The Wii U comes with one Wii U Controller. Each console will support only one of these controllers; Kotaku broke the news that Nintendo is looking into games that support two Wii U controllers. But why is Nintendo planning to release the console with single Wii U Controller support?
"There's a cost issue," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told Japanese business site Diamond Online. According to Iwata, Nintendo aims to have the console and games support one Wii U Controller.
"Technically, it is possible for the Wii U to support multiple Wii U Controllers," Iwata said. However, this will result in a "considerable" price increase.
According to Iwata, "We're not planning on asking our customers to buy multiple Wii U Controllers."
Multiple Wii U Controller support makes more sense to me than, say, Wii Balance Board support.
This isn't the first thing Nintendo has nixed from the Wii U due to pricetag hikes; the Wii U will not have Blu-ray or DVD movie playback due to patent costs. Not sure if Nintendo's smart or simply stingy.
任天堂 岩田聡社長インタビュー 「Wii Uはゲームの家庭における存在意味を変え、 ゲーム人口拡大に貢献する」 E3スペシャル（前編）｜コンテンツ業界キャッチアップ [ダイヤモンド・オンライン]