Pachter: Nintendo should charge $60 for Wii U games

**RaY_210** · 08-09-2012

We love to hear from game industry analyst Michael Pachter. You can disagree with him, hate him, curse him, but you can’t ignore the man. And he does make a lot of sense. Some times. In the latest episode of his show PachAttack, where he answers questions from gamers, he was asked whether next gen games would stay at $60 or cost more. Pachter believes that games will stay at $60 for the next generation consoles because development costs won’t be much higher, about 10 to 15 percent, reckons Pachter.

But he also had a few words for Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U console. He believes Nintendo should price Wii U games at $60, because otherwise, the Wii U will appear weaker than the competition. Pachter said,

“If they stay at $50 for a game, I think they [Nintendo] are making a mistake. It would signal to the public that the Wii U is of lower quality than the other consoles. It’ll be interesting to see what they do.”

Michael Pachter Wii UWe know it’s easy to dismiss whatever Pachter says, but he has a point. Consumers tend to related cheaper price with lower quality when it comes to newly released gaming software. Which is why shovelware titles usually cost much less than AAA games. Another reason why Wii U games will likely cost $60 is that it costs just as much to make a Wii U game as a PS3 and Xbox 360 counterpart. If not more, since the Wii U GamePad requires more work for all the extra features. Porting a game to the Wii U doesn’t appear to be expensive though — Ubisoft stated that it costs less than $1 million to port a title to the Wii U. Which means a ported game only has to sell about 20,000 copies in order to recoup the investment.

Pachter has previously been less kind to Nintendo. He proclaimed that the Wii U could be the next Dreamcast, and said that the console “won’t work“.

Source

I hate that I'm mentioning Pachter, but I was just curious if anyone can see where someone would come to this conclusion. I think it's stupid and just him trolling as usual.

**DeviousOne** · 08-09-2012

I cant stand that guy and i dont agree with that logic at all.

**Blacksite** · 08-09-2012

Lol. The Wii U is not going to be the next Dreamcast.

The Sega Dreamcast failed for a number of different reasons, probably the biggest of which was its incompatibility with the DVD format. It also had some fresh, new IPs (Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue etc), something that Nintendo rarely relies on. Mario, Zelda, and Metroid will still help to keep their upcoming console afloat, if not for the dozens of casual work-out titles.

**DeviousOne** · 08-09-2012

The Dreamcast was really a great console tho....Nintendo needs some new IP's and from things ive seen apparently they are working on 3 news ones that will appear on the Wii U. However cant go wrong with their current IP's they are timeless!

**Chille** · 08-09-2012

Originally Posted by Blacksite

Lol. The Wii U is not going to be the next Dreamcast.

The Sega Dreamcast failed for a number of different reasons, probably the biggest of which was its incompatibility with the DVD format. It also had some fresh, new IPs (Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue etc), something that Nintendo rarely relies on. Mario, Zelda, and Metroid will still help to keep their upcoming console afloat, if not for the dozens of casual work-out titles.

Plus piracy was a huge problem for the dreamcast.

**Blacksite** · 08-09-2012

Originally Posted by DeviousOne

The Dreamcast was really a great console tho....Nintendo needs some new IP's and from things ive seen apparently they are working on 3 news ones that will appear on the Wii U. However cant go wrong with their current IP's they are timeless!

Yeah, I know. It's a great console but they could have handled it better. As for Nintendo, they have yet to announce their new Zelda and Metroid titles.

**Kuro** · 08-09-2012

This guy's full of it. Although i do think 60 bucks will be the price.

**DeviousOne** · 08-09-2012

The dreamcast suffered from bad timing and bad decisions made earlier in the decade.

I got a dreamcast at launch with my brothers we played the ish outta it..

60 bucks is the norm for new games now a days

**Kuro** · 08-09-2012

Wii games are 50

**DeviousOne** · 08-09-2012

And that fine better for nintendo as well

**keefy** · 08-09-2012

Dreamcast failed because too many people had been burned by Sega and their shitty addons.
Releasing the saturn shortly after releasing the 32x left those that bought one feeling used.

**DeviousOne** · 08-09-2012

Originally Posted by keefy

Dreamcast failed because too many peoele had been burned by Sega and their shitty addons.

What are you talking about?

LMAO

**radgamer420** · 08-09-2012

Originally Posted by Blacksite

Lol. The Wii U is not going to be the next Dreamcast. The Sega Dreamcast failed for a number of different reasons, probably the biggest of which was its incompatibility with the DVD format. It also had some fresh, new IPs (Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue etc), something that Nintendo rarely relies on. Mario, Zelda, and Metroid will still help to keep their upcoming console afloat, if not for the dozens of casual work-out titles.

There were mismanagement problems within Sega as well. They were already in financial trouble even before Dreamcast. When Dreamcast flopped that just finished them off. A shame really because I loved my Dreamcast.

**DeviousOne** · 08-09-2012

IDK i never saw it is a flop? Just some serious bad timing and the ps2 was so epic....I blame sega for losing it after the Genisis got them an advantage in the market share. 32x, sega cd, and saturn.. had it been genisis then Dreamcast we still be talking about a Sega console right now

**RaY_210** · 08-09-2012

It'd be awesome if they stayed at $50. And I'm sure Nintendo would like to keep it that way too. But, although we may never hear about it, I think 3rd parties would pressure them to put them at $60. And the Dreamcast was awesome. I never owned one, but would always be at my friends playing the hell out of it. Loved Powerstone!

**dc89** · 08-10-2012

Nintendo should sell there games at £30-£35 in the UK, new PS360 titles usually go at £40.

I think Nintendo will need to differentiate on something and seeing as they are getting some main stream games for the Wii U the touch screen is not going to cut it for most who already own a PS3 or a 360. The price though, well, everyone likes saving a bit of money!

**coolguy** · 08-10-2012

Pachter is a joke every thing out of his mouth is bull. there is no way nintendo will charge 60 dollars for a wii u game if its true i wont buy one,, i have cut down buying ps3 games at 60 a pop

**RaY_210** · 08-10-2012

Originally Posted by coolguy

Pachter is a joke every thing out of his mouth is bull. there is no way nintendo will charge 60 dollars for a wii u game if its true i wont buy one,, i have cut down buying ps3 games at 60 a pop

Unfortunately the trend has already been set with the PS3/360. I'd be surprised if they weren't $60, but it won't be because of this stupid ass reason.