Nintendo – disregard Wii U pre-order prices

Nintendo is making it difficult for retailers to generate Wii U buzz.

The company hasn’t announced any pricing information for the new console or any of its games, despite saying that it will be released in just a few months.

That leaves stores with no option other than to make up their own prices.

Nintendo is saying that no one should pay attention to any sort of pre-order prices that online or brick-and-mortar retailers attach to anything related to the Wii U.

The company has not given any indication about the price of games or hardware – something that has made a lot of analysts worried since the device is launching later this year – but it is doing its best to quash any floating rumors.

Among the more startling pricing suggestions is an online retailer listing Wii U games at a price of £64 (around $100) each. In response, T3 quoted a “Nintendo spokesperson” as saying:

“Retailers are beginning their presale activity, but given there is no official software price, they are using fictitious prices. When software pricing is officially announced later this year, I am sure retailers will adjust their websites to reflect the true price.”

The only thing Nintendo has gone on record as saying with regard to price is that it will not make the same mistake that it did with the $250 3DS – which suffered extremely sluggish launch sales.

The most questionable piece of the puzzle is the Wii U GamePad. The touch-screen controller has been hinted at being priced anywhere from $79 to nearly $200.