While Microsoft and Sony continue to jostle for sales positioning by introducing trade-drumming price drops to their latest gaming hardware, market-leader Nintendo has revealed that prospective Wii and DS consumers holding out for similar price reductions are on a road to little more than disappointment.
No price drops for Wii or DS, says Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Credit: Matchity/Flickr.
Specifically, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said that the company has absolutely no plans to reduce the price points of its Wii home console and DS portable console. According to Iwata, price drops would only serve to make early hardware adopters feel as though they are being short-changed in return for their custom.
The hugely successful Nintendo Wii, which uses innovative motion controls, has remained at its launch price of $250 USD since arriving at retail in November of 2006.
Conversely, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 have both undergone progressive price drops since launch. The most recent of these saw the basic Xbox 360 model priced below the Wii in Europe, which subsequently led to speculation that Nintendo would unveil a price drop to reinstate its console as the cheapest available this generation.
However, with Nintendo leading both home and portable console markets, and the Wii and DS regularly outselling the competition on a month-to-month basis, it’s perhaps easy to see why Iwata would not be keen on altering Nintendo’s already winning sales strategy.
For example, the ongoing appeal and success of the Wii has recently been further bolstered by impressive software sales of brand-heavy fighting title Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Popularity for the console is also set to be extended through the widespread rollout of the health-conscious Wii Fit experience and the next entrant in the ever-reliable Mario Kart series.
Launched two years prior to the Wii, the touch-screen Nintendo DS (already the world’s best-selling console) is starting to show signs of flagging sales in the Japanese market, reports the Associated Press.
While Iwata concedes that sales in Japan have slowed somewhat, the Nintendo president says that performance remains strong in both the US and Europe. Moreover, Nintendo is looking to solidify its positioning with the DS and hopes to have sold approximately 28.0 million units of its DS portable worldwide by the close of this fiscal year (March 2009).
In terms of the Wii, the comparatively underpowered console (which many industry players wrote off as little more than a gimmick prior to launch) is still confounding critics with its demographic-busting appeal and is fast-approaching 25 million worldwide unit sales.
With price cuts off the table at this juncture, Iwata has outlined that Nintendo’s ongoing aim is to ensure that gamers remain committed to their hardware via continuing software releases, accessories and related services.
In related news, Nintendo will expand its online presence next month thanks to the introduction of a new Wii Channel, which will enable users to offer ratings to downloadable WiiWare titles. A similar channel launched in Japan at the end of 2007, allowing users to stream videogame footage and development interviews.
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