36 replies to this topic

[BlueBlur]

In a recent interview with GameKult, Philippe Lavoué, Deputy Managing Director at Nintendo of France, said a price cut would not benefit Wii U sales much - what it needs is more games.

Here's what he had to say (translated from French):

Our belief is that sales react to the games lineup. Lowering the price, without any compelling software will produce nothing.

Our responsibility is to provide a solid games catalogue.

Lavoué pointed to the experience Nintendo had with the 3DS where sales were slow immediately after launch but picked up once more games became available:

When we lowered the 3DS model price, it didn’t have the effect we wished for. We only had a good improvement during half a month and then sales went back to the levels they were at before.

What helped the 3DS at the end of its first year was titles like Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus Uprising, Mario Tennis Open and Super Mario 3D Land. New Super Mario Bros. 2 sales have been phenomenal.

Price isn’t the only lever that we can use to drive sales.

Nintendolife

Edited by VGCrasher, 30 March 2013 - 02:17 PM.

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

I agree, the Wii U needs games not a price cut, I actually think it's very reasonably priced.

[3Dude]

uh yeah.

The internet collectively crapped themselves when nintendo showed x.

All anyone is waiting for are games... SHOW THEM ALREADY!!!

[GhostDrive]

Everyone knows this. Come on Nintendo, show us the big guns at E3! Hurry up and release Pikmin 3!

[Desert Punk]

It is all about games but in the absense of games there is a huge amount of pressure to price cut as the wii u is not selling.

 

Clearly if lets say it was going to be 3 months before a big wii u title arrived and a shop was sitting on wii u console stock that wasn't selling that shop would be under a huge amount of pressure to shift the wii u stock at a discount and put a more successful/desirable product in its place. No retailer can expect Nintendo to magically create big games instantly but they will want something to help sell the console which would be a price cut or better marketing.

 

Also if it a console is perceived as a failure then the very fact its seen as a failure makes people far less likely to buy it.

 

Shops often put a price on space and how much that space needs to pay a week in sales for the shop to break even. They use this to work out which products to remove from stock and which to dedicate more space to. It's a delicate juggling act to ensure the shop makes a profit. Often they give poor selling products the worst location in the shop until they finally stop selling it.

 

I would imagine Nintendo are under a lot of pressure at the moment. Maybe even reducing the order numbers to foxconn for fresh shipments of stock.

[Julio93]

Well, seeing that its been 5 months and Nintendo hasn't even showed anything, I sure as hell hope they announce something big since we don't even have a release date for Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 or Bayonetta 2.

[3Dude]

Julio93, on 30 Mar 2013 - 10:18, said:Well, seeing that its been 5 months and Nintendo hasn't even showed anything, I sure as hell hope they announce something big since we don't even have a release date for Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 or Bayonetta 2.


Well, the did show 'x', and pretty much the entire internet said they had to get a wii u when that came out.

It was insane, interest in the system went from nothing, rocketed into the stratosphere (google trends)..... and then fell back to nothing again.

Gah, All signs just point to show the damn games... What is Nintendo waiting for?

Screw e3. It hasnt mattered in years. Wii u needs it NOOOOOWWWWW. Just show a game every week or two leading up to e3, then have new footage of shown games at e3, with one big reveal like smash bros or retro.

Come on nintendo.

[routerbad]

It is all about games but in the absense of games there is a huge amount of pressure to price cut as the wii u is not selling.

 

Clearly if lets say it was going to be 3 months before a big wii u title arrived and a shop was sitting on wii u console stock that wasn't selling that shop would be under a huge amount of pressure to shift the wii u stock at a discount and put a more successful/desirable product in its place. No retailer can expect Nintendo to magically create big games instantly but they will want something to help sell the console which would be a price cut or better marketing.

 

Also if it a console is perceived as a failure then the very fact its seen as a failure makes people far less likely to buy it.

 

Shops often put a price on space and how much that space needs to pay a week in sales for the shop to break even. They use this to work out which products to remove from stock and which to dedicate more space to. It's a delicate juggling act to ensure the shop makes a profit. Often they give poor selling products the worst location in the shop until they finally stop selling it.

 

I would imagine Nintendo are under a lot of pressure at the moment. Maybe even reducing the order numbers to foxconn for fresh shipments of stock.

sales have been up in reaction to MH3U and LCU all over the place.

Julio93, on 30 Mar 2013 - 10:18, said:Well, seeing that its been 5 months and Nintendo hasn't even showed anything, I sure as hell hope they announce something big since we don't even have a release date for Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 or Bayonetta 2.


Well, the did show 'x', and pretty much the entire internet said they had to get a wii u when that came out.

It was insane, interest in the system went from nothing, rocketed into the stratosphere (google trends)..... and then fell back to nothing again.

Gah, All signs just point to show the damn games... What is Nintendo waiting for?

Screw e3. It hasnt mattered in years. Wii u needs it NOOOOOWWWWW. Just show a game every week or two leading up to e3, then have new footage of shown games at e3, with one big reveal like smash bros or retro.

Come on nintendo.

I approve of this message.  Nintendo must comply, resistance is futile.

[CUD]

So Nintendo admits the Wii U has no games.

[Penguin101]

So Nintendo admits the Wii U has no games.

 

Yep, but they're saying that they're working extremely hard to bring us a rainbow storm of games later in the year.

 

My beef I have with Nintendo is they stay secretive until the last moment. It's great showmanship because everyone's so god damn jazzed about the next game they'll feed money into the disc drive in attempt to reach the game.

