Rumour: Wii U Will Launch at $300

In more Wii U rumours, a report today suggests Nintendo’s latest home console will launch at $300.

Forgetthebox claim sources “closely involved with manufacturing and distributing Nintendo products” predict the console will launch for $300 or possibly even more. The total manufacturing costs are apparently $180 with $50 of that being the controller. Some news outlets are reporting it to be $180+$50 but this is not what the sources are quoted as saying.

The report goes on to state “Cutting production costs to maximize profits is Nintendo’s main concern with the Wii U. They are cutting costs in the Wii U’s hardware to build back confidence in investors. Nintendo wants investors to view Wii U as a less risky proposition. ” This would not be a huge surprise as hardware is often scaled back after it’s first reveal, the PS Vita cutting its RAM in half is a recent example.

$300 seems about right unlike Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo never launch their hardware at a loss so it unlikely they’ll start now. Hopefully pricing will be cleared up at E3 but with Microsoft expected to reduce the cost of Kinect bundles the Wii U could have some tough competition this Christmas.

It’s hard to say what this means for the UK, the 3DS launched at $250/£229 so anything below £250 is very unlikely.

So US gamers if the Wii U launched at $300 would you buy it? UK gamers what price are you willing to pay for Nintendo’s new system?