Nintendo Wii Price Cut
Nintendo Co. ruled out a price cut for its smash-hit Wii video game console Friday and announced the company will begin selling the Wii in China next year.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata also unveiled a gift-giving feature that will allow users to send each other games over the Internet, boosting the Wii’s network offerings.
Profits at Nintendo have surged on the runaway success of the Wii and the portable Nintendo DS machine in North America, Europe and Japan, forcing Sony and Microsoft to slash console prices in a desperate catch-up bid ahead of the holiday season.
“We’re still focusing on how to meet booming demand,” Iwata said Friday. “We’re absolutely not considering a price cut.” He said Nintendo was producing 1.8 million Wii consoles per month but that a supply crunch was inevitable during the holiday gift-buying season.
Nintendo’s confidence ahead of the critical Christmas shopping season reflects the Wii’s strength in a three-way battle of current generation video game consoles against the PS3 and Xbox 360, as well as the continued popularity of the handheld DS console.
Sony’s top-line PlayStation model, with an 80 gigabyte hard drive, now costs $499 in the U.S., down from $599. A new low-end model with a 40-gigabyte drive will go on sale Nov. 2 for $399. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 costs $350 in the U.S.
The company has also won a following for the DS console — which stands for “dual screen” — with a lineup of low-cost, casual software like “Nintendogs,” “Brain Age” and “Nintendo Cooking.”
Nintendo shipped about 3.9 million Wii units around the world in the last three months, bringing the total since its launch last year to 13.2 million units. The company has sold 53.6 million DS consoles.
Iwata said it was banking on the “Wii Fit” game due out later this year in Japan to buoy future sales. The game allows players to weigh themselves, check their balance and do yoga and play fitness games like hula hoops and ski jumping.
Nintendo also unveiled a function Friday that allows users to send each other games over the Internet using the Wii’s shopping channel.
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