This is the first time a major retailer lists the Wii U Price. EB Games Australia website sets it at exactly $598 australian dollars. The number itself looks rather pricey, but besides the expensive-looking controllers, there are some details we must look at first before the rage starts.
As we said, this particular Wii U Price is in aussie dollars, the exact conversion rate as of today would be US $602.434, which sets the bar even higher. HOWEVER, considering this is Australia, they always get to pay a lot more for electronics than the US and Canada generally do. For instance, that same website lists the current Wii + Mario Kart bundle pack at $198 Aussie dollars, while in the US EB site, you can get it for $149, that’s a 25% extra. Expect to see a much bigger difference for a product that has not even been released. That means the Wii U price will be below the $500 range for the US and Canada.
Another point to consider is the price for the Xbox 720 and PS4, which could be released in 2013, and won’t possibly be below $400, considering how powerful these consoles are and the resources it takes to produce them.
UPDATE: the french mall supermarket chain, Carrefour, has priced the Wii U at €450, and after conferting the euros to dollars, it equals to US $594 which is about the same price as EB has it.
Zavvi, has a price listing for the Wii U as well, at £399.85.
The Wii U Price as shown on EB Games Australia Website
The Wii U Listing Price on EB Games Australia
Do you think these prices are way too high, even for a next generation console, for europe and eastern markets?
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I’m actually prepared paying up to 499€ for the Wii U. I love my Wii, but I need some juice this time. Everyone who thinks he could get a powerful console with a controlling device like this is delusional, so I don’t think its too expensive. Also, all the money spend in Nintendo products goes back into gaming, same can’t be said about microsoft and Sony, who might use that money for god knows what. The PS3 was 600$ at release with their basic model and the xbox360 is a piece of garbage, all the people I know owning one had to send it in at least once or even had to buy a second one.
Don’t forget they tend to rip Aussies off. They sell games for twice as much as in the US (Wii games-$100 there, $50 here; DS games $70 there, $35 here). So even if their estimate is around the right price for Australia, it won’t reflect what the price will be elsewhere.
Ah, I forgot that. Even so, it seems pretty early.
That’s not entirely true. Firstly, it’s hardly a rip off, because it has good reasoning.
Now, Wii games sell from $70 to $110 and DS/3DS games from $50 to $70. Department and other stores go for the lower prices, and specialists game stores like EB only tend to go for the higher prices. They are the ones doing the ripping off.
So given that’s EB games, the $110 Wii U game preorders will be much cheaper in places like Target or Big W. Probably around $90 maximum. Of course that’s still more expensive than in the US will be, but it gives us an indication. If they are saying $600 for the console here, that could mean a price of about $350-500 US. Here the Wii sold for about $450, whereas (as far as I’ve heard) it sold in the US for around $250-300.
However, note that EB grossly overcharges on preorders done this early and then they only refund using store credit meaning you have to buy more from them. They are always making preorders available this early for that reason. You could preorder Skyward Sword right back after E3 2010.
That’s insane!! I hope the retail price isn’t that high when it actually comes out. I don’t see how anyone could afford it at launch.
People shouldn’t pay attention to these prices. Gamestop, EB, etc. always put tentative prices in their systems just so people can pre-order them. In the computers at Gamestop for example there are numerous placeholder release dates for games that don’t have a final release announced. It’s the same concept.
That’s also true. Skyward Sword’s had how many different release dates in their systems by now?
So we can expect a $300-350 price here? Sounds reasonable.
…You know, unlike my DSi/3DS, which I ordered from the States, I WAS going to buy a Wii U here (the whole TV compatability thing).
It’s probably going to be cheaper to buy an American Wii U AND AN AMERICAN NTSC TV.
God, I hate our gaming prices.
NTSC? Just use HDMI.
Heh, don’t have an HD TV. (Which does kind of ruin the whole HD console thing.) I’m not buying a new TV, I’ll just get a converter, but it IS kind of ridiculous having things here cost THAT much more than they would world-wide.
You won’t need a converter unless it is an extremely old TV. Most TV’s even CRTs tend to have no problem displaying NTSC signals.
hoping not, sony put the ps3 at that price when it launched and it wasn’t that hot until they brought it down, ninty do not repeat mistakes pleeeeeeeeeeease
Don’t worry, Big N’s learned their mistakes from the 3DS’s poor launch from March.
Omg this is so not true. You guys should all know good and well Nintendo will NOT price with Wii U at $600 dollars!!
No, I don’t think any of us really think it will be priced that. I clearly state that a couple times in the article. It’s what this retail outlet has estimated, and Nintendo has not had anything to do with it as far as we know.
Isn’t everything pretty much the cheapest in NA? I thought the exact conversions usually wind up showing that things are more expensive everywhere else for some reason. So even if the Wii U was selling at $600 in France, it would be like $500-$550 in the US.
Of course it won’t cost that much. Nintendo wants all their systems to be affordable for everyone and they said they’ve learned their lesson from the 3DS launch.
The price I think will be lower that that! Maybe it will probably be under $300 US dollars.
Probably like $250 for the Wii U.
I’m thinking $350 to $400. $250 sounds unrealistically low, although if they’ve nerfed the specs a bit, it could be more affordable.
Even if we pretend that price in EU was real it would be lot cheaper in the US due to european taxes etc.
For example back when the PS3 was released it was priced at 599 USD but in EU they sold it for 600 euro which translates roughly into 800 USD.
So if this price point is true (which is most likely isn’t, Webhallen, a swedish retailer have had it up for 5000 sek for at least a half year see it would still be 450 USD.
If I would take a wild guess at the price point of the Wii U I would guess it would come in for around 300-400 USD. It needs to be at a price point where it can actually compete with the Ps3 and Xbox to be able to sell
hardware is WAY more expensive in Europe than North America.
i have bought video cards for 125$ that sold for around 200$(or 100 pounds) in Europe.
I some how doubt it will be that much. The most reasonable price would be around 300-350. Considering that its tech isnt that much above the ps3 or 360. Besides we all know that Nintendo likes to make it that people can afford their stuff.
They will certainly be much cheaper in the US. These devices pay a lot of import taxes in countries like australia.
Looking forward to it, but I might have to be getting a TV too, and some half decent speakers. After all, I’ll be going to college about then and wont be able to mooch off my parents HD tv very frequently.
Let’s not be over-optimistic here. Just because they TEND to be higher in Australia, doesn’t mean that’s how it will be. I wouldn’t expect it to me much cheaper in the US, just because of all the features it has.
The most I’m spending on a console is about $400 so if its over that I might wait.