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Forums - Nintendo - Should Nintendo cut the price of Wii?

Smashchu2 on 21 August 2009
greenmedic88 said:
It is the most overpriced console on the market currently, and has been for quite some time, given the low manufacturing costs.

But in the case of the Wii, dollar to value ratio has never been the system's key selling point, with the exception perhaps of the early adopters who were fortunate enough to actually find one at retail price (how many were actually hawked on e-bay for more? we'll never know).

Now I keep hearing a lot of "software drives hardware" statements, which is true (no compelling software = no sales), but when used as a reason why the console will not be seeing a price drop because of the claim the price drops only have a temporary effect (short term bump, followed by long term raised sustained sales is actually more accurate) the question has to be asked, at what point does Nintendo drop the price? Never? Of course not.

When Nintendo starts to miss or lower its sales projections will be the point at which they will have to find the right formula for a price strategy to sustain sales with the inclusion of lower price market demographics.

That's right; all the consumers who won't pay even $249 for a video game console, of which there are far more than those who will pay $249 for a console.

The question is, what is the price point at which the new price market demographic opens up? $199? $149? Probably both points, with a much larger market at $149.

Bundles may add value (or simply allow retailers to unload more product with one transaction), but what they don't do is lower the overall price.

And I realize there are some who want to believe that Nintendo can sell the Wii for $249 for ten years of production, but the reality is there will be a point at which the market for the Wii at that price will be tapped out from a sustained growth perspective. Only by adding lower price demographic consumers will they be able to substantially boost sales.

Maybe not this year, but once Nintendo starts missing its sales projections and the stock starts taking an appropriate hit (since games/game hardware are all that the company produces), they won't have the luxury of pretending they will never have to drop the price.

There is a big flaw in your reason. You claim there is truth in the opposing statement, but you beleive your idea to be correct by sheer will. Let me explain.

If software drives hardware, then wouldn't the way to boost hardware sales is to make compelling software? If price drops only make short term growths, then why do they absolutly need it? Instead, they could focus on the software front and keep price then same. They get more revenue from the console and it retains it's value in the consumer's mind. It's at a mass market price. Why drop it? The bold contradicts the rest of your reasoning as you answered the question of the opposing view point. Each paragraph can be answered with "making compelling software."



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FreeTalkLive on 21 August 2009

Sales are good right now.

1. If they go down in a few weeks, introduce more colors.
2. After a couple colors, introduce a couple of bundles at the same price (Warioware, Mario Party 8, Zelda, or if those don't work, NSMB).
3. After a few bundles, lower the price. This many happen 3 months from now or as far away as next year, depending on how the colors and bundles do.



 

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Wii_Master on 21 August 2009

Wii doesn't need the price cut because ps3 is mainly going to eat into 360 sales as wii is a completely different system.. so a guy who wants mario and motion controller will buy wii no matter how much the ps3 or the 360 is and a guy who wants an hd console will get the 360 or the ps3 but not the wii no matter how much less it costs... then the guy who wants hd console will compare ps3 to 360 and say ps3 has blu-ray and other stuff while 360 has good oline so with bluray for the same price he will get the ps3.. that clearly explains that ps3 will eat into 360 sales more than wii sales cause a 199 360 didn't affect wii sales so then why should a 299 elite 360 or a 299 ps3 affect wii sales....



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noname2200 on 21 August 2009
Paul said:

Yes, in Canada it is only $20 cheaper than the PS3.

Wait, is this the case everywhere, or just at a select few retailers?

 

As to the topic, I can honestly say I prefer that they don't. As someone who already has a Wii, I much prefer the "let's make killer apps to get more people!" attitude, since that directly benefits me.



kicks1989 on 21 August 2009

yeah defintely i think most of the hype on this console is gone i think what would help is a release of a really awesome game like killzone 2 in ps3 and a price cut all they need is 1 brilliant game and it doesnt have to be a shooting game



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ameratsu on 21 August 2009
noname2200 said:
Paul said:

Yes, in Canada it is only $20 cheaper than the PS3.

Wait, is this the case everywhere, or just at a select few retailers?

 

$279.99 CA is the regular Wii price at all retailers. Some shadier retailers actually only sell it in bundle form for way over that price.



