What is the Wii U's position after the conference last night?

[Cjail]

$50 for some tablets? Wow.

Can you show me one please?

I am talking about BOM so no profit margin included.
Anyway the NATPC M009S RTB Lite costs around £50 ($70) so BOM would be even less.

The fact is that the WiiU is now sold at lost (so claims Ninty) thus comparison with existing tablets or consoles tells just one part of the story.

 

[Rangers]

24 bucks for the screen is something I can believe. 30 dollars for chips, not including wireless, I can't. You can buy a amd a4 3400 for that. A apu that is probably faster than the wiiu's cpu/gpu.

And? The Wii U' GPU contains a whole bunch of Wii GPU legacy stuff and an overkillish 32MB of EDRAM on it too. Overall it's a solid 150mm^2.

i dont imagine theres much in the way of even the most junk-ish chinese tabs for $50. all decent tabs i know of are 199 and up which says something, even though they are much more sophisticated than wii u pad.

anyways, it can be argued however, but in the end the proof'll be in the pudding, i dont think wii u will ever be price reduced much, and it's because of the controller. as desperate as sales are i think nintendo would have already cut the price if it was easy.

i'm sure they can maybe go down to 199 for the lowest unit...maybe towards the end for it, as a clearance sale. it wont ever be less imo, and i think it'll be end of lifed you know, before it gains any traction. nintendo is in a position where they cant cut the wii u's price, the bom is too high. i would expect a 50 cut will be the only thing nintendo can do anytime soon.

 

[Cjail]

I just saw this.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

And? The Wii U' GPU contains a whole bunch of Wii GPU legacy stuff and an overkillish 32MB of EDRAM on it too. Overall it's a solid 150mm^2.

They were talking about the Pad only.

 

[Exophase]

24 bucks for the screen is something I can believe. 30 dollars for chips, not including wireless, I can't. You can buy a amd a4 3400 for that. A apu that is probably faster than the wiiu's cpu/gpu.

I've seen quotes for Chinese and Taiwanese touchscreens with similar specs (resolution, size, resistive touch) for like half that cost. But if Nintendo is using a Japanese supplier they could be paying more.

 

[Cjail]

^^^
I believe Ninty is using Foxconn.

 

[Pressure]

I've seen quotes for Chinese and Taiwanese touchscreens with similar specs (resolution, size, resistive touch) for like half that cost. But if Nintendo is using a Japanese supplier they could be paying more.

The iPad 3 / 4 screen at 9.7" 2048x1536 goes for $55 on eBay. I sincerely doubt the 6.2" 852x480 is going for nearly half of that.

 

[dagamer]

The iPad 3 / 4 screen at 9.7" 2048x1536 goes for $55 on eBay. I sincerely doubt the 6.2" 852x480 is going for nearly half of that.

True, but then again, I'm sure Nintendo asked for a custom part whereas Apple sells so many iPads at this point (on the order of tens of millions per year) that they get huge benefits of economies of scale that Nintendo probably got for the Wii (particularly Wiimote components) but almost certainly won't get for the Wii U. I mean, who honestly uses resistive touchscreens anymore?

 

[Exophase]

True, but then again, I'm sure Nintendo asked for a custom part whereas Apple sells so many iPads at this point (on the order of tens of millions per year) that they get huge benefits of economies of scale that Nintendo probably got for the Wii (particularly Wiimote components) but almost certainly won't get for the Wii U. I mean, who honestly uses resistive touchscreens anymore?

Resistive touchscreens are still commonly sold in lower cost markets, and I don't see what's special about this one that warranted a custom version. If this is a commodity, already designed part then I wonder how much of a boost you can get in economy of scale moving from low millions per year to tens of millions..

 

[BRiT]

DCA ... EA has announced that it won't be bringing a version of this year's Madden NFL football title to the struggling Wii U, the first time since 1991 that the annual football series won't appear on a current-generation Nintendo home system.

