Wii U may be priced at $300, costs $180 to assemble

Forget The Box, an independent Canadian media collective has reported that the Nintendo Wii U will cost $180 to make and Nintendo is planning to price it at $300 when it launches.

They cited a source closely involved with manufacturing and distributing Nintendo products. “Cutting production costs to maximize profits is Nintendo’s main concern with the Wii U. They are cutting costs in the Wii U’s hardware to build back confidence in investors. Nintendo wants investors to view Wii U as a less risky proposition. ” the source told the site.

Nintendo’s decision to use NFC for the controller to communicate with the console was partly due to its lowering cost, “NFC capabilities are a drop in the bucket for Nintendo. As NFC becomes more mainstream in mobile devices, the price for NFC implementation will rapidly decline. Nintendo is jumping on NFC because of a projected cost decline in the technology.”

And if you were wondering, the tablet-like controller cost only $50 to manufacture.

Thanks, Games Industry.