Iwata: Wii U's timing relative to competition isn't important, but pricing is

[Blacksite]

"Being first in the next generation race is not important at all," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told Gamasutra in a recent interview. "One of the reasons we believe this is the time for Nintendo to launch the Wii U is it's going to be important for the world."

The world, it turns out, is full of people who have just bought an HDTV and don't plan to replace it anytime soon, and people who might want an alternative to an expensive tablet – albeit one that can't leave the house. Both of these aspects provide an opportunity for a device like the Wii U with a novel second screen. By providing an interesting new angle, Iwata hopes to return Nintendo to profitability. "I just cannot say that it's a good thing for Nintendo at all to record an annual loss for two or more years in a row," the world's most deadpan video game executive said.

Though Iwata isn't concerned with being first to market (even though the Wii U will be), he is very concerned about its price, having learned a painful lesson from the 3DS launch. "The pricing of Wii U is going to be one of the most important elements when it is going to be launched," he said. "The environment is different. Wii U is going to be launching in a different environment than when the Wii was launched. Also, the involvement surrounding [mobile and social] businesses is different than several years ago."

What isn't different from several years ago is Nintendo's confidence in doing its own thing. "We have not changed our strategy. In other words, we just do not care what kind of 'more beef' console Microsoft and Sony might produce in 2013. Our focus is on how we can make our new console different than [others]," Iwata said, reproduced here because we really wanted to put Iwata saying "more beef" into our post.

via Joystiq.

[Vulgotha]

Blah blah blah "We're unique snowflakes with a different vision".

I'm enjoying the idea that it may be possible for them to get smacked off their pedestal and start being actually competitive in the coming years.

[RaY_210]

standard PR that you'd expect.

[DeviousOne]

Just release the damn pricing nintendo! DAMN

[Kuro]

Just release the damn pricing nintendo! DAMN

Seriously wtf man? lol

[DeviousOne]

Im hoping for some major surprise by nintendo before the Wii U is announced for all the mis steps recently.

[Kuro]

Im hoping for some major surprise by nintendo before the Wii U is announced for all the mis steps recently.

Some top-notch IP's I hope

[DeviousOne]

Of course this is wishful thinking on my part but cmon nintendo

[Kuro]

I agree man they're slipping up they need to bring in something special to redeem themselves they're just not selling it to me I mean the only think that looked remotely good was ZombieU and that was pretty much it for me. I mean if they showed a bit more like a trailer for LoZ or something,plus a good price maybe around 250? and i would've been totally sold for it.

[RaY_210]

I think it's gonna be like the 3DS launch. Slow start. They think Mario and Pikmin and 3rd party ports will be enough, but it won't. But give it time and it'll pick up

[Kuro]

I think it's gonna be like the 3DS launch. Slow start. They think Mario and Pikmin and 3rd party ports will be enough, but it won't. But give it time and it'll pick up

Haha hope so.

[RaY_210]

Haha hope so.

Or maybe I'm just a hopeless optimist

[F34R]

Good price + great content = launch day for me.

[DeviousOne]

Nintendo INSIST they learned from the 3ds Launch so we'll see

[claud3]

I tend to agree on all fronts. But i hope that its worth it in the long run

[coolguy]

i hread that the wii u will be 299 at launch

[RaY_210]

That seems to be what everyone is thinking. Whether its a number someone pulled from their ass or not remains to be seen