Nintendo Announces Japanese Wii Price

Wowzer writes "Nintendo has revealed to Famitsu.com, at the company's recent press conference unveiling its financial results, that Wii would arrive in Japanese stores with a maximum price tag of 25,000 yen. After taking in account various factors, the conversion to other currencies comes down to a launch price of: 225 dollars, 225 euros, and 150 pounds." Update: 05/25 13:45 GMT by Z : GamesIndustry.biz points out they hope to ship 6 million units by next March, and an Opera exec has said you can browse the internets with the wiimote.

Comments

Sold!

[MMC Monster]

I haven't bought a console in over a decade. But I will by a Wii. I've been thinking about a Playstation 2, since it's a mature system by now, but Nintendo has a lot more family oriented games, or so I hear.

Re:Sold!

[Zardus]

Here it goes :-)

Two years ago one of my friends had a party to celebrate his birthday and some of our friends' high school graduations. There were 8 people there, 4 guys and 4 girls. One of the guys brought his Gamecube and I brought mine. After playing the requisite Smash Bros games (we've had a Smash Brothers rivalry ever since the week the original was released), we networked the gamecubes to play Mario Kart DD. Well, unknown to us (as we were too involved losing races to the girls to notice), a huge Arizonan monsoon thunderstorm brewed up outside while we were playing.

It happened about an hour into playing; a match had just ended and we were about to start another. Us guys were all involved in choosing the track and such, and the girls were resting their hands. So it just so happened that every guy in the room was holding his controller, while all the girls had put just theirs down. Suddenly there was a huge clap of thunder as a lightning bolt hit (from what we've been able to figure out) the garage door outside (killing the motor there), got into the power system, traveled throughout the house killing various computers, televisions, and stereos, and finally found my friend's Gamecube (mine was on like four surge protectors since the second TV was across the room from any unused power plugs and surge protectors were all that we had for extension cords). It traveled through his Gamecube and split up. Part of the charge went into the 4 controllers hooked up to his GC, and the other part went through the network adapter, over the ethernet cable, into my GC, and out of the controllers. Now the way the GC controllers are built (and the way we hold them apparently), two of the metal screws on the back make direct contact with our middle fingers. As such, the four people who were holding their controllers (the guys) recieved pretty powerful electric shocks. The guys all jumped up, yelped, and dropped our controllers, right at the *exact* moment the sound of thunderclap reached us. All the girls in the room thought we were just scared of the thunder.

Of course, the Gamecubes, controllers, and network adapters (not to mention a few computers, TVs, stereos, and the garage motor) were all completely fried. Apparently though my friend had insurance for this sort of thing, and all our Gamecubes and accessories got replaced (I was hoping he'd get me a different color. Mine was silver and I had grown tired of that color. But alas, he got me another silver one). I'd since wondered if he really had lightning insurance or if he just shelled out to replace our stuff, but one of the girls at the party (now my wife) assures me that he did.

So yeah, that was a fun night. My wife still thinks I'm afraid of thunder, and will accept no explanation to the contrary. Sigh.

NOTE!

[Guppy06]

"After taking in account various factors, the conversion to other currencies comes down to a launch price of: 225 dollars, 225 euros, and 150 pounds."

This is not official. This is mere speculation on the part of the article.

I, too, can pull numbers out of my ass. For example, because the launch price of 25,000 JPY is exactly the same number they used for the GameCube, they'll release the Wii in the US for 199 USD (like they did with the GameCube).

Until we get official numbers, though, this is all speculation.

Been wondering about the "loss leader" idea

[ianscot]

IIRC, Nintendo doesn't have a history of taking losses on their consoles, someone correct me if I'm wrong. At this low price, is it possible they've taken a turn on this one?

