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Replacement Wii U Pads $150

nbthedude

Member
Wasn't the $150 number known?

I was just mulling this the other day. Boy, if a kid or a visitor drops this thing, I am going to be hot. It's bad enough when a $50 DualShock goes flying, but what happens when a stick or button goes whack on a $150 Gamepad?

I'm sure Nintendo built it extra-rugged for just this reason! :p

I looked it up last night and the sites I found quoted the direct Nintendo order as $80 as of December. I don't know if they were wrong or if Nintendo jacked the price up.
 

Duxxy3

Member
Albatross:

The word 'albatross' is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).
 

Gahiggidy

My aunt & uncle run a Mom & Pop store, "The Gamecube Hut", and sold 80k WiiU within minutes of opening.
Can we assume the Xbox 360 controller costs the same as the Wii U Pro controller?

If so, than Wii U Gamepad costs $44.856 to produce.

Fact #1: Xbox 360 BOM at launch was $525
Fact #2: The 360 controller made up 3.2% of the BOM
Fact #3: Nintendo sells the Pro controller for ¥5,040
Fact #4: Nintendo sells the Gamepad for ¥13,440

Assumption #1: The Pro cost is same as X360 controller
Assumption #2: Nintendo takes equal profit margin on all its peripherals.

With this info we can find the cost of producing a Gamepad:


$525 * 3.2% = $16.80

¥13,440 / ¥5,040 = 2.67

2.67 * $16.80 = $44.856
 
When they start selling them on their own, it will be just a bit under $100. Until they can charge that much without taking too much of a hit, they wont
 

nbthedude

Member
Ah, I see the later post that he was forced to check it at the gate.

OP, you will need to reinforce this point when you make a claim. They basically have to claim liability if you were forced to check the bag like that.

Yeah the problem was I already submitted and recieved a claim for missing items (though I haven't cashed it yet. It was only recently that I noted that the gamepad wasn't there as well.
 
Yeah the problem was I already submitted and recieved a claim for missing items (though I haven't cashed it yet. It was only recently that I noted that the gamepad wasn't there as well.

Damn man.
As someone else noted, poke Delta incessantly. Hopefully things go your way.
 
If so, than Wii U Gamepad costs $44.856 to produce.

Fact #1: Xbox 360 BOM at launch was $525
Fact #2: The 360 controller made up 3.2% of the BOM
Fact #3: Nintendo sells the Pro controller for ¥5,040
Fact #4: Nintendo sells the Gamepad for ¥13,440

Assumption #1: The Pro cost is same as X360 controller
Assumption #2: Nintendo takes equal profit margin on all its peripherals.

With this info we can find the cost of producing a Gamepad:


$525 * 3.2% = $16.80

¥13,440 / ¥5,040 = 2.67

2.67 * $16.80 = $44.856

Doesn't that seem rather low?

I think the WiiU is right at (or near) break-even during launch for the $299 model.

http://www.examiner.com/article/nintendo-wii-u-profitable-after-1-game-purchase

I can't imagine the rest of the WiiU costing ~$250.
 

JJD

Member
If so, than Wii U Gamepad costs $44.856 to produce.

Fact #1: Xbox 360 BOM at launch was $525
Fact #2: The 360 controller made up 3.2% of the BOM
Fact #3: Nintendo sells the Pro controller for ¥5,040
Fact #4: Nintendo sells the Gamepad for ¥13,440

Assumption #1: The Pro cost is same as X360 controller
Assumption #2: Nintendo takes equal profit margin on all its peripherals.

With this info we can find the cost of producing a Gamepad:


$525 * 3.2% = $16.80

¥13,440 / ¥5,040 = 2.67

2.67 * $16.80 = $44.856

Margins on accessories like normal controllers are usually much higher than on actual console hardware.

Since the gamepad is such and integral part of the Wiiu hardware I doubt Nintendo margin on the gamepad is that high.
 
Who said it can't have both? Sending the image to the gamepad is extremely simple from what we have heard. That's no an issue. What is an issue is the price of the gamepad is way too high for what it brings to the table.

like a lot of people you enjoy off screen play, and that is great. But for others, like myself, it doesn't justify the cost of the gamepad.

If there were a ton of games that utilized its features this wouldn't be much of an issue, but from where we are at now, there is no real reason for this to be the focus of the system. Nintendo jumped the gun and we are all paying for it.
You're basing this on a 4 month old system,lets at-least give it a couple years until we say they jumped the gun.
 

nbthedude

Member
Damn man.
As someone else noted, poke Delta incessantly. Hopefully things go your way.

Because of the encouragement from this thread and because I already took a photo of the invoice, I went ahead and emailed Delta again w/ the photo attached.

Hopefully, they are still willing to reemburse me despite having submitted the original claim several weeks ago.

Honestly, I would not have really minded paying for the Wii pad that much if it was the suspected $80. "That's only a little more than a cost of a game... I guess I can swallow that," I reasoned. Then the sticker shock of $150 when I called on the phone to order the replacement made me just want to cancel the order immediately. I frankly probably would have not even called had I known before hand it would be that much.
 

SuperJay

Member
Just to chime in on bad Delta experiences, they "lost" one of my bags that had several wii games and a controller in it. It was a nightmare dealing with claims and Delta's customer service. It took several months (on top of extra waiting because they kept assuring me the bag would turn up).

In the end, they finally sent me a letter demanding receipts for everything, which of course I didn't have for clothing and games that were several years old. So I just gave up.