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Wii_Master on 21 August 2009

actually yes the wii is only 20 cheaper than ps3 in canada i live in ontario canada but i don't think that makes a difference because at bestbuy and futureshop ( a big canadian only electronics retailer, is owned by bestbuy though now)

so yeah i was saying that at when i was roaming around bestbuy, i noticed that the ps3 was 299 (no shock) and there were like a huge pile in the gaming section (like 100) ps3 's and in the front they put around another 50.... but there were only like 5 wiis in the gaming section and none at the front (cause this is not a new item or a new price ).....so i ask the sales person that if they had anymore wiis than the ones just there. He responds like this:

SP: No those are it... We only get like 50 wii's every time nintendo ships them.... and he said last shipment was 2 days ago.... so i am like you sold 45 wiis in 2 days????? and then he said yeah... and then i asked him when the price for ps3 changed to 299 and he said 2 days ago.. and also asked him how many shipped from sony on that day.. so he says that because of a price cut we got an extra 200 consoles so basically with the price cut the ps3 sold as much as the wii with out the price cut......

so i mean to say wii don't need a price cut... also first week sales for the ps3 should be pretty good and close to the wiis sales....



╔╦╦╗╔╦╗
║║║║╠╬╣
║║║║║║║ WOULD LIKE TO PLAY!!
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greenmedic88 on 21 August 2009
Smashchu2 said:
greenmedic88 said:
It is the most overpriced console on the market currently, and has been for quite some time, given the low manufacturing costs.

But in the case of the Wii, dollar to value ratio has never been the system's key selling point, with the exception perhaps of the early adopters who were fortunate enough to actually find one at retail price (how many were actually hawked on e-bay for more? we'll never know).

Now I keep hearing a lot of "software drives hardware" statements, which is true (no compelling software = no sales), but when used as a reason why the console will not be seeing a price drop because of the claim the price drops only have a temporary effect (short term bump, followed by long term raised sustained sales is actually more accurate) the question has to be asked, at what point does Nintendo drop the price? Never? Of course not.

When Nintendo starts to miss or lower its sales projections will be the point at which they will have to find the right formula for a price strategy to sustain sales with the inclusion of lower price market demographics.

That's right; all the consumers who won't pay even $249 for a video game console, of which there are far more than those who will pay $249 for a console.

The question is, what is the price point at which the new price market demographic opens up? $199? $149? Probably both points, with a much larger market at $149.

Bundles may add value (or simply allow retailers to unload more product with one transaction), but what they don't do is lower the overall price.

And I realize there are some who want to believe that Nintendo can sell the Wii for $249 for ten years of production, but the reality is there will be a point at which the market for the Wii at that price will be tapped out from a sustained growth perspective. Only by adding lower price demographic consumers will they be able to substantially boost sales.

Maybe not this year, but once Nintendo starts missing its sales projections and the stock starts taking an appropriate hit (since games/game hardware are all that the company produces), they won't have the luxury of pretending they will never have to drop the price.

There is a big flaw in your reason. You claim there is truth in the opposing statement, but you beleive your idea to be correct by sheer will. Let me explain.

If software drives hardware, then wouldn't the way to boost hardware sales is to make compelling software? If price drops only make short term growths, then why do they absolutly need it? Instead, they could focus on the software front and keep price then same. They get more revenue from the console and it retains it's value in the consumer's mind. It's at a mass market price. Why drop it? The bold contradicts the rest of your reasoning as you answered the question of the opposing view point. Each paragraph can be answered with "making compelling software."

So wait and see if Nintendo misses its target for the year and they drop price.

You can still make the claim that the software line up wasn't/isn't compelling enough if that happens, but that same excuse could be used to explain away ANY shortfall in sales. Anyone should be intelligent enough to see the flaw in that argument.

You seem to be supporting the absurd notion that Nintendo can and will sell the Wii for $249 for the entire production run.



Paul on 22 August 2009
ameratsu said:
noname2200 said:
Paul said:

Yes, in Canada it is only $20 cheaper than the PS3.

Wait, is this the case everywhere, or just at a select few retailers?

 

$279.99 CA is the regular Wii price at all retailers. Some shadier retailers actually only sell it in bundle form for way over that price.


What I find even funnier is that the DSi sells for the same price as an XBOX 360 arcade. Both $199 Cdn.



ph4nt on 22 August 2009

A system is only as valuable as the consumer says it is.

And the consumer says Wii is more valuable than the PS3, I don't give a damn what technology is in the box, it's what the box does with the technology, and Wii is clearly superior.

It's kind of like an old coin, its a nickel, it's worth 5 cents, but people pay thousands of dollars for it, is it really worth that much? It is if the consumer is willing to pay. I'm so sick of the value argument.