Wii price cut due for this Holiday Season?

From the article:

Nintendo, moreso than any other console producing company, insists upon making a profit on their products; from the first release, on through its life cycle. The shareholders demand it. This is one of the reasons why Nintendo has recently become one of Japan's most valuable companies. However, a potential problem looms for the company this holiday season.

[ceedubya9]

Price doesn't seem to be that large of a factor for the Wii. Its fairly obvious that people will by it even if it stays at its current price.

Making it even cheaper will only make it even more hard to find during the holiday season. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. Nintendo is in its own world right now, with Microsoft and Sony fighting for the scraps.

[BrotherNick]

a 25 dollar drop would be nice ._.

[RealityCheck]

Agreed, they don't need it. They just need to keep advertising, have a few sites\newspapers make up stories of Wii shortage this holiday season, and the soccer moms will rush to the stores.

[TruthbeTold]

Nintendo runs the risk of losing market share to the 360's Arcade version if they don't act. Times are pretty tough all around right now. Even Japan, the Economic little engine that could had their exports decrease by 50% last month, and are facing their first true economic downturn in years.

This Christmas, I think the best deal will win out with the masses. Whatever system that is the most affordable, so be it. I seriously doubt that a kid who has his heart set on a Wii would complain about getting an Xbox 360 you know? People looking to get into gaming or finally buy a current-gen system will be looking at price for the foreseeable future. That is unless they are among the minority that has no current financial worries.

[RealityCheck]

@1.3, if a parent gets a kid a 360 they would do them a great disservice, besides Viva Pinata what is there for them to play?

If by kid you mean teenage boy, then ok, they would be happy with a 360 arcade for $50 less.

[TruthbeTold]

But when I said kid I meant teen. At the least middle school aged. Even amongst middle shool aged kids there's a good number of those little crap talkers playing CoD4, and playing into the embarrassing mini-culture.

[ceedubya9]

I'd be really surprised if Nintendo started to take a market share hit to the Arcade 360 this Holiday. Even though it is 199 now, and sales will pick up, I think it will be mostly because Wiis will still be hard to find. Obviously, the Arcade is the next affordable option. But its still up in the air as to whether the Arcade will make a huge difference or not. The Pro may still be the consistent best seller of the 3 models across the board.

People will buy a Wii because they want one. I think that the fact that it used to be the cheapest console stopped being a factor a while ago. People, non-gamers, just bought it because it is the "in" thing right now. Kind of like the Ipod is for mp3 players.

[Lelouch V Brit]

Nintendo needs a Bundle and a drop price, $199.00 with Super Smash Or Mario Galaxy.

[Xelai]

The 360 has some more games available for kids, the Arcade is full of them as well as some others.

If the Wii gets a price cut then its advantage will be just impossible to make up for either Sony or Microsoft, in fact it could well mean that both companies are unable to reach mass market and have massive losses.

[Doppy]

They should have done this from the start. $199 should have been the price for a Wii and it should have had DVD playback. The Wii would be in every gamers and non gamers home had that happened, but as long as it keeps selling the way it is, Nintendo will never give it a price cut.

[steveg2564]

I think it's all about marketing and at this point, Nintendo has done the best job of it. They've differentiated the Wii enough from the other consoles to not have to do a price cut, imo. Until demand goes down, I wouldn't think you'd see a price cut anyway.

[RealityCheck]

I agree, if I were to generalize about this generation so far I would say that the strenghts are:

Wii : Marketing
PS3 : Hardware
360 : Software

The Wii has succeeded and continues to do so almost solely based off their marketing. It was either incredible genius from them, total luck, or a bit of both.

[kesvalk]

really the shortage of Wii re a ig problem in the holyday season, they need to sell every Wii they can, and a shotage would halt this...

i think they should think about making more Wiis, i know that price is a deciding factor (at least here on Brazil) but even if someone want to buy it, if they can't find one, and are desesperate for a console, they would buy a 360 (the PS3 is ludricously expensive here on Brazil so it's a no go...)

[Monteblanco]

Smart companies don't compete in price. Iwata-san seems to be a smart CEO. Therefore, I wouldn't expect a price cut before the holidays.

[generalthadeape]

I believe that Nintendo could make more sales by making more units.

I mean, come on, every since Nintendo released the Wii, I've NEVER (EVER) seen one for sale in any store whatsoever.

I know that the market is still hot for the Wii, (as evidenced by the high prices commanded on craigslist & eBay), so the potential for additional sales is huge.

Hey, Nintendo-- if you want to sell more Wiis, then you need to make more Wiis. That's the bottom line.

Of course, if Nintendo were able to manufacture enough Wiis so that everyone-- or at least I-- could get one (at a retail store), a modest price cut would be "icing on the cake".

[TruthbeTold]

And I'm not saying that Nintendo won't do well this holiday season. Just that it may lose some market share, which they don't want. The Wii is still flying off the shelves, but at a much slower pace. I've seen them available for several days in a row now before being bought.

Of course this is still incredible, but it used to be unheard of. I'm pretty sure that with the current stockpiling efforts going, demand will be met this Christmas. Nintendo has been promising it for months. Will the Arcade eat up some of the market share though? I don't think that Nintendo will wait to find out if they can balance out their profits with a new DS.

[Gr81]

But a price cut for the Wii is so unneccesary at this point from a business perspective. Its selling out as is at its current price and will be the top selling console for the holiday season as well. The 199$ 360 will not affect Wii sales in the least. Price drops are resorted to when demand for a product is waning.

[AWBrawler]

A price drop of about $100 can really boost sells this holiday season, and well after.

[kewlkat007]

Why get a Wii if your ready to go HD + Chainsaw for the same price?...

[Product]

because alot of people who buy the wii are nto the same people who are buying an xbox.
Nintendo will not drop the price this season........next season we will see something.

[TruthbeTold]

I don't think that it would be more than $50. The Wii doesn't have to be cheaper necessarily, just match or be comparable to the lowest price.