superchunk said:
greenmedic88 said:
Of course nothing is definite. Even if anyone was being 100% resolute on any prediction regarding the console business, it hardly makes their stance any more likely. But by making comparisons with Nintendo's pricing strategy with the DS, the odds are more likely your educated/informed guess will be more accurate. Nintendo as a company is fairly predictable due to its conservative nature. If anything, they've become even more predictable in the interest of preserving the current strength of the company's underlying financials, which are the best they've ever been in the company's history. I've said it before, and I'll say it again; before Nintendo drops price on the Wii, we will see new colored consoles (a given) and possibly limited edition bundles with custom themes (like the custom Zelda DS bundle or Brain Age bundle) before any sort of price drop is realized so long as the Wii continues to match sales with current production. It won't be until we start to see regular levels of inventory at retail outlets (over a period of months) that a price reduction option will be explored. This is far more important to Nintendo than competing with MS or Sony on a price/value comparison with hardware. In short, pricing of the 360 and PS3 is not the driving factor for potential reduced pricing for the Wii, UNLESS price cuts significantly effect Wii inventory levels. But as for the claim that the Wii could retail at $450 or $500 (above the 360 Elite or 40GB PS3) and still out perfom in sales, you couldn't me more off the target. It's a faulty assumption to say that because there is a limited market of people willing to pay over MSRP for a consumer product that it would sell at those inflated prices to the overall market. It matters less anyway since Ebay pricing for the Wii fluctuates regularly depending on demand. It's not as though Nintendo or any company would constantly keep altering the price of their consumer electronics to match. Last I checked, the Wii was going for about $300 on Ebay, which is less of a premium than just a couple months ago. But that $250 price point has been one of the key factors in Nintendo's success this generation. |
I didn't mean to imply the Wii would be at a higher price that it is now. Just that if the PS360 was at its price there is a good indication it would still be outselling them right now. The only factor is the bluray drive in the PS3. That is a pure mass market device and might force Nintendo to always be $100 lower than PS3 to maintain a definitive monthly sales lead. |
I was actually under the assumption that was not what you were really claiming. I was putting it in perspective.
The thing to remember about comparing the PS3 and the Wii in terms of markets, is that the PS3 actually caters to two different markets with a fair amount of overlap in between.
Not all AV consumers game, but they do spend a significant portion of their disposable entertainment income on DVDs, etc. The PS3 caters to these (and there are plenty of PS3 owners who use their console exclusively as a movie player) as well as the gaming market.
This is the reason why making price to value comparisons between the Wii and PS3 are somewhat invalid. Yes, they're both gaming platforms, and yes some gamers will see the added value of HD media playback as a feature they'd be willing to pay a premium for, but this does not effect everyone in the market for a gaming console.
It's a safe assumption to say that no one is buying a Wii for potential future media functions, barring the handful of fanatics who have visions of HDD add ons and BR-D drive add ons for the Wii. Those add ons would only sell to that same market of gaming fanatics, not the mass majority of people buying the Wii who buy the ocassional game.
Also BR-D is not a mass consumer device yet. HD media (and the HD market overall) is still a niche market, although it is a niche market that is expanding into the mainstream at a rapid rate.
If/once BR-D does become a mass consumer device, then there won't actually be reason to command a $100 price premium, because by then BR-D drives will cost significantly less than a PS3 for those primarily interested in the AV capabilities.
