Price cut coming for the Wii?

**gblock** · September 15, 2009

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/699168/Wii-Price-Cut-Coming-This-Month.html

Would you buy a Wii if it dropped to $199 new? I know I'll probably get a used one, which would probably be around $150.

**gblock** · September 24, 2009

It's official...

September 23, 2009 - Nintendo on Wednesday announced that it has reduced the price of its best-selling Wii console. Effective Sunday, the videogame system will retail for $199.99, $50 less than the previous cost. The bundle will still include a Wii remote and a copy of the ultra-popular title Wii Sports, Nintendo said. The news comes on the heels of widespread rumors stemming from purportedly leaked Wal-Mart, Toys 'R Us and Best Buy ads promising the new price point.
"Wii has reached more video game players than any game system before because it attracts everyone—both men and women, and people of all ages," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Our research shows there are 50 million Americans thinking about becoming gamers, and this more affordable price point and our vast array of new software mean many of them can now make the leap and find experiences that appeal to them, whatever their tastes or level of gaming experience."

Although Microsoft and more recently Sony have previously slashed the prices of their respective systems, Nintendo's global leader Satoru Iwata asserted repeatedly in recent weeks and months that the company had no plans to do the same. In an investors' briefing held last month in Tokyo, Iwata noted that there "... aren't a lot of decisions going on..." about a price reduction for Wii.

Wii debuted in November of 2006 -- nearly three years ago -- and has held the coveted position of best-selling videogame console every month since except one in which sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 saw a temporary boost after the release of Halo 3. Nintendo's little white box rocketed past 50 million units sold worldwide in record time and remains on track to challenge the title of the most popular videogame platform ever, PlayStation 2, which amassed global penetration of 145 million units during its life cycle.

Wii continues to sell well, so why the cost cut now? It's possible that the recent introduction of PlayStation 3 Slim, priced to sell at $299, spurred the decision. "We are up about 300 percent over where we were pre-price drop," Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said in an interview Wednesday.

It's also probable that diminished Wii numbers -- platform sales saw a 53 percent decline from the first quarter to the second quarter of the year, according to research firm EEDAR -- played a part. NPD's August report shows that Wii enjoyed sales of 277,000 units last month, down significantly from 453,000 systems for the same period last year. Still enough to best competitors, but the margin was notably thinner -- a mere 60,000-unit gap between Xbox 360 sales, as compared to 260,000 the year prior.

Even after lopping $50 off, Nintendo is still very likely to take in a hefty profit on every Wii system sold. In early 2008, Forbes reported that the Big N made $6 on every Wii released to the wild. Earlier this year, analyst Koya Tabata of firm Credit Suisse said that since that time the cost to produce Nintendo's videogame platform had fallen by more than 45 percent.

Nintendo plans to support the new price point with the release of two more major first-party efforts for the holiday season. The first is Wii Fit Plus, an upgrade to one of the best-selling games this generation. The title, which ships October 4, will altogether replace its predecessor and offer a slew of new mini-games and exercise routines for health-conscious Wii owners. And on November 15, the publisher will ship New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a four-player-compatible platformer inspired by its best-selling handheld game of the same name.

Credit: http://wii.ign.com/articles/102/1027488p1.html