Wii U Has a “Very Long Life Ahead of It,” Nintendo Says

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June 22, 2014

As of March 31, Nintendo has sold 6.17 million Wii U consoles worldwide, well short of the 9 million it had hoped to sell in the preceding 12 months (2.72 million consoles were sold during that span). But Nintendo isn’t ready to cut the price of the console, currently starting at $299, just to spur sales.

“We believe the Wii U has a very long life ahead of it,” President and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aime told Kotaku in an interview. “It's got great content coming that will help define the platform.”

Using the 3DS to illustrate his point, Fils-Aime explained that it wasn’t the price cut that drove sales for that handheld, but great games like Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land.

“That's exactly what we need to do with the Wii U, and we do believe that content like Splatoon, content like Hyrule Warriors, content like Mario Kart 8 that we just launched, content like Smash Bros. for Wii U, that is what is going to drive the installed base,” he said.

Nintendo expects to sell another 3.6 million systems by the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2015. Coming out of E3 2014, Nintendo of America marketing executive Scott Moffitt also said he thinks the Wii U is right at the tipping point where it will tempt gamers into buying the system.