News Summary: Nintendo rules out Wii U price cuts

Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Iwata said the Japanese video-game maker will get back into operating profitability next fiscal year at more than 100 billion yen ($1 billion), and is ruling out price cuts for the new Wii U home console to boost sales. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Iwata said the Japanese video-game maker will get back into operating profitability next fiscal year at more than 100 billion yen ($1 billion), and is ruling out price cuts for the new Wii U home console to boost sales. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Shoppers take escalators under the logo of Nintendo and Super Mario characters at an electronics store in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co. has returned to the black for the first nine months of the fiscal year but remains pessimistic about sales prospects. The Kyoto-based maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games reported Wednesday that April-December profit totaled 14.55 billion yen ($160 million), a reversal from the 48.35 billion yen loss reported a year earlier. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2008, file photo, the logo on a BlackBerry smartphone is shows in Bochum, Germany. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/dapd, Volker Hartmann)
Clouds roil over the White House in Washington on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, as Washington has less than 48 hours to avert the “fiscal cliff,” a series of tax increases and spending cuts set to take hold on Jan. 1. Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate were hoping to reach a deal to avoid going over the cliff on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Barack Obama gestures during a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama pauses during a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama arrives to make a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Iwata said the Japanese video-game maker will get back into operating profitability next fiscal year at more than 100 billion yen ($1 billion), and is ruling out price cuts for the new Wii U home console to boost sales. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Iwata said the Japanese video-game maker will get back into operating profitability next fiscal year at more than 100 billion yen ($1 billion), and is ruling out price cuts for the new Wii U home console to boost sales. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. Iwata said the Japanese video-game maker will get back into operating profitability next fiscal year at more than 100 billion yen ($1 billion), and is ruling out price cuts for the new Wii U home console to boost sales. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Shoppers take escalators under the logo of Nintendo and Super Mario characters at an electronics store in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co. has returned to the black for the first nine months of the fiscal year but remains pessimistic about sales prospects. The Kyoto-based maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games reported Wednesday that April-December profit totaled 14.55 billion yen ($160 million), a reversal from the 48.35 billion yen loss reported a year earlier. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2008, file photo, the logo on a BlackBerry smartphone is shows in Bochum, Germany. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/dapd, Volker Hartmann)
Clouds roil over the White House in Washington on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, as Washington has less than 48 hours to avert the “fiscal cliff,” a series of tax increases and spending cuts set to take hold on Jan. 1. Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate were hoping to reach a deal to avoid going over the cliff on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Barack Obama gestures during a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama pauses during a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama arrives to make a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

News Summary: Nintendo rules out Wii U price cuts

Print Page Updated: 08:25:42 PM, Thu 31 January 2013

$300 AND RUN: 's president ruled out price cuts for its new U as a way to boost sales, even after a subpar performance during the holiday shopping season. The U sells for about $300 in the U.S.

RISE OF THE PHONE: Game machine sales have suffered as consumers play more games on smartphones and tablets.

PROFIT PROMISE: Nintendo expects an operating loss of 20 billion yen, or $220 million, in the year ending March 2013. But Satoru Iwata made a "commitment" that Nintendo would post operating profit of more than 100 billion yen in the year ending March 2014.

Tags: nintendo, rise, news summary, smartphones, commitment, gaming, tablets, run, u.s, president, yen, consumers, marketing, way, price cuts, operating loss, holiday shopping season, wii, satoru iwata, game machine sales, wii u price, new wii, profit promise, subpar performance, nintendo gamecube, wii play, virtual console, nintendo ds