Despite Nintendo announcing months back that the Wii U will support two of its new GamePad controllers for play, the peripheral will not be sold separately in North America. Though this seems that Nintendo is robbing players of the full advantage of the Wii U, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime stated today at the console’s launch presentation that the reason behind this decision is because none of the system’s launch titles will utilize the ability to use two GamePads.
“We have deliberately not announced the availability of the GamePad as a separate, standalone accessory here in the United States,” Fils-Aime told IGN. “The reason for that is simple – there are no games in the launch window that take advantage of a second GamePad. And [because of that], I want all of that hardware production to be focused on driving sales at retail.
“What I mean by that is that Wii U is a console and a GamePad together. If I were to take additional GamePads and make them available as an accessory, then I would have less Wii U console hardware to sell into retail. You know, probably one of your questions is whether I’m going to meet demand. The only way we’re going to achieve that here in the Americas is to not have that GamePad accessory, so I can maximize my overall volume.”
Put simply: It doesn’t make sense for Nintendo to take up production time and retail space that can be used for the Wii U console itself with the GamePad if consumers can’t play with the second controller yet. When developers begin putting that technology into their titles, then Nintendo will likely begin to the sell the product separately.
Do you think this is a wise business move by Nintendo, or are you impatient and want your accessories as soon as possible even if you can’t use them? Sound off in the comments section below!
[IGN]