 

I just think if they did more Nintendo Directs to reassure not only gamers but developers and investors. Maybe even have one called Developers Direct and Investors Direct where Publishers and Developers get private demos of Wii U's dev kit and how to get the most out of the kit, as the main complaint was developers gave up on the kit as the didn't understand why ports weren't working well. Maybe even show developers and publishers how well other game engines work such as Unreal 4, CryEngine3 etc with example demos. Have Investors Direct to address to retailers and Stockholders to show Nintendo's plan on making money and when etc

 

PS: I love/hate the swearing censoring - Annoying because sometime I just wanna spice the language of how much something means to me, but awesome because it uses words like rainbow and unicorn tongue

Edited by Penguin101, 31 March 2013 - 02:17 AM.

[CUD]

Yep, but they're saying that they're working extremely hard to bring us a rainbow storm of games later in the year.

 

My beef I have with Nintendo is they stay secretive until the last moment. It's great showmanship because everyone's so god damn jazzed about the next game they'll feed money into the disc drive in attempt to reach the game.

 

I just think if they did more Nintendo Directs to reassure not only gamers but developers and investors. Maybe even have one called Developers Direct and Investors Direct where Publishers and Developers get private demos of Wii U's dev kit and how to get the most out of the kit, as the main complaint was developers gave up on the kit as the didn't understand why ports weren't working well. Maybe even show developers and publishers how well other game engines work such as Unreal 4, CryEngine3 etc with example demos. Have Investors Direct to address to retailers and Stockholders to show Nintendo's plan on making money and when etc

I'd assume they are doing more behind the scenes to get devs on board but if they find it difficult to port games to the system or run the newer/upcoming engines then the problem may lie with the way that Nintendo has designed the system, which is going to be a much harder problem to fix.

[Penguin101]

I'd assume they are doing more behind the scenes to get devs on board but if they find it difficult to port games to the system or run the newer/upcoming engines then the problem may lie with the way that Nintendo has designed the system, which is going to be a much harder problem to fix.

 

Will all Criterion had trouble breaking 14 frames a second, so all they did was talk to Nintendo and Nintedno went through it all step by step and boom we got PC equivalent textures and effects at a capped 30 frames

[Socalmuscle]

The rayman debacle is partly to blame as well.

Nintendo gave third parties. Huge window of opportunity. They didn't take it. Some even broke promises and went back on their word.

Heck, Crysis 3 could have been on wii u already.

Therefore, wii u has rushed launch games or old gen game ports.

It almost seems Nintendo would have done better to wait a year. But they aren't clairvoyant. They couldn't have know they'd get stabbed in the back by their business partners.

So they quietly build, knowing they have great stuff to show. And they'll show it soon enough. In near half year before competitors get rolling, wii u should start pulling a 3DS.

[Penguin101]

Well not everything is the publisher's fault. Sure EA were buttholes and it's not Nintendo's fault.

 

But if Nintendo released Pikmin 3 on time, and maybe released one other Nintendo title the Wii U numbers would be much higher and more attractive to publishers.

 

Publishers mainly work on numbers and percentages, a lot of CEOs actually don't play videogames or even like videogames, it's a business only to them, so they have people work out percentages for them, and they usually make a straight cut decision based on those numbers. If X percent of X million sell we'll make/loose X amount of money. They rarely consider the future that by throwing Wii U owners now a bone by having multiplats on the system at lower profits, they secure a good reputation for the Wii U and thus more profit for future releases. 

 

Plus it's Nintendo's job to convince them otherwise, either with pure bribery or a long friendly face to face chat. Maybe Reggie can talk to the new CEO of EA next month?

Edited by Penguin101, 31 March 2013 - 03:10 AM.

[Eskimo_sam]

it needs both

[NegaScott128]

it needs both

Why should it have a price cut? The PS4 and 720 are guarenteed to be $450+. It'll be the cheapest console in the 8th gen, which certainly can't hurt sales.

[Ninty64X]

I have to agree with the games will save the wii u statement, look at what happened to the Gamecube when Smash Bros. Melee came out, once the big games come out I think sales will skyrocket.

[itsdavebaby]

I agree like most but it needs titles other than just Nintendo's exclusives (Pikmin, Mario, Smash Bros, Zelda, etc.). We all can agree that die hard Nintendo fans already own a Wii U. The goal is to attract more gamers. I thought this was the way Nintendo was heading with Black ops, AC3, Darksiders etc. But now it seems no one wants to port games over the Wii U. I don't know the business side of it but i don't see why not. The Wii U needs a variety of games, if the "next gen" consoles are getting them so does the Wii U. Watch Dogs is a perfect example of what the Wii U needs.  

Edited by itsdavebaby, 31 March 2013 - 11:51 AM.

[routerbad]

I agree like most but it needs titles other than just Nintendo's exclusives (Pikmin, Mario, Smash Bros, Zelda, etc.). We all can agree that die hard Nintendo fans already own a Wii U. The goal is to attract more gamers. I thought this was the way Nintendo was heading with Black ops, AC3, Darksiders etc. But now it seems no one wants to port games over the Wii U. I don't know the business side of it but i don't see why not. The Wii U needs a variety of games, if the "next gen" consoles are getting them so does the Wii U. Watch Dogs is a perfect example of what the Wii U needs.  

Most of even Nintendo's fans are still waiting for their IP of choice to be released before spending the money. 

[DéliopT]

Most of even Nintendo's fans are still waiting for their IP of choice to be released before spending the money. 

 

And that`s the real problema isn`t it?

Nintendo can show E3 before it happens and people won`t buy it right away because the games aren`t here yet. Just like with 3DS: sales only went up for good when games started being released.

 

Nintendo does need to reassure people that when they buy a Wii U they will get this and that game at this and that point in time.