Nintendo Won’t Drop Price Of Wii U Or 3DS Anytime Soon

The Wii U is seeing its sales numbers improve in North America and Europe, and perhaps because of this, Nintendo has reiterated the Wii U console won’t be seeing a price drop anytime soon. The company also announced it won’t be reducing the price of the 3DS in the foreseeable future either. Instead of the reducing the cost of the console, the way Microsoft has done with the Xbox One, the company will take its chances with new game releases such as a new Legend of Zelda.

The company is also hoping its Skylanders-like Amiibo figures will drive demand for both the Wii U and the 3DS. The newest 3DS XL will also make handheld gaming devices popular again, or so Nintendo hopes. The improving sales numbers, both for the Wii U and its games, has the firm’s president thinking Nintendo will return to its previous success levels by 2017, according to Attack of the Fanboy. It should be pointed out that it doesn’t appear the company thinks it is anywhere near out of the woods if it still thinks it will take a number of years to bounce back.

It should also be pointed out the Wii U might take that long to bounce back because of how unpopular the console has been in its first few years of existence. When talking about the games that have led to the resurgence of the Wii U, you can’t undersell the effects of popular titles that hit the shelves in the past year, including Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U. According to Paste Magazine, the first world champion at the Apex Tournament was recently crowned. This kind of a game simply leads to people playing it over and over again, even if they have already beaten it.

The announcement that the Wii U isn’t going to see a price drop comes on the heels of a number of people who have been asking for the console to indeed become a bit cheaper. While there are certainly arguments to be made that it would benefit Nintendo to follow the model of Microsoft, it doesn’t appear they will make that move at least until the holiday season of 2015. One has to wonder whether refusing to do so might actually hamper the growth of the Wii U or whether standing pat will make people more confident about the device’s future heading into this year and beyond.