Nintendo says no to Wii price cuts Don’t hold your breath waiting for the price of the Wii or the DS to come down this year, because Nintendo’s President has stated that the console pioneer has no plans to reduce the prices of either machine in 2008. Satoru Iwata recently told a meeting of analysts that Nintendo’s earnings projection for this year isn’t based …
Can anybody really see Nintendo saying - "Our sales are astronomical, so to piss off our shareholders, and make less profit, we're going to drop the price by £50"?
Even *if* they were planning on a Christmas price drop, they wouldn't tell us, they'd hardly want to put people off buying one now and making more money off them. There in the console business to make money, plain & simple.
What donkeys in the media or so called media/computing consultants are calling or expecting a price cut just because its x months along from target Y.
whilst the xbox/ps fanbois will bemoan one thing or another, the thing is flying off the shelves quick than the bing "N" can make these things!
thats would suggest the price isnt too exspensive and why cut price to stimulate demand it cant feed? It may as awell sit back and milk the profits whilst there there... it can always cut the price as the demand eases below that of peak production caperlibilites!?
(PS: I dont down own any next gen consoles such as a PS3, nor do i own a Wii or the donkey box x360)
They priced it reasonably to start with, so there's no need to reduce it. Lesson well learned from both Microsoft and Sony who have both dramatically reduced console prices after launching them too high. Sony's original price hike on the PS3 was my main reason for getting the 360 (that and the fact is was a more established machine).
MS and Sony make their main money on game sales. This is why they used to sell their consoles at a loss. The big N however, make a profit on each console sold.
As prev reported on el Reg, Wii owners as a WHOLE tend not to buy as many games.
So, Nintendo wants to stay in profit and will not cut prices. I expect even a further round of cuts by Sony and/or MS will not even change things as Nintendo go after the other sector of the market - people who tend not to like traditional video games.
Tux, cause I wish he was on my wii.
..was it that the price should come down in the first place? Nintendo have judged the market just right and engineered the thing to make a profit from day one, so it's a daft question.
The Wii Board will be another success, I'm sure. Watch them popping up in gyms everywhere, next to a big flat screen...
I'm wryly amused to see the game(r)s shops having to make more room for Wii stuff. It must be strange for them to have 'normal' customers...
"(PS: I dont down own any next gen consoles such as a PS3, nor do i own a Wii or the donkey box x360)"
How the hell would you know what is any good if you dont own one of them? I have used all three extensively and while the Wii has strong novelty value with the controllers and gameplay it aint a patch on the PS3 or even the 360. It is selling in droves to the mommies of the under-10 gamer. Serious gamers will go for the PS3 or X360 in larger numbers.
What exactly is a 'serious gamer'? Is it someone who never smiles, wears a lot of beige, pencils in their shirt pocket, pocket calculator in their back? Someone who never laughs at funny jokes?
Someone who is that 'serious' about gaming that they have to resort to cheating and spending over 45% of their waking hours playing with themselves silly over their gamer tag achievements (seriously of course - no fun to be had even there). Serious fcuking business indeed.
Last time I heard someone messed with a serious gamer they got owned. Ouch, I bet that taught them. Rather them than me.
They should do . . . they've been around in the console biz long enough to know how and where to pitch their wares!!
Since games consoles first hit the streets, I have played on them . . . not mine but my friends. Found them ok but not compelling enough to shell out whatever they cost. Reason? I could sit on my lard in front of a telly anytime I wanted to!!
So, up until the Wii was released, I have never owned a console and had no desire to own one . . . period!!
Now . . . well you've guessed it already . . . I own a Wii, 4 Wiimotes, 2 Nunchucks, a Wii Zapper and as of last Friday, Wii Fit and the amazing Wii Board!!
What does all that mean? Well it means . . .
1. Ninty have me as a consumer of their product purely as a result of the innovation(s) of the Wii brand.
2. Ninty have priced the Wii at the right level from the start that covers all the costs of their R & D expenditure, manufacturing, marketing, etc . . and they make a profit, as should be the way in business.
3. Ninty, quite rightly, have said they will not drop their prices for the Wii (and DS). Why should they, when they have got a winner at the pricepoints they already offer?
I have never derided the merits of consoles like the NES/SNES et al, Mega Drive or more lately the PS series and XBox/360. None of them were 'ME' but the Wii is.
On the other hand, I have heard and read many derisory comments about the Wii system . . . 'Looks like Noddy in Toytown', 'Painting by Numbers', etc, etc . . . but I guess your viewpoint is how you perceive what is FUN!!
The Wii is about people aged from 3 to 53/63/73, whatever age playing on a console, together and having FUN.
PS and XBox is about people in a narrower age band playing a console together and having FUN.
No comprenez vous?
Here's the deal . . . (This is true).
Family of Mum, Dad and 2 Daughters get PS3 and Wii systems at Xmas last year. Facts:
1. 99% of the time, Dad plays PS3 alone, not because he wants to, or the PS3 is 'off limits' to everyone but himself, it's just that the FUN games on the PS3 they have got, pale in comparison to the ones on the Wii.
2. In contrast, when the Wii is on, they all get involved, have a laugh and try harder next time. Friends and family have FUN TOGETHER & come back for more.
3. Since Xmas, Dad has played on the Wii more times than on the PS3.
The Family I write about above is . . .
My Daughter, Son-in-Law and my Granddaughters and just for the record . . .
. . . I bought both the PS3 and Wii systems for them last Xmas.
Make what you will of what I have written, as is your choice and right but what I really want to know is . . .
. . . How the HECK are Ninty gonna surpass the Wii Board??!!
PS . . .
'Thumbs Up' because there isn't an Icon that truly reflects my feelings!!
Clever Ninty, almost every new game demands you by the latest hardware controller, the latest being the wiiboard. Not so cheap really and where are you supposed to store all that plastic. I'm not knocking the machine, compared to the Vtech kiddies rubbish in Toy'r'Us up and down the country, it's proper Bo!
I think, as an adult, i'll stick with a proper next gen console that plays proper next gen games *cough* GTA4 *cough*.
So far the balance board is the only new thing required. You can play Mario kart without the wheel and any shooter without the zapper. Boogie and guitar hero (wiimote plugs in so is it jsut a shell?) are the only other things I can think of.
Please explain how one to three games coming with a special controller equals almost every new game?
Have you checked the dictionary definition of "game"
1. "An activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime: party games; word games."
I would imagine that all of nintendos games are "proper".
And as for your "Next Gen" remark, unless you have a time machine and have been to the future I can only assume you mean "current gen" console.
Thus, Nintendo is a "proper" 'current gen' console that plays "proper" 'current gen' games.
In the words of a "serious" gamer (look, I am not laughing and will unlikely to - far too serious for that), you have just been "owned".
Ouch, that must smart. Dumbass.
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