Here's a Wii pricing thought...

[Xot]

Does anyone else recall that the N64 was pre-sold at $249, and then released at a price of $199.99? Granted, it was in in response to Sony dropping the price of the PS1 from $299 to $199, but I worked at EB at the time and we got HUNDREDS of pre-orders at $249... and with the shortage of consoles, Nintendo could STILL have sold them at $249 right through Xmas without losing a signficant number of sales. I was **shocked** that the big N basically said, "Here's $50 back, we don't need THAT much of your money."

 

So, is it even remotely possible that something similar could happen with the Wii?

[Atarifever]

My guess is no. I think part of the current pricing strategy is to make the Wii not seem inferior to the competition. Let's face it, the only real Xbox 360 is $400, and the cheapest PS3 is $500. The Wii already has lower graphical abilities going against it, Nintendo doesn't want it pricing at just about twice what a PS2 goes for or it'll seem like a last gen system. I imagine a $200 divide between the products would make the Wii look like there must be something wrong with it.

I think, pricing wise, the ball is in Microsoft's court. If they drop the 360 by $50 they get to have the 360 going for the same price as the Wii in the make believe fantasy world where the core system exists, thus getting customers at least thinking about a 360. They could also hit Sony's price hard by having their system a full $150 cheaper than the competition, while looking every bit as good, except with a larger library. Unlike for the Wii, the price difference would make sense to the average consumer because the 360 has been on the market for a full year already, and because it doesn't actually look inferior graphically. They can really do whatever they want pricewise through this holiday season.

[Gabriel]

 

So, is it even remotely possible that something similar could happen with the Wii?

 

Anything is conceivably possible.

 

I think fandom is barking up the wrong tree in this case. I'm pretty sure the discussions behind the doors at Nintendo were based around whether they thought they could get away with pricing the console at $300 rather than stripping down the price to $200.

[King_Salamon]

 

So, is it even remotely possible that something similar could happen with the Wii?

 

Anything is conceivably possible.

 

I think fandom is barking up the wrong tree in this case. I'm pretty sure the discussions behind the doors at Nintendo were based around whether they thought they could get away with pricing the console at $300 rather than stripping down the price to $200.

 

I'm thinking that is more accurate. Up until E3 this year, the Wii was seen as a poor-man's system with some interesting bells and whistles. At this point, I think the Wii was planned to retail at $200 or perhaps less. After E3, Nintendo's ego inflated and a few of the launch titles that were planned (and launch window titles) have since been pushed back and the price has been inflated.

 

If the 360 were to drop to $350 or $300 for the Premium pack, then Nintendo would have to adjust accordingly. But Sony is the third factor that would have to change their price to create a domino effect, which is very unlikely... or is it? LOL!

 

62 days to the Wii launch, 60 days to the PS3 launch... still a lot of time for changes to happen. The fun is just beginning!

[n8littlefield]

I don't see it happening. If Nintendo is really breaking even with the hardware like they say - they won't drop their price until another company forces them to.

 

Given MS is really competing more directly with Sony - MS is probably pretty comfortable with their price point right now.

[sega saturn x]

Didn't the exact same thing happen with the cube as well? Regardless I had the same diea for a while but it just isn't going to happen this time.

[jbanes]

I don't see it happening. If Nintendo is really breaking even with the hardware like they say - they won't drop their price until another company forces them to.

They're not. "Just breaking even", that is. Kaplan's interview tells the whole story if you listen to it. She says (in answer to a leading question, mind you) that the "Wii is breaking even", but that it will be "profitable very soon". Which means that most of the costs are paper costs worked out in accounting.

 

The first rule of Consumer Club is - you do not trust what Marketing says. The second rule of Consumer Club is - you DO NOT trust what Marketing says! Third rule of Consumer Club, someone yells Stop!, goes limp, taps out, their console is out.

[MCHufnagel]

Given MS is really competing more directly with Sony - MS is probably pretty comfortable with their price point right now.

While I agree that MS must feel pretty good right now about prices, they have the potential to really clean up for this holiday season. Drop the Core price down to $275 and put a 40 gig hard drive as standard on the Premium. Hit both ends of the scale at the same time.

 

Nintendo priced the Wii too close to the X360 core. MS could really put the hurt on them with just a little price cut. And a larger hard drive will make the premium a better bargin against the PS3.