Joelcool7 said:
Nintendo will definatly not be taking a loss on any hardware sold in the US. If they were taking a loss it would be way cheaper Nintendo would probubly have priced it around 150-200USD. But fact is Nintendo does not want to loose any money. My guess is when Nintendo revealed the Japanese price at 300USD european retailers set their prices accordingly making them slightly higher as often Europe does have slightly higher prices. Actually up untill today EBGames here in Canada was selling the 3DS at 300CDN. My bet is now that Nintendo has set the American price at 250USD and the Japanese price at 300USD that European retailers will probubly lower their prices a bit. Do I think many European stores will lower the prices as low as 250USD? Doubtful but maybe 275-310USD is more likely. Nintendo allowing retailers to set the price will probubly encourage retailers to sell the unit. I mean if you could price it at a nice profit for yourself your going to carry the product. But at the same time retailers will have to lower their costs to compete with each other. Also if the retailer isn't selling many units at 310USD they may lower the price to a more reasonable one to shift units. Also keep in mind localization. It probubly costs Nintendo different amounts of money to import the console into different countries. Different retailers and different markets mean different prices. As I said earlier it would be hard to give a single price I think it is more likely that Nintendo is charging retailers different prices based on their costs then those retailers inturn set their own prices. Remember competition leads to lower prices. I doubt everyone in Europe will have to pay such outrageous prices. Then again parts of Europe have traditionally high costs. |
I'm sure I read on here the Gamecube was sold at a loss for a bit - but maybe the poster was wrong or something. Still, if they can get away with selling it for $250 in the USA, then they're just overpiricing it here. If they can sell it at that price, then fair enough, but I really can't see UK sales going all that well. It's just so rediculously high, everyone I've spoken to had their jaws drop lol.
UK stores have set their pre-order prices and they're all batting around £219 without a game, so really £250 with a game. You won't see the hardware any cheaper here until a price cut, except maybe if the supermarkets get on the launch day offers (Like they do with FIFA / Call of Duty), but in reality we're looking at £250 for at least a year.
Giving the retailers free reigns over the price isn't a new strategy - Sony did the same with the PS3 - it's just a common thing here in Europe I believe. It's never lead to better value or a cheaper console, as they're already selling the thing at pretty much breakeven anyway.
Maybe the cost of gaming is going up and this is just the first of many ridiculous price schemes, but while most of us were expecting a price rise (Somewhere in line with £180 like the Wii was) this just seems extortion. For less than £250 I can buy any other console on the market with at least 2 new games. I don't want to comment on Euro / American pricing as I can't really grasp how much $250 or euros is, but the UK pricing is mental.
We'll see how the UK reacts from March I guess, while I'm sure there are enough Nintendo fans out there to buy this thing in the first few weeks, I'm really doubting we'll see sustained sales for the device in the UK. Mind you, I think it took the DS a good year to really gain major traction over the PSP, and it's not exactly losing sales to any competition either.
