This is why people shouldn't buy so many Nintendo things, look how much Sony has cut the price of the PS3 yet Nintendo won't cut the price of it's much cheaper to develop, much more profitable, more sold console.

"Nintendo is not your buddy, Mr. Consumer. (That is, unless you own Nintendo stock, then you're BFF.)"

Excellent writing, you sound like Tyler Durden, and once again this pick has eat my soul.

You don't cut prices when your kicking ass and show no real signs of slow down. A 99 dollar DS would just cut into profits more then it would expand the user base and a 200 dollar Wii wouldn't sell any faster then it is now. What they need is a second bundle, throw the Zapper and LCT in there and add $10 to the price.

@Llost:If Sony didn't cut prices, they would have sealed the fate of the PS3. You don't cut prices when your in first place.

@Llost:
You cut your price in order to boost sales.Nintendo doesn't have that problem.

If I Satoru Iwata, I defnitely wouldn't cut the price as long as it already sells like hotcakes.

Why should they cut prices? After all, it prints money!

@Mara: Exactly. But, in case Wii sales start to slow toward the end of the year, they should definitely be keeping a price cut in the bag (or else some new colours).

@Foxstar Sixtail: It's always been my point of view that company's should try and give something back to loyal consumers.

They aren't going to need them. It's still selling like crack-filled hotcakes.

@Llost:What would price cuts do for those who already own both Nintendo systems? Price cuts are used to bring in people who don't already have one.

You don't give back to the consumers via price cuts, you do so via good games or fantastic promos. Both of those take money and unlike the other two, Nintendo's profits tend to go directly back into it's games and not to cover losses by some other dept.

@Llost: People who have yet to buy a DS or a Wii aren't the most loyal Nintendo consumers. There are better ways to address that. Console pricing is straight-up business.

@Llost: Nintendo has that and it's called 'Club Nintendo'.

Captain Obvious Strikes Again! Why on earth would Iwata lower the price on something they can't keep on selves. His shareholders would have him assassinated :(

@Llost: This generation Sony had to, Nintendo doesn't. The gaming industry isn't charity. What gives you the impression it is? Nintendo have always manufactured there hardware for profit. Sony (Games Division) have always manufactured for awareness, taking losses in favour of brand recognition. I thought Sony where reducing their Cell chip to 45nm anyway... so where's there new PS3 price cut seen as though they're saving money on production now? Swings and roundabouts people.

@Llost: just as ashcraft said:"Nintendo is not your buddy, Mr. Consumer. (That is, unless you own Nintendo stock, then you're BFF.)"
and even if you i dont think they will

also that picture still creeps the hell out of me D:

No pricecuts. Nintendo doesn't do that. Just newer more expensive models of their best selling products.

@Llost: I guess Nintendo should have launched the Wii at $300 and then dropped it to $250 now. Sure as hell wouldn't have lost them sales.

I mean, god forbid you figure out a good price point for your product and stick to it. I guess people prefer it when a company launches their console at stupid-hundred dollars and then plays musical chair pricing trying to catch up with consumers. Really, it benefits no-one and shafts the early adopters--is that called being good to your core customer base nowadays?

I'll address some of these and then I'm going to go because I don't intend to spend my whole day responding to everything.

@Foxstar Sixtail: Yeah I guess your right.

@milmoe: I've seen that club as my girlfriend has a Wii, it's remarkebly inept at everything. From having the reward cards constantly sold out to having nothing else particularly rewarding it's a bad service. It's free so I'm not complaining I'm just saying that's what I think of that.

@Travezy: I don't have the impression that business is charity, I have the impression that companies should try in some way to price there consoles relative to there value rather than blatently profit. Sony did have to do it but was that then not great for consumers, and is Sony not actually now doing great things? Soon it'll even be profitable.

A price cut for the 360 might just change that. If people can't find find a Wii, it's hard to ignore a different system that's near their price range.

Anyway I'm not against Nintendo if anyone's wondering, I like the WIi, 360 and PS3 but dislike Sony MS and Nintendo.

