Pachter: “Nintendo must price Wii U below $300 in order to succeed”

By Debabrata Nath

According to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, Nintendo must price its next-gen console lower than $300 (£190) per unit or else it may not be able to stand a chance at retail.

Speaking to CVG, Patcher said that he’s uncertain whether the firm really has a “killer app” for the Wii U that could push the sales of the console in the same manner that games such as Wii Sports had done for the Wii.

“The console must be priced below $300 to succeed, in my opinion, and best at $249 or less,” he said.

Reflecting on Nintendo’s E3 2012 presser, Pachter branded Nintendo’s Wii U approach as “a rear-view mirror strategy”.

“Nintendo is intent upon repeating their success with the Wii,” he said.

“While I agree that the Wii U controller is sufficiently novel and different from traditional controllers, I am not sure that there is a killer app that will drive Wii U adoption the way Wii Sports did for the Wii.

“At E3 I was not particularly impressed with many of the games, and in particular found Sing baffling. I don’t understand why I need a tablet to read Karaoke words rather than reading the words on the TV screen instead.”

Nintendo’s shares fell sharply for three consecutive days after its E3 press conference which drew more jeers than cheers from the media and public. However, it regained some momentum on Monday as it closed up 1%.

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