300°

Ubisoft CEO on Wii U price: "I can't say I'm happy"

The Wii U launches in under a week now in the US, with the Deluxe Set commanding a $349 retail price point ($299 for the white-colored basic version). While holiday shipments will surely sell out at these price points, next year could be another story, as Xbox 360 and PS3 continue to come down in cost. Ubisoft is the biggest third-party supporter of Wii U at launch, but even its CEO Yves Guillemot acknowledges that Nintendo may have to lower price.

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gamesindustry.biz
Wizziokid4175d ago

he continues with "I'm never happy when the machines are expensive. What we have to do there is remember that compared to an iPad, it's cheap. With what it brings [to the gaming table] it's cheap. But I hope they'll be able to drop their price in time."

Sure people prefer cheaper consoles but Nitendo are already selling the Wii U at a loss, the price won't be going down just yet and personally I don't think it's too bad and I bought the £329 version

Akuma-4175d ago

buying a wii u is like buying a xbox 360 now for 330quid, its overpriced dated tech.

PopRocks3594175d ago (Edited 4175d ago )

@Akuma-

How is the tech dated and overpriced?

@-Mika-

*is a lot

If you're going to be a troll, at least do it with proper grammar.

MidnytRain4175d ago

PopRocks359

"There is a lot of things wrong"?

omarzy4175d ago

@poprocks. *Are a lot is actually correct, but Mika used alot instead of a lot. A lot is not one word, lol.

Mika always has spelling mistakes in her posts.

PopRocks3594175d ago (Edited 4175d ago )

Come on, didn't you guys take basic english?

The subject of the sentence is the "lot." And there is only one "lot" (in this case, a lot of things). You don't describe a single thing with the word "are" which is meant to be used for something that is plural.

"There is a lot," is appropriate. In fact, much more appropriate than "There are a lot."

bothebo4175d ago

@PopRocks359

There is a lot of what?

THINGS.........

Things is plural...

So......

There are a lot of things wrong with the Wii U

ProjectVulcan4175d ago (Edited 4175d ago )

Well Xbox 360 cost a little bit more when it launched end of 2005. It was close to cutting edge though, not as fast as a high end pc still but not very far away at all. I guess that might be why people think Wii U is a bit pricy because they remember that and others launching around this price point but with really modern hardware in it.

Thing is Microsoft did take a heavy hit on each machine sold, this is 7 years later and inflation sadly exists. So despite the less than stellar hardware by modern PC standards the price isn't so terrible for Wii U.

It ain't fantastic, but it ain't a total rip either. If they can knock maybe 15 percent off the price within 6 months it'll be a much more interesting prospect for me.

V0LT4175d ago

If you are expecting a graphical blowout when the next PS/XBOX launches you got a wake up call. There will be a graphical increase but it won't be the leaps and bounds people are thinking.

nerdkiller4174d ago (Edited 4174d ago )

@akuma:

you really believe sony and msoft next console are going to have pc graphics? they cant afford to take another loss, so im guess no big graphics jump next gen .

remember sony was selling ps3 at a loss for 600 and no one was buying till it went down to 300. you do the math, is that good business?

Deku-Johnny4174d ago

It's completely new tech and well priced for the tech inside. Go back to your last gen consoles.

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 4174d ago
-Mika-4175d ago

I agree. There are alot of things wrong with the WiiU, but the price is not one of them.

Sgt_Slaughter4175d ago

Don't even start with your biased bull****.

Deku-Johnny4174d ago

It's an excellent price for what you're getting. They're making a loss on each unit so actually it's worth more than we're paying.

shutUpAndTakeMyMoney4175d ago (Edited 4175d ago )

I wonder what the price would be without the new controller.

legend9114174d ago

The PS3 still costs a fortune and still sells, I'm not sure, it all depends on the buyer.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4174d ago
Moonman4175d ago (Edited 4175d ago )

So sick and tired of these obsessed fanboys stinking up the WiiU articles.

madjedi4175d ago (Edited 4175d ago )

"So sick and tired of these obsessed fanboys stinking up the WiiU articles."

