thx1139 said:
Because we are talking them bumping the console a couple of hundred thousand. That isnt enough to change the trajectory. As someone else said in a couple of weeks the Halo Reach bump will be basically over. A good quality lineup with additions throughout the year maintains sales. It also gets back to last year. Wii sales jumped when the price dropped, but the Nintendo fans say it was because of NSMBWii which came nearly 2 months later. If Nintendo doesnt drop the price this year you will see. And what you will see will be pretty standard climb to holiday levels in November and December. |
NSMB Wii has sold 15 million, and is still hovering around the top 10 charts nearly a year later. That is what I call the ULTIMATE hardware mover. To claim that somehow a $50 price cut had more of an effect on the hardware than the most popular franchise of all time is pretty laughable. In essence, if NSMB Wii is NOT a hardware mover, then no game is.
Remember in Japan Wii sales barely rose when it had its price cut. Only after NSMB Wii did sales really take off. The game single handedly sold out Wiis nearly worldwide after the console was recently in pretty steep decline.
People buy consoles for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to play games. If a console costs $20 but has no good games, it will not sell.
IMO, Nintendo would be foolish to drop the price of the Wii this year for several reasons. For one, it would only be a $50 drop, which would not be very significant. Second, it would be around the holiday season, when Nintendo consoles raise significantly anyways (even the Gamecube sold strongly around the holidays). Third, Wii's lineup for the remainder of the year is extremely strong compared to the first 9 months, and many have the potential to move consoles, the biggest being Donkey Kong. Obviously it won't be as big as NSMB, as nothing will, but it will still be the biggest title of the year in terms of moving consoles.
