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Nintendo may have had a decent E3, but it’s hard to argue that the odds remain stacked against Wii U.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, however, believes that the console could yet prove a success – should Nintendo cut the price.
"With Mario Kart, Wii U made one step and we expect with Smash Bros it will also do more,” he told CVG. If Nintendo put the right price on the machine then they will probably have a chance to do further.
"Nintendo has to perform this year, otherwise they will have less games. Justifying investing in the machine needs a larger install base.”
Nintendo doggedly refuses to set RRPs for its hardware and software in the UK following the 90m fine handed to it by the European Commission in 2002 for price fixing, when it was found guilty of striking secretive agreements with distributors to keep prices artificially high.
However, the RRP of its products is defined by the trade price at which they are sold to retailers. On that basis the Wii U seems to carry an RRP of around 250 following last year’s unofficial 30 price cut.
It can widely be found for less than this, of course.
Global boss Saturo Iwata has twice ruled out a further price cut for the machine in the near future, however.