And now I will never fly with Delta again.
 

qq more

Member
Just to chime in on bad Delta experiences, they "lost" one of my bags that had several wii games and a controller in it. It was a nightmare dealing with claims and Delta's customer service. It took several months (on top of extra waiting because they kept assuring me the bag would turn up).

In the end, they finally sent me a letter demanding receipts for everything, which of course I didn't have for clothing and games that were several years old. So I just gave up.

And now I will never fly with Delta again.

Wow, that's terrible. Fuck Delta!
 

Krilekk

Banned
It's a tablet minus some RAM, an SD slot and a CPU. It has all the standard controller features as well as most standard tablet features, plus the gyroscope and sensor bar.

I'm more surprised people don't understand why its expensive.

EDIT:


Why iPhone so expensive it just glass and screen and some internal components?

Apple makes a 50 % profit on every iPhone sold. The components are barely worth $300.
 
You're basing this on a 4 month old system,lets at-least give it a couple years until we say they jumped the gun.

That is why I said "from where we are at now". I didn't say this is the final word, it's just what I'm thinking at the moment. I do hope it does work out, I bought one after all.
 

M3d10n

Member
Something really doesn't add up here. You can buy cheap no-brand 7" Chinese tablets for under $70.

While the Wii U gamepad does have a CPU, GPU and RAM, it doesn't need anywhere near the specs of a cheap tablet since most of it's work is to decode the streaming video, which is most likely done by specialized hardware, so the price doesn't make much sense. Either Nintendo messed something up or the replacements are overpriced on purpose.
 

Pociask

Member
150 bucks for a replacement. Wow. No wonder Nintendo didn't try hard to make two player Gamepad work - they realized no one would want to pay the price of entry.

Geez Nintendo, you could have done all the asymmetrical gameplay stuff with the best selling home console Wii and even better selling portable console DS, but you didn't try any of that, even though you heavily pushed it with the significantly less well selling GBA and Gamecube. Then you build an entire system around it? WTF? Why you no get that 3DS working for players 2-4?
 
That is why I said "from where we are at now". I didn't say this is the final word, it's just what I'm thinking at the moment. I do hope it does work out, I bought one after all.
Well i still think it's to early to start thinking like that,i would say to at-least wait for e3 to start that thinking.
 

nbthedude

Member
Something really doesn't add up here. You can buy cheap no-brand 7" Chinese tablets for under $70.

While the Wii U gamepad does have a CPU, GPU and RAM, it doesn't need anywhere near the specs of a cheap tablet since most of it's work is to decode the streaming video, which is most likely done by specialized hardware, so the price doesn't make much sense. Either Nintendo messed something up or the replacements are overpriced on purpose.

It's definitely not a pricing mistake. I posted the invoice in the OP for anyone to see and it clearly lists the part and the price.

As I said before, they were pretty reasonable on the other parts. I think like $8 for a sensor bar and maybe $20 for the power supply. So it doesn't seem like they usually gouge for these replacement parts. That is part of why the price of this thing shocked me so much.
 

nbthedude

Member
150 bucks for a replacement. Wow. No wonder Nintendo didn't try hard to make two player Gamepad work - they realized no one would want to pay the price of entry.

Geez Nintendo, you could have done all the asymmetrical gameplay stuff with the best selling home console Wii and even better selling portable console DS, but you didn't try any of that, even though you heavily pushed it with the significantly less well selling GBA and Gamecube. Then you build an entire system around it? WTF? Why you no get that 3DS working for players 2-4?


Actually you bring up a really good point I didnt' think of.

This thing is more expensive than a 3DS.

They could have just made the 3DS the Gamepad controller with the right analog thingy the controller. Done.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
It is one thing that scares me a bit as a Wii U owner, the controller is not something I leave always sitting down on a shelf, reasonably unlikely to fall down and break. The controller being worth half the price of the console and this half meaning $150 makes me a bit nervous. Oh well...
 
I can't really conceive of how the controller could cost that much to make. Nonsensical. I can only assume Nintendo have struck poor supplier/licensing deals.
 

Gahiggidy

My aunt & uncle run a Mom & Pop store, "The Gamecube Hut", and sold 80k WiiU within minutes of opening.
Doesn't that seem rather low?

I think the WiiU is right at (or near) break-even during launch for the $299 model.

http://www.examiner.com/article/nintendo-wii-u-profitable-after-1-game-purchase

I can't imagine the rest of the WiiU costing ~$250.
I dunno. But it is established that regular controllers are quite affordable. Some parts that I can think of that are in the Gamepad but not the Pro controller:

Speakers
NFC Sensor
Camera
IR transmitter
Larger Battery
Larger Casing
Touchscreen
Video receiver chip
Microphone


^^^
Give me your estimates on the cost on each of those parts.
 

sd28821

Member
Again, because it's not a very high quality screen and the fact that it doesn't have RAM/storage/CPU means that it's a useless lump if it's not within about 20 ft. of a Wii U, and has a poor battery life, and so on. All I'm saying is that -- as a consumer -- if Nintendo had opted not to include the GamePad with the Wii U and instead sold it as an optional accessory, I personally would find a $150 price tag to be ludicrous.

and since you do not know how much it actually costs them to make or how much each component is you cant state for a fact how much it is worth regardless of what you as a consumer think .
 

Neff

Member
The Gamepad is a serious little piece of hardware. Besides the gyro/mike/touchscreen/camera/NFC reader, the streaming tech is extremely good, being virtually lagless and artifact-free compared to similar tech. So that's where your money is going.
 

MarkusRJR

Member
Okay now either their repair center's are overcharging or Nintendo is being flat out dumb. Why would their controller cost 50% of the console's price? Who thought that would be a good idea? Seriously...
 
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