Given the marginalization of the GameCube, I've been wondering whether Nintendo wouldn't be smart to lose a smidge on each console this time around in order to regain market share. Their two competitors have blown prices sky high and narrowed their market considerably (I think) by making it necessary to pony up for an HD screen in order to really see the fun from their new systems. Sony and MS are vulnerable, vulnerable as can be. Nintendo needs to get the third party developers on board, and the relative cheapness of developing for Wii is a step that way. But imagine if the Wii release price was a bit of a loss leader, a $175 sort of thing, and they got a huge jump starting next November or so in their market share. Developers would take note.

I doubt it happens. As you say, Nintendo makes profit on its consoles (and everything else), and doesn't play the market share game a la Microsoft. Sony always tries to bundle everything with some sort of wrongheaded standards war "leverage" move. MS desperately tries to gain market share despite losing rivers of money, and imagines they understand the "extreme" tone "hard core" gamers like, 'cause you know, they're so cool. The teams keep running the same plays... I still think Nintendo is the clear winner this round, in prospect.

Re:Been wondering about the "loss leader" idea

[ronanm]

Dude, the basic xbox is $300, $250 is in no way blowing the competition OUT OF THE WATER

The average consumer is going to stick with what they know and either buy the 360 for $300 or if they're budget concious they can always pick up a cheap PS2.

It makes loads of sense for Nintendo to lose a few bucks on a system, if it's going to increase their customer base.

Half the cost of one, a third of the other...

[ZSpade]

This is a severe undercut... In fact there has never been such a mighty difference in prices in past console wars.(unless you count the neo-geo, meh-heh!) It will be interesting to stand by the sidelines and watch Nintendo again rise.

Get ready for $200

[RyoShin]

The Gamecube was also launched at 25,000 Yen in Japan. The Gamecube had a $200 price point in America.

Unless Nintendo takes into consideration fluctuations of the dollar vs. yen (not sure what the difference is between then and now), I think it's pretty safe to say that we're going to see a $200 Wii. In previous interviews (during E3, I believe) Iwata stated they've had a pretty consistent price point for releases and see no reason to change that- every console system they've released has been done so at $200.

While Nintendo may not have the latest & greatest in graphics processing, the technology they isn't exactly common. It's nice to see that they follow the trend of all other hardware, in that prices fall as technology advances (before you say "But they've all been the same price!", work in inflation, where the NES at launch cost $350 in 2005 dollars)

Re:Under $250 is unlikely

[eonlabs]

I actually think it's very likely.
Unlike sony and msoft, nintendo is not marketing a high-spec machine for the gear heads. They're focused on delivering games, and go to great lengths to make sure that their box is used ONLY for games. Ever notice that the cds spin backwards in a gamecube?
Can you play music on a gamecube?
They're selling a platform for gaming, and have successfully been doing exactly that for over 20 years. Most gamers don't even consider $400 dollars for a system. Remember the Sega Saturn? A system that was broadcast for specs with a $400 price tag. Do we still have sega consoles?
I think 90% of consumers will end up getting the Wii simply because it hits their price range first. I don't personally get new systems till they drop below $150, I don't think Msoft or Sony will hit that mark any time soon. Until then, nintendo has a virtual monopoly on my console game purchases.

Re:Under $250 is unlikely

[AKAImBatman]

I don't recall if the N64 was released with a game at launch, but I do recall there being bundles.

It wasn't. Mario64 was sort of a killer title for the N64 and was thus sold separately. That being said, part of the need to sell it separately was that Catridges were very costly back then. Now that the Wii uses inexpensive optical disks, it is again cost effective to bundle a game with the system.

The only question then is, what is Nintendo's strategy? The market has gotten used to the idea that pack-ins are a thing of the past. Will Nintendo go with the flow on this one, or will they attempt to do further damage to Sony and Microsoft's positions by throwing in a killer title with the console?

Personally, I hope they take the pack-in route. Not only will it make their competitors look bad, but it might force them to cough up a pack-in themselves. Which given the costs associated with developing a game on their consoles, would further dig in their losses on each unit.