Incredible as it sounds, it looks like Nintendo
isn't planning on slashing the price of the console it can still barely keep on store shelves. That word comes straight from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who's attempting to clamp down on
recent speculation that a Wii price cut could be in the offing, which seemed at least a tad more plausible considering that the manufacturing costs for the console have supposedly dropped significantly since its launch. According to Iwata, rather than trying to drive up sales numbers even further with a price cut, Nintendo will instead be putting "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" -- and now with
Disc Dog, in the top position in our hearts.
posted Apr 9th 2009 6:25PM
They better be putting some serious money in R&D...
Remember when Nintendo made insane profits when the NES dominated? Yeah, they put most of that into a war chest that they didn't need to open up until they started developing the Wii. I imagine after the non-dominations of the N64 & gamecube that they'll be a little more proactive this time around.
What about the SNES? That was dominant. They started slipping on the N64 and bought the farm on GameCube.
SNES didn't dominate the market the way the NES did. By the time the SNES hit, Genesis had gained enough of a market share to start to dig into Nintendo's profits.
Why print a £20 bill if you can print £50?
That's exactly what Nintendo's doing: printing money
http://www.gamemanx.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/prints_money.gif
Charge whatever the market will bear. one of the first rules of business.
It simply doesn't make sense for Nintendo to cut the price, even in this climate. They should ramp up production (if they haven't already). I can't see how after how many years in the market, Nintendo still can't meet demand.
Yeah, I couldn't tell if the summary was being sarcastic or not about "incredible as it may seem.." only a fool would cut prices when he's already selling at capacity.
Why would they cut prices when sales continue to skyrocket? That's just stupid to expect them to.
Sony, on the other hand...
Hardware sales are through the roof, but piracy is pretty rampant on the Wii. I'm surprised they aren't pulling that out as an excuse to keep prices up.
If you don't care about the Wii controller, you can build a computer with better performing for less money:
CPU/MB combo = $50 (cheap .. but it will perf better than Wii)
power supply + case = $25 (yes, if you look u can find it at decent quality level too)
40 GB HDD = $25
2 GB RAM = $15
GeForce 9400 GT 512MB DDR2 = $50 (far better graphics than Wii and has HD etc.)
$15 = $8 keyboard + $7 mouse
OS? Linux or Solaris, free.
Total = $175
Clearly Nintendo manufacturing is making mad profits on the Wii.
I'd like to see your "decent quality" case and PSU for $25
Totally valid argument.. comparing a kiddy game system to a lame box that can't even run real games (sorry SuperTux).
dude, i love PCs, but you're making PC gamers look like friggin tards...
psu's that cheap are a risk to health and safety.
I just want the motion plus replaced with a new controller.
not keeping on shelves? All the stores here have TONS of wiis and have had them for awhile now.
@aevansjr35: I see the same thing. Is there somewhere that has no supply? I was at best buy last weekend, and I saw two palettes on the floor with Wii. Been seeing them for a while, where are the shortages? Even online I see the prices now at $250.
Nintendo is starting to flat line on wiis. Gonna have to change something if they wish to continue to sell them maybe the time is now to upgrade it to HD and allow dvd play back (though most people dont need that). Maybe also upgrade the wii remote beyond the wii motion thats coming out.
wii sucks ass man, it aint on my wish list, not even at the bottom
Quick, ring Nintendo! Maybe they'll stop making it for you.
there's 1 or 2 sexy new games on the wii, can't remember off hand though.
at least i'll probably be playing mario kart wii for a long time to come.
I've owned every Nintendo console, both home and handheld, since the NES (yes, even a Virtual Boy). Up until recently, I was perfectly content with the products they put out. Over the last year, I've grown apart from the Wii. The lack of hardcore games that actually have replay value, and the whole Friend Code mess forced me to sell a Nintendo system for the first time in my life. So I sold the Wii and all the games, and went out and bought a 360. I've been converted from a lifelong Nintendo fanboy to an Xbox fanboy. I realize that Nintendo's sold a shitload of Wiis, but they are not appealing to the huge demographic that paid for their success. If Nintendo has ANY money stored up somewhere, they'd better spend it on a new console that can at least match the specs of the ORIGINAL Xbox.
Great, you converted from a half lame system to an even lamer system. Tbh, I liked the original Xbox but MS totally screwed up with the 360. And then again, there's Nintendo..
how screwed up is the 360? you obviously don't own a 360 or know how screwed up it ISN'T. i've had 1 RRoD... whoopty doo; couldn't game for 2 weeks. so what? so many amazing games and the Live experience is phenomenal.
in your opinion, what isn't a lame system? PS3? PC? if it's PS3, stop being such a fanboy. if it's PC, you're comparing apples to oranges.
I saw six Wiis in stock at my local Kmart yesterday.
Go figure.
wait, Kmart still exists?
I heard they were going to cut the price once they sold the 6,500,000,000th unit. So that won't be too long right? Next week or the week after...
A Wii for nearly everyone on the planet. Talk about domination.
Hooray for disc dog!
Again, Engadget, the word you're looking for is "quash" not "squash". Without correct English the article can rather much be a damp squid.
The phrase you are looking for is damp squib.
Indeed... Irony was never one of my strong points.
"Great, you converted from a half lame system to an even lamer system. Tbh, I liked the original Xbox but MS totally screwed up with the 360. And then again, there's Nintendo."
how in the hell did MS screw up the vastly superior 360? what are you some sort of moron... oooo red ring of death, postal replacement.. big deal... now what else did MS screw you over with??
The Wii is a novelty toy, and like most novelty toys everyone rushes out to buy em cause when they played them round their mates house when drunk at some party it was great fun, then you buy one and have a party and everyone has a laugh bowling or whatnot, then you goto play something on it the following day that isnt a party game and you realise that the graphics suck, the games are the same shit nintendo have been producing for years and the little gay box gets shoved into a cupboard never to be used again cause the next time you throw a party no one can be arsed playing it and prefers to instead get wasted..
But fair play to them, they innovated and took a risk with the controller, lets hope they use the massive amount of cash there making on that shitbox to actually make a decent console for gamers next time instead of old people and 9y.o. kids
Such an eloquant and well thought out piece of writing, with valid points presented in a totally objective manner. Kudos to you, sir.
^^^ who died and made you my english teacher?
/agree ozz. Cuz selling to those outside the hardcore gamers won't make them more money than selling to only hardcore gamers at all.....
Seriously, why does everyone think that when a company makes a console that it HAS to be directed at the hardcore market. Guess what guys, you don't make up the vast majority of the population. They can make way more money selling a console to the rest of the world, not just the limited population of hard core gamers.
+73
business is business. if you actually like gaming, buy a 360.