Black Ops 2 proves inconsistent UK Wii U games price

As you know the Nintendo Wii U will not be getting Halo 4, as that game is exclusive to the Xbox 360, so you would have thought that retailers would have wanted to offer aggressive pricing on new Wii U games in order to help build sales during the Holiday Season. The reason we say this is because there seems to be an inconsistency with the UK price for Wii U games, and it’s clear to see that Black Ops II on that particular platform could suffer.

Black Ops 2 is due to release on November 13th with the Wii U being released just a few days later. However, the UK and the rest of the EU will not get to play games like Assassin’s Creed 3 on Nintendo’s upcoming console until November 30th. We just worry that the Wii U will not get the chance that it deserves because the huge variance in the price of games when compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

How much can these prices really vary by? – Looking at 4 UK retailers to gauge the price of Wii U games we can see just how much they vary, as Game will sell Black Ops 2 for £55, Play and Amazon £50 and Zavvi $43. Now compare the same stores selling the Xbox 360 version of the same game and you get £45, £42, £40 and £43 respectively. It’s the same story with other games as well, which you can see here.

On average most third-party Wii U games are around £10 more expensive then the Xbox 360 edition. This does not surprise us really because the Wii U is a new platform, but it still doesn’t explain some of the more erratic prices.

Could these erratic Wii U games prices in the UK put you off? – There’s a fear that because of paying a premium to have a game on a new console could persuade gamers not to experience Black Ops 2 zombies on a new platform, which could certainly hurt its potential.

Going back to what we said above about having to pay more money for a game on a new platform, we can’t help feel that paying over £50 for a game is taking things a little too far. There’s also the fact that Mass Effect 3 for the Wii U costing £25 -30 more than the Xbox 360 version shows that UK retailers are trying to rip consumers off.

There are other factors at work here and it’s clear to see that the retailers are trying to benefit here and adding a larger margin because of it being a new platform, but how come one retailer has their prices for Wii U games closer to other platforms than the likes of Play?