Despite the fact that no one has any money and its competitors are dropping their prices to make their consoles more attractive to cash-strapped consumers, Nintendo remains adamant that it will not be cutting its prices.
According to a post in PCWorld the company has said it has no plans to cut the price of its Wii console or its Dsi handheld console in light of the recent economic problems.
"If we were making a product that was similar to others and cheaper prices mean selling more then a price cut might be an efficient means of driving up sales however, I don't think video games are that kind of product," said Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo.
Iwata went on to say that even though we’re all feeling the recession, consumers seem to be keeping Nintendo products high up on their lists of must-have items, citing this as the reason to keep prices as they are. "Instead of driving up sales [with a price cut] I think we should put more energy and time into making better entertainment so that our products are going to remain in the top position in our customer's wish lists," he said.
Sony and its PS3 made headlines last month when it surpassed Nintendo Wii sales in Japan, marking the first time the Wii has ever come second in console sales. Thanks to the Sega Sammy’s “Ryu Ga Gotoku 3” (which will be known in the west as “Yakuza 3”) and Capcom’s “Biohazard 5” (better known as “Resident Evil 5”), gamers found more reasons to pick up the more expensive PlayStation 3 over the Wii.
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sorry for dp, it was for a good cause. this is how i've been feeling about nintendo recently... anyone agree?
A product is worth the price that people are willing to pay right? So I'd say the Wii is worth $250 since everyone and their dog is willing to pay that. When sales drop off and less people are willing to pay $250 the product will be worth less and then the price should drop; not when it is still selling well.
Peripheral wise, Nintendo likes to stick it to their customers in my opinion, but as far as the system goes, $250 is relatively inexpensive.
So are all the game consoles on the market. Expensive things that entertain us, and do little else.
They should lower the price to $199, or even lower in developing countries. It might not make a huge difference in Japan, or the U.S., and even lowering the price to $99 won't help much in very poor countries, but the price drops make a bigger difference in the countries in between. Also, I do think even in wealthier countries, it would help demand, and it's almost always a mistake to make too much money on consoles. It's worked so far, but two milestones have happened, that are inauspicious for Nintendo - supply has met demand, and Sony just outsold it in Japan. The latter of which, is pretty amazing, although probably not sustainable. Still, that it happened at all, is pretty scary.
With the PS/2 now $99, I think you'll see it gain sales, and I think some of it will come from the Wii. It's not like the hardware is really worse, the Wii is a joke in that department. I don't think PS/2 sales will come mainly from real 3rd Generation machines, since they can't possibly duplicate the visuals of it, and that's why people buy those machines. At $99, it's more of an attack on the casual gamer, so, it could have a small effect on the Wii.
Market share is so important for console makers, it begets more of the same since it gets more software development, and more investment from other companies in the platform. Nintendo has done a good job so far, but in the last month or so, I've seen so many articles about the price, it's obviously getting too much bad attention. This stuff does filter down. I think a small, proactive cut would be good for them. They WILL cut the price of the console anyway, because I'm convinced it will start hurting them. It's better if they do it proactively. Making too much money on consoles sounds great, but I think it's fool's gold. They'll pay for it with lost software sales in the long run, if it impacts their market share. I think it will, I guess most others think it won't. We'll see in a few months.
It
"We are Nintendo, and we want your money really bad, so keep 'em coming."
It's japanese.
What did you expect...? THEY MADE ANIME.
What this says to me is that Nintendo doesn't really compare itself to other consoles; they have a much broader target market so they really don't base their success on how their console is selling in relation to the Xbox or PS3. So I really don't think they give a crap that the PS3 sold more units in 1 month in Japan.
Sony's also japanese...
So we have two opposite ends of the spectrum. Wii goes for gameplay PS3 goes for graphics.
Who won? If you ask the consumers it is very very clear...
Just because you don't like the Wii yourself does not mean it's a piece of junk. I agree the Wii doesn't have the best graphics and the gameplay isn't deep and the motion controls can be gimmicky, but it doesn't matter because it's FUN. I love my 360 and PS3, but on the other hand I also love to get a couple of cases of beer and some friends together to play some Wii!!