My point was that if people didn't buy the Wii in ridiculous numbers we'd be able to see Nintendo actually do something for the consumer. It's my opinion that a business that only gives back to the consumer when they want more money is a bad business. It's all business in reality but that's just my opinion.

@Llost: Not great for me it wasn't, another case of the early consumer gets shafted again with my first day PS3 purchase. Now Sony is adjusting production costs and system specs to recover expenses, so according to you, they should reduce their price. But we all know that's not gonna happen anytime soon as I'm sure I read somewhere on this site when the 45nm Cell chip was announced they weren't going pass on the savings to the consumers. Nintendo just had the sense to produce a sustainable console that yielded profits from day 1 as they always do. Why is that a problem? Or is it only a problem if it's Nintendo or something?

@Llost: Wow you are so lost.

You contradicted yourself, and have you ever heard of the phrase "It's business not pleasure"

@Llost: If I pay 250 bucks for a wii, that means I value the benefit I get from the wii at 250 bucks. Your purchase price is in exchange of the value you receive from the product... So Nintendo is doing pretty well... millions of people find 250 bucks worth of value in it per month. If it costs 50 bucks to make the wii, should they charge 75 bucks? Dont confuse costs with value.

Relative to their value... What kind of crazy talk is that?

@Llost: Anyway I'm not against Nintendo if anyone's wondering, I like the WIi, 360 and PS3 but dislike Sony MS and Nintendo.

Well stated. For me, it's not the band I hate...it's their fans.

The Wii and DS are cheap enough so I don't expect price cuts.

Even then, they're selling really well and Nintendo could of cut the price from day 1 and take a loss on sales but they refuse. They've had room to lower the price since day 1.

So, this sounds about right.

@Llost: 'From having the reward cards constantly sold out'. Sorry, just had to point this out because I'm confused on whether or not you're talking about the same thing.

What do you mean sold out? You get reward points by purchasing games, not buying cards from retail stores.

I could sort of some this announcement by Nintendo up in one word.

"Duh."

Why would they?

It's surprising to me that the DS isn't getting a small cut (bringing it more into the $100-$110 range). But the Wii's price staying the same isn't very surprising. If you're selling a product that still sells out pretty damn quick after this much time, you definitely don't reduce price. Not only would it mess with demand a bit and make their lives harder, but people are so willing to buy it at the current pricing that there's no need to reduce it.

@Llost: "look how much Sony has cut the price of the PS3"

And look how it's still twice as expensive as the Wii.

Or are you talking about the 40GB version? Or the 60GB? Wait, maybe it was the 80GB...or the second 60GB....or the...*brain explodes*

Sony is in a different kind of position than Nintendo. They can release ridiculously expensive consoles, and there are enough technophiles out there that will purchase it anyway just based on the Sony name. And then there are the Playstation fanboys who were drooling at the thought of it since it was announced and were willing to pay whatever it cost. That's what kept it from crashing completely when it came out. It also has the kind of staying power that keeps it on the market long enough to justify lower prices once the cost of manufacturing lowers significantly. Once they do drop prices, sales spike, and then plateau at a level usually higher than before.

Nintendo has no reason to cut the costs. They sold like hotcakes out of the gate. They also priced it in a way that made it a hell of a lot easier for consumers to pick up. Toss in the fact that they've tapped a whole new market segment (or three) and you can see why there isn't any need for Nintendo to cut costs. If either of the other Big Three consoles start cutting into their market share, you'll see a price drop. Right now, that isn't the case.

@TRT-X: Thanks, I second that.

And yeah, reducing price at this point would make things worse for the Wii availability. In fact if this was some other commodity like pizza then the business would ideally raise the price of the pizza until supply could meet demand (as demand would decrease in response to the increase price). Nintendo doesn't want to do that because it would generate bad publicity and although they are doing really well they can't afford any slip ups against Microsoft and Sony in this generation if they want still be competitive in the next gen of consoles. But what sucks is that this shortage is the kind of slip up they can't afford to have, I'm sure they really wish they had enough Wii consoles to meet demand. Anyway that's my 2 cents.

