Nintendo Of America: "We Will Continue To Sell The Wii"

September 18, 2012 Jose Salazar

Despite the torrid of interest in the upcoming Wii U, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime expressed his continued support for the Wii at a question and answer session in NYC attended by Engadget. Fils-Aime’s emphasis, however won’t be in America.

“In the US, the Wii has sold about 40 million units. We believe that there continues to be an opportunity with the Wii.” However, where

Fils-Aime sees the most opportunity may not be where you expect. “I’m responsible for Canada, and Latin America as well,” he said. “We think there’s opportunity in both of those markets, especially Latin America.”…

“You can reach price points, you can reach consumers that, candidly, we won’t be able to reach with the Wii U. That’s gonna continue to be an opportunity,” he said. Fils-Aime and Nintendo also have their eyes on Eastern Europe. “On a global base, certainly there are markets in Eastern Europe. There are a number of other markets where if Wii has an attractive price point, it’ll do well.”

So basically since the Wii and its games will be cheaper than the Wii U, it’ll be easier to sell to people in other countries whose income tends to be more modest than Western Europe and North America. Consumers are planning on spending either $300 or $350 on the Wii U, depending on which version they’re buying, so at a hundred dollars less, it’s easy to see why Nintendo is still trying to sell the Wii to buyers who may not be able to fork up enough money for this latest console. It may be even easier to pitch since Fils-Aime is expecting a price drop for the aging console “soon.” No word though from Fils-Aime on how long this support for the Wii will continue, except for the largely unspecific “some period of time.”