This past week Nintendo made two surprise announcements, the reveal of the upcoming Nintendo 2DS (a cheaper non-3D version of the popular 3DS handheld) and a $50 price cut for the Wii U. Sadly, the branding of the two systems resulted in a little bit of confusion in the mainstream media, when ABC News introduced the “2 Dees” and announced a $50 “Wii” price cut.
The Tech Crunch segment on August 29th (embedded above) opened with the Nintendo 2DS news, as the reporter said the following:
“Tech Bytes has some good news for gamers looking to save some money on this Holiday season, Nintendo is launching a $130 handheld gaming device on October 12th. The 2 Dees will play the same games as the 3 Dees, just with lower resolution graphics.”
“And, there is also good news for fans of Nintendo’s Wii gaming console. The price of the 32GB Wii is being cut by $50. This comes as both Sony and Microsoft are debuting new gaming systems for the Holiday season.”
ABC News’ confusion with the Nintendo 2DS also extended into the description for the video, which once again stated that the handheld is “cheaper than the 3DS, but with lower quality graphics.” Obviously, this is not the case as the 2DS is basically the same system as its older 3DS brother.
Ironically, the Tech Crunch segment on the “2 Dees” and “Wii” price drop aired on the exact same day that Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime boldly told Kotaku that the Wii U’s struggles have nothing to do with confusion over its name.
It is clearly too late to rename the Nintendo 2DS and Wii U, but hopefully the company is learning some important marketing lessons here.