 

[liolio]

sorry BRiT but could you tell me me what DCA stands for, made a search on the web without finding anything that relevant

 

[BRiT]

DCA = Decade Continues Apace. 'more of the same', in this context it's about Nintendo's woes continue with lack of third-party support.

 

[Rangers]

Resistive touchscreens are still commonly sold in lower cost markets, and I don't see what's special about this one that warranted a custom version. If this is a commodity, already designed part then I wonder how much of a boost you can get in economy of scale moving from low millions per year to tens of millions..

Then why is the Wii U $350, Nintendo has not reduced price despite now terrible sales, and IIRC said they were losing money or breaking even on the hardware?

If you break down each component in similar fashion, no way you get to $350. Yet here we are.

So are you saying Nintendo is super greedy?

There's no doubt in my mind the controller is and always will be a major cost drag. And Nintendo sells it as a replacement for what, $125? Again, massive greed, or expensive component? You choose.

Edit: apparently it's $140 http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=516246

 

[Exophase]

Then why is the Wii U $350, Nintendo has not reduced price despite now terrible sales, and IIRC said they were losing money or breaking even on the hardware?

If you break down each component in similar fashion, no way you get to $350. Yet here we are.

So are you saying Nintendo is super greedy?

There's no doubt in my mind the controller is and always will be a major cost drag. And Nintendo sells it as a replacement for what, $125? Again, massive greed?

Edit: apparently it's $140 http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=516246

So what you're saying is that the cost of the entire unit and a replacement controller is dictated by the cost of just the touchscreen??

I don't know what Nintendo is paying for their components, but I do have an idea of what they could be paying. Cheap resistive touchscreens for tablet sized devices is a fact - as evidenced by all the very cheap Chinese tablets with resistive touchscreens. I wouldn't put it past them to be grossly overpaying. I said as much already.

But yeah, I don't think that their selling cost of $300 (not going by the premium unit cost here) means that their production cost is $300, and regardless of what Nintendo says even the most pessimistic BOM estimates don't come to $300. Who knows how much R&D money they're trying to recover. Didn't they pay IBM $1b for this? God only knows why but that's still a big chunk of change and doesn't represent even close to all of the engineering expenses..

 

[Rangers]

1B??? That sounds RIDICULOUSLY high...

 

[Exophase]

Yeah, I heard that mentioned a few times here and I thought I saw it mentioned in articles but I'm having a hard time finding anything beyond a $1B contract agreement made way back in 1999 :/ It could be that's all everyone was referring to..

For what it's worth, UK vendors at least are starting to drop the price like crazy:

http://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/c...artindale/asda-drops-wii-u-pricing-to-149199/

I don't know if they're just taking in what would have been huge MSRP margins or if they're actually losing money trying to move stock that no one wants.. but these are some really low prices, especially since UK prices are usually higher than US ones (after going rate conversion).

 

[Cjail]

They are probably loosing money selling at that price but it's better to sell than not sell at all.
Also prices in the UK (and in the EU) have VAT included, which if I am not mistaken is at 20% for video games.

I was told that in the US you do have some sort of VAT but that is not the same for every state, is this correct?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I was told that in the US you do have some sort of VAT but that is not the same for every state, is this correct?

The US has sales tax which varies by state, but is 8% on average. This tax isn't listed on US prices, so you have to add 8% to get the real price to users. They also don't have the same warranty and consumer rights as Europeans, so you tend to want to buy an extended store warranty in the US too.

 

[Pressure]

DCA ... EA has announced that it won't be bringing a version of this year's Madden NFL football title to the struggling Wii U, the first time since 1991 that the annual football series won't appear on a current-generation Nintendo home system.

Is it even relevant that the Nintendo Wii U doesn't get a fringe sports game? It's called American Football for a reason.

 

[Cjail]

The US has sales tax which varies by state, but is 8% on average. This tax isn't listed on US prices, so you have to add 8% to get the real price to users. They also don't have the same warranty and consumer rights as Europeans, so you tend to want to buy an extended store warranty in the US too.

Thanks pal.