Wii U pricing not the issue, says Iwata

It's not the Wii U's pricing that is hurting the system's sales potential, but rather a lack of compelling software, according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

"If the price is actually an issue [with Wii U], then there is some contradiction between the current sales balance between the basic and premium versions of the Wii U," Iwata told CVG.

"The basic version should have sold a lot, but the fact of the matter is that people are buying more of the premium version. So the issue is not there," he added.

The Wii U has sold 3.61 million units since launch late last year and only 160,000 systems during the April-June quarter. Nintendo plans to sell 9 million consoles by March 2014.

The console is currently available at $300 for an 8GB Basic model and $350 for a 32GB Deluxe version. Nintendo is selling every Wii U at a loss.

Iwata explained that the "real issue" that is holding the Wii U back is a lack of software. The "only solution," according to Iwata, is to provide gamers with "a number of quality titles."

Nintendo is planning to do just that. The company shipped Pikmin 3 earlier this month, and has a number of marquee first-party titles on the way this year, including The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (October), Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (November), and Super Mario 3D World (December).