So which group are you referring to the nintendo guys that crucifix anyone that doesn't praise everything nintendo says and does as brilliant and innovative or the guys that troll them.

What the hell are you bitching about, if either side goes away your articles will be virtually ignored. Although it's very safe to say i know who your calling obsessed fanboys, and who your not.

Why do you people pretend to respect others opinions, then say crap like this. Look at the number of disagrees any dissenter gets on most wii u articles, just because they stated their opinion.

Why submit articles if you can't stand a differing opinion. All that makes you is a narrow minded fanboy, peddling a specific agenda.

majiebeast4175d ago

I think its a great piece of hardware but for myself it doesnt have a compelling launch line up the only game i would want would be ZombiiU and later on Rayman legends. I bought a WII when Super mario galaxy 2 came out and for me that was the perfect price point at the time. Im glad i bought 1 other wise wouldve missed out on great games like Xenoblade chronicles and Skyward sword.

I will probably never buy a nintendo console at launch cause im a PC,playstation guy but the price point certainly isnt a problem for the wiiu compared to buying a playstation 3 or upgrading a PC.

Jinkies4175d ago

I'm just going to wait untill E3, see what Sony and MS bring to next gen, Wii U might get some better bundles, more games will be out for it and then I'll buy it.

If your patient and hold it off you'll get more from it in my opinion

MegaLagann4175d ago

I find it funny how people expected a console stronger than the PS3 and 360 to cost less than those systems. Actually if you adjust the price for inflation it's one of the cheapest consoles at launch, ever. And what's even better is they're selling it at a loss, so it could of been more. People want a machine to have all this power but still be affordable.

nypifisel4175d ago

It's madness isn't it. It's a shame people today can't seem to look beyond petty fanboyism to at least be logical. The Wii U is not over-priced, and that's the end of it. Do they believe the next Xbox and Playstation will come out cheaper yet many times more powerful than the Wii U? That just blows my mind!

Neonridr4174d ago

LOL the 160 GB Playstation 3 with no games still sells for $249 at Future Shop here in Canada. That's $50 bucks less than the 8GB Basic Wii U. Sure you don't have the Hard Drive space but you get the touchscreen controller..

doesn't seem to be that overpriced to me.

deletingthis346753344175d ago

299 isn't that overpriced though. That was the price of the core pack for the 360 at launch with no storage space whatsoever included thus rendering the entire system virtually useless unless you buy a memory card or a 20GB HDD at the time, and (if I am not mistaken) only 100 more than the current entry-level 360. Plus it is way more powerful than a 360 so I think 299 is a good launch price for the console.

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60°

Ubisoft's Recent Antics Have Me Fearful For The Sands of Time Remake

Hanzala from eXputer: "With Ubisoft's practices becoming increasingly anti-consumer lately, the destruction of The Sands of Time Remake looks almost inevitable."

thorstein1d 11h ago (Edited 1d 11h ago )

Hey Ubi, here's a gun, don't shoot yourself in the foot.

*Ubi takes gun, aims at foot, empties clip*

Chocoburger1d ago

At this point, only dummies have any hope left for Ubi-junk games.

80°

Nintendo's Massacre Of The 3DS And Wii U Is Finally Complete, Regrettably

Hanzala from eXputer: "The cruel hammer of Nintendo has fallen. Farewell, 3DS and Wii U, you surely brightened my life and many others; you won't be forgotten."

280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple1015d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref4d ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde4d ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander19724d ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville4d ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff21834d ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos4d ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4d ago
isarai5d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref4d ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan4d ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis0073d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander19725d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

5d ago Replies(3)
Einhander19725d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

5d ago
4d ago
Zeref4d ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde4d ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander19724d ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander19724d ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier4d ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto4d ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff21834d ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto4d ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4d ago
Hofstaderman4d ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts4d ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts3d ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic3d ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

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