Iwata: Wii U price cut is not an easy option to take

Hopes that Wii U might increase its competitive position via a price cut in the run-up to Christmas have seemingly been dashed.

That’s because Nintendo has already priced the Wii U as competitively as is financially possible, CEO Satoru Iwata told CNBC, as spotted by GamesRadar.

From the very beginning we came up with a very aggressive price point,” he stated. We do not think [a price cut] is a very easy option to take.

"I do not think we should become too pessimistic about the current situation with the Wii U. I think we should pour that time and energy into our [development] efforts, so eventually we can encourage third-party [publishers] to want to support Nintendo."

Wii U currently retails at two prices – 300 for the Premium SKU and 250 for the struggling Basic SKU. Both SKUs have been heavily discounted at various times across UK retail, however.

Iwata still believes that the key to saving Wii U is getting the console into consumers’ hands.

"As long as people have hands-on [experience], they can appreciate the value of the Wii U,” he argued. But because there’s not software that’s simple and obvious for people as Wii Sports for the Wii, potential consumers do not feel like trying the Wii U.

Our challenge today is with the software line-up we are introducing now, we have to encourage [people] to experience the Wii U in the first place."