Amazon UK have listed the Wii U on their website for £199.99 with a 14 July release date.
Whilst such an early release date seems unlikely, it raises some very interesting questions:
- 14 July is both very soon, but also very specific, suggesting that this isn’t simply a ‘placeholder’ date.
- This date is also a Saturday, a very unlikely release day for hardware in the UK.
- Amazon’s pre-order price guarantee means that the £199.99 price-tag will be honoured by Amazon and anybody who pre-orders now won’t pay a penny more than £199.99.
- If this is the genuine retail price, it means the Wii U’s launch price is around £20 less than the 3DS.
- This also suggests a drastic change of release strategy, more similar to Apple’s ‘oh, it’s out next week’ approach.
Earlier this week another UK-based retailer ShopTo.net listed the Wii U for £279.99 without specifying a release date.
Source: David Scammell
