Gaming

Why Nintendo Had To Slash The Price Of The Wii

11:33PM October 29, 2009 | Matt Buchanan

It’s time for Nintendo to resort to its classic rainbow strategy to sell more Wiis: Its net profit for the past six months fell by 50 per cent, almost perfectly matching a near 50 per cent drop in Wii sales.

Nintendo sold 5.75 million Wiis over the past six months, versus 10.1 million a year ago. Which is why Nintendo finally got around to cutting the price of the Wii — to move more units, even though that sliced into profits. (Interestingly, it shows Wii sales finally dipped below a million a month, if barely, and just how insanely profitable the Wii is for Nintendo.) If it makes Nintendo feel any better, the Xbox 360 is the only console that’s actually seen growth this year (in the US, at least) thanks to its own price cut.

So, um, next stop: Wiis in multiple colours. Hey, it’s worked for Nintendo like a million times before. That, or you know, that Wii HD people are so fond of talking about. [WSJ


Comments

  • formulated

    November 1, 2009 at 1:53 PM

    as a launch console owner, I’ve been happy that I paid the same as everyone else for the last 2 years.. in the past Nintendo had a habit of dropping the price a few months after (N64, Gamecube), but thanks to the Wii’s popularity that didn’t happen. It doesn’t sting so much to be an early adopter :D

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