Wii Price is High by Historical Standards
Console Pricing:
Playstation 2:
* US$299.99 (October 26, 2000, Launch Price)
* US$199.99 (May 14, 2002)
* US$179.99 (May 13, 2003)
* US$149.99 (May 11, 2004)
* US$129.99 (April 20, 2006)
Xbox:
* US$299 (November 15, 2001, Launch Price)
* US$199 (May 15, 2002)
* US$179 (May 14, 2003)
* US$149 (March 29, 2004)
Gamecube:
* US$199.99 (November 18, 2001, Launch Price)
* US$149.99 (May 13, 2002)
* US$99.99 (September 25, 2003)
This trend doesn’t really surprise me, but its useful to take a gander at. It is very similar to the situation coming up. The console with the year head start did not bring down its price. Also, looking further into Nintendo:
Nintendo 64 at launch cost 199.99.
Super Nintendo at launch cost 199.99.
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) at launch cost 199.99.
This is very interesting. Now I am under the assumption that The Nintendo Wii is esentially an overclocked Gamecube. Now I am not entirely sure of the production costs, but I am having trouble understanding why did Nintendo end their 20 year tradition of selling their consoles for under 200 dollars? They said they had millions of consoles (some are speculating 9,000,000+!). I mean, the lower end Xbox 360 is selling for 299.99, and 50 dollars is really not as big as a difference. Also, Nintendo hit some MAJOR competition with the Gamecube:
Gamecube:
Units sold 21 million (June 2006)
Xbox:
Units sold 24 million
Playstation 2:
Units sold 106.23 million worldwide
In fact, judging from these sales and numbers, it would make sense selling it for under 200 dollars and keeping the Nintendo tradition alive. Poor Gamecube had to cut down their prices to a mere 99.99. A sub-100 price for a console has NEVER been done prior to a release of its successor.
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Cleverness: Getting Diggy with it 
diggy said,
October 17, 2006 at 8:26 am
The fact of the matter is that people who were going to buy the Wii when it was $200 are still going to buy the Wii when it’s $250 (an includes a pack-in game).
In case you haven’t noticed, times have changed. While I’m sure people who love to have a $200 Wii, it’s still the cheapest out of the 3 by a margin of at least $50 ($150 if you’re not crazy and don’t consider the gimped version of the 360).
Besides, if you really want to go buy a Wii at $200, you can wait until next summer if you want. I don’t think you’ll survive though.
Justin said,
October 17, 2006 at 8:27 am
You expect the price of the latest Nintendo console to always be $199? Even with 3%/yr inflation for the past 15+ years (or whenever the NES originally debuted), the starting price for Nintendo’s latest-n-greatest SHOULD increase every year. Now, tech prices have plummetted for anything resembling “comparable technology” in the past 10-15 years (as tech almost always seems to do, except for graphing calculators for whatever reason). However, gaming consoles almost always strive to have the biggest and baddest tech available. Obviously, different companies decide just how “bleeding edge” they want to be, since the more advanced, the more expensive (see PS3). Regardless, when you’re looking at the newest console, I would always expect it to be more expensive than the previous generation. At the very least, it’d be the same price, but I wouldn’t count on that.
JJ said,
October 17, 2006 at 8:28 am
pricetag of 250 is simple economics
why let ppl who would have paid 250, let them buy for 200?
later the price will drop.
about 99 cube: dont forget after major price cut they were STILL making profit. now think about this for a moment, imagine the profit of the wii.
Joe Canada said,
October 17, 2006 at 8:29 am
I never though that the profit margins in the console market was really that different then the one for computers. In Canada(maybe that’s why we pay more for computer…)computer stores try to aim at a 15% average profit for their products.
I know because I used to work at a computer store and until recently had acces to suppliers prices lists.
CompUSA said,
October 17, 2006 at 8:30 am
i can tell you that those are accurate as far as the pricing goes. but it is true that those are just the prices that the store is paying for them. MS is most likely taking a little bit of a hit on their consoles. but you also have to keep in mind that microsoft has the muscle to negotiate prices with its suppliers. so im sure that they aren’t hurting as much as they say. i can say margin on products is ridiculous a lot of the time. but as far as Desktops and Notebooks in comparison. the cost of the product is going up and the retail price is going down. so what used to be an easy $50-$200 margin is now about$15-$50 this really started happening in the last quarter. This is stressing the importance for retailers to sell accessories. As far as sony loosing money on the PS3. I can tell you that sony is making PLENTY of money off of their laptops and home theater products. In some cases i have seen 20-40% mark up. Though they have gotten a lot better at competitive pricing and now a days its basically their nitch tech, like their 11in notebooks and 17inch media center 1080 media center notebook are the only ones that are really marked up anymore.
adam said,
October 17, 2006 at 6:40 pm
Has anyone ever heard of inflation?
Pillsbury Sausage Roll said,
October 28, 2006 at 9:05 am
listen …. IF we all steal these systems there will be no bitching…
Jacko Wacko said,
October 29, 2006 at 6:33 pm
What? You’re an idiot.
diggy said,
November 7, 2006 at 1:23 pm
I think Pillsbury Sausage Roll is out to lunch.
MC said,
November 27, 2006 at 5:12 pm
When will the wiiiiiiiii!~ prices go down. Yeah, I know they are already cheap enough, but Im curious.
JJ T said,
January 2, 2008 at 5:19 am
Count yourself lucky, the Wii sells in stores for £179 ($354) in the UK. The extra controller with Wii Play coming in at a shocking £40 ($80).
Electric Griddle · said,
November 13, 2010 at 2:02 pm
online computers stores that offers good technical support are the best ~~*