Sure they could cut prices but when you are leading in sales and it's STILL hard to find a Wii why bother? I think Nintendo could drop the Wii $25-$50 but the DS price is just fine. Maybe around the Holidays we will see a price drop if Microsoft's Arcade unit drops to $250 or less.

@Llost:
What you are talking about is the cost rather than the perceived value. It's why I can buy a t-shirt and slap a funny little crocodile on it and charge double the price.
While the cost of the item is a factor in it's price the perceived value also has a part to play. For you $250 is to high a price to pay, but for other people the games available/coming,demand/availability and advertising mean that they do want them.It is why the PS3 has had such drastic price cuts and alterations in its structure. While on the face of it, it may be the best value, the cost of the parts>the price, a lot of people have looked at the price and said no. For them the perceived value was much less.
You also have to remember despite the fact that now they are printing money Nintendo are the smallest of the three companies.If they had sold the console at a loss over the last few generations they would have gone out of business

@Llost:
as Foxstar Sixtail said, as a "loyal customer" what effect does dropping the price of a console i already own have?

That logic would mean that others are rewarded for my hard work (i.e. early adopting). This already happens with any tech - early buyers subsidize later price cuts, but to say its a reward for loyalty does't make any sense whatsover.

@littletad: People who are trying to buy the Wii aren't interested in getting a 360 or PS3, even if the price is the same. As far as hardware specs go, the Wii is priced much higher than it's worth, but consumers of the system aren't concerned with the technical specifications of what they buy.

@milmoe: I meant those Wii point cards sorry, so you can buy stuff online.

I used to be a huge Nintendo supporter...but as of late, I'm not that much into Nintendo anymore. I feel like something about them has changed drastically. I used to feel a big heart coming from them..but now? Psh. Cold. Very cold.

Brawl online blows and no press statement yet. NOTHING. Yet, they will talk to kingdom come about how great the Wii is.

Yea wouldn't expect a price cut when a console is still having trouble staying in stock. If they are going to sell them regardless of price may as well keep it high.

You drop price to raise demand. Nintendo doesn't need to raise demand. It's struggling to meet it already. Once the DS and Wii sales have slowed down a bit then expect a price drop. When that is I have no idea at all. I can easily see no Wii price drop until around April next year actually. Get through this holiday at $250. Then drop the price after holiday sales have died down etc.

You can guarntee if the PS3 was constantly selling out the price would still be $600.

@Kempatsu: Their heart has been replaced by a money printing machine.

A dream that we should all aspire for.

Guys, I think the point that Llost is getting at that capitalism is supposed to benefit everyone and competition should keep profit margins low. Because only Nintendo can make Wiis this isn't happening here. When any large company is making an operating profit of 30% and have a huge cash reserve, it's pretty clear that the system is failing.

Based on my knowledge of economics, why the FUCK would Nintendo CUT the price of the devices that are in such high demand at the moment that they can't fucking make them quick enough to keep up with that demand!? It'd be fucking terrible for BOTH Nintendo and their customers if a price cut was to occur.

@TitillatedOcelot:
By "cutting costs" I actually mean cutting prices.

@littletad: The 360 already is cheaper than the Wii in Europe, significantly so if you count the Arcade unit (€199 vs €249 for the Wii)... yet it's the Wii that sells like Swedish Meatballs to the Muppets.

Just like their company mascot, Nintendo is nunning around collecting gold coins. I wonder if ther are also eating flowers and magic mushrooms? Is this what happens when you reach the top?

@Llost:

Nintendo will 'never' cut the price... they don't have to. It'll always be teh cheapest system out there... and they're still in high demand.

if the PS3 was selling this well, they wouldn't need to cut the price either.

The entire purpose of this business is to make money... some people thought they had to make a trade.. sell the system at your expensive.. but get money through games -- nintendo didn't have to do that.. so nothing but profit.

@GOD: The real question is: How many mushrooms and hallucinative flowers did it take to create the Nintendo product lineup to start with?