The price of the Nintendo Wii will remain unchanged for the holidays. I think they’re trying to obvious us all to death.
UPDATE: I predict that Nintendo will be forced to drop the price to $200 after the holiday season. I explain why below in the comment thread.
With the thing selling as well as it has, there’s no reason for them to drop the price.
exactly – it’s pretty much non-news. Still it’s interesting in light of the fact that Microsoft’s XBox took the sales lead last month, mostly due to sales of Halo. And, of ocurs,e continued supply shortages on Nintendo’s side.
Nintendo is going to ramp up production for the holidays, which is a double edged sword in a sense. Right now there are a lot of people who desire a Wii but cannot get one. Once all of them do, and in all likelihood most of them will indeed obtain theirs during the holidays, will the demand for the Wii continue at the same level? I dont think Nintendo can bank of it, and the sales numbers from the Xbox show that it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that interest in the Wii can be eclipsed by other hot products.
Ultimately as XBox and PS3 inch closer downwards their relative value increases for the family looking to spend around 300-400 for a gaming system after the holidays. The Wii isproced rather low, at $250, but that doesn’t include an extra controller, or any decent games beyond the pack-in (which is great, but hardly enough for long term). A more realistic entry point is in the $300-$350 range, which is pretty much the same price as the new XBox Arcade and not that far from the new PS3 40G version for sale. And thelatter two systems do provide more capability out of the box in terms of graphics, online, and extras (especially the BluRay drive on the PS3).
I think that Nintendo can hold off on a price reduction for now, but after the holiday season if they want to maintain any sort of momentum they will need to knock $50 off the price. And probably add functionality like DVD playback at a minimum besides.