Seemingly unfazed by those uncharacteristically bad quarterly reports in which they posted a ¥2.01 billion loss, Nintendo – speaking through the body of Satoru Iwata – have announced that there will not, in fact, be any price cut to the Wii this Christmas.
A perhaps sensible move given that the Wii is already the cheapest console in town, but then how does Iwata expect to keep up the bottom line? He asserts that “people who want it will have already bought it, so now we need to reach those who considered it but never got around to buying it”. Ah! So of course for that you’ll need an incentive, which Iwata suggests may come in the form of that special edition Red Wii which launches to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.
Other incentives are planned as well, including working with retailers to create bundles and special packages which give “the feeling of a discount”, rather than an actual price cut. The show-stealing Nintendo 3DS unfortunately won’t be available in time for Christmas, but its launch in the second quarter of 2011 should hopefully see a return to profit for The Big N.
Via the Associated Press.
