Nintendo slashes Wii prices - but not in Britain
Nintendo has announced plans to slash the price tag of its popular Wii console in the run-up to Christmas – but British customers are set to miss out after the Japanese games giant said that the UK retail price would not follow suit.
The Wii is the best-selling games console in the world,with more than 50m machines sold since 2006. But while the company announced on Thursday that the price of the machine would fall by ¥5,000 (£33) in Japan and drop from $249 (£152) to $199 in America – the UK will see no similar reductions. Instead, consumers will be offered the chance to buy their machine with an extra game at the same £199 price as before.
In fact, the console is now £20 more expensive in Britain than it was when it first launched to widespread acclaim three years ago, following a controversial price hike earlier this year.
That increase, which raised the price of the machine from £179, angered many British customers who already felt they were paying more than those in other countries.
At the time Nintendo said it brought in the change to cope with fluctuating currency exchange rates.
It is the first time that Nintendo has dropped the price of the Wii, which proved a surprise hit thanks to its innovative motion-sensitive controller and family-friendly games.
The move comes on the eve of the Tokyo Games Show – the biggest industry event of the year – and is seen as a response to similar cuts by Nintendo's major rivals, Sony and Microsoft.
The two companies, which make the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 respectively, both reduced the price of their games consoles in an attempt to stimulate sales in the run-up to Christmas and challenge the Wii's dominance.
"The Wii is still the top-selling platform, but there is no doubt the console needs a shot in the arm, particularly with the competition finally getting more aggressive," Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Nintendo UK says that it has cut prices for the Wii, just as has been done in the US – but that it's up to retailers whether you'll actually see that difference when you come to hand your cash over.
A spokesman said: "We ARE lowering the cost price of Wii to retailers in the UK. If retailers do not decide to pass that saving onto consumers, we cannot be blamed for that – but we have lowered the price."
