Nintendo Wii U: "we believe in making money on our hardware"

Reggie Fils-Aime on pricing, the five month launch window and why the industry thought Nintendo were "nuts"
Nintendo of America


At a press event in New York City to unveil the Wii U's launch plans Nintendo of America president and CEO Reggie Fils-Aime took the time to answer some of GamesIndustry International's many questions. While the announcements of price, launch date and more did much to alleviate some of the uncertainty surrounding the console and the company since E3, the bottom line is no one - not even Nintendo - can really predict just how well (or poorly) the Wii U will fare this holiday and the years ahead.
That said, it's Fils-Aime's job to steer the ship in North America, or as he says, "to galvanize the Nintendo of America resources to make this launch our best ever." That's no small feat, seeing as how the original Wii became a mainstream phenomenon. Reggie remains as confident as ever, however, that his team and the talented developers across Nintendo in Japan will deliver a Nintendo experience worth ponying up 300 bucks (at minimum) for.
In this exclusive interview, we speak at length with Reggie about the value proposition of the two Wii U bundles, dealing with consumer perception in a market affected by tablets, free-to-play and cheap apps, the future of gaming with two GamePads, relying too heavily on the same Nintendo IP and characters, and much more.
Q: Let's get right into it. Big news today with the Wii U price points and release date. How did Nintendo arrive at $299 and $349 as the price points for Wii U? And will Wii U be profitable from day one?
Reggie Fils-Aime: 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.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...y-strong-value