Nintendo Will Not Sell GamePad Separately In North America

Makes you wonder what's gonna happen if someone breaks one or something.

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When Nintendo finally revealed Wii U would support up to two GamePad controllers, one of the first questions many fans asked was "How much will one of those cost?" After Nintendo's Wii U launch presentation earlier today, I caught up with Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime to ask just that. Much to my surprise, Fils-Aime said gamers wouldn't have to worry about it - Nintendo isn't planning on selling GamePads as accessories in North America.

"We have deliberately not announced the availability of the GamePad as a separate, standalone accessory here in the United States," Fils-Aime told me. "The reason for that is simple - there are no games in the launch window that take advantage of a second GamePad. And [because of that], I want all of that hardware production to be focused on driving sales at retail.

"What I mean by that is that Wii U is a console and a GamePad together. If I were to take additional GamePads and make them available as an accessory, then I would have less Wii U console hardware to sell into retail. You know, probably one of your questions is whether I'm going to meet demand. The only way we're going to achieve that here in the Americas is to not have that GamePad accessory, so I can maximize my overall volume."

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