dollar amounts. I don’t know the real dollars figures off the top of my head, but something that costs $300 next year would have cost less than that when the last generation hit the shelves.
On handhelds in particular: handhelds are rapidly approaching being on-par with consoles, and since they’re doing it in a much smaller package, it’s totally reasonable to see the prices go up.
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300$ sounds reasonable enough. I read somewhere that Nintendo never had a console for more than 300$ so that sounds right along the lines of what we should expect. What I don’t expect, however, is 50$ for the controller. That’s totally underestimating it. The 360 and PS3 standard controllers cost 50$, and the Wii U includes a tablet screen in it so it doesn’t make sense that it costs the same. I’m betting around 70$ for the tablet as a standalone. They should try aiming for that price so that people have the incentive to get another tablet for multiplayer. If it’s 100$ or over, then they’re in deep trouble.