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Nintendo Wii was supposed to be a $100 dollar console

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    Nintendo Wii was supposed to be a $100 dollar console

    Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo has revealed that the Nintendo Wii was originally planned as a sub $100 dollar console, but as the cost of technology escalated, it resulted in a much higher price for the consumer.

    quote:

    Speaking in an interview with BusinessWeek.com, Miyamoto said: "My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software. If we hadn't used NAND flash memory [to store data such as games and photos] and other pricey parts, we might have succeeded."


    News source: IGN

    #2
    It can still price drop once they recover the development cost.

    Dropping to $100 seems a bit unlikely though...

    Comment


      #3
      Ok, maybe it can't go as low as $100 but surely they could have made it cheaper than $250? I mean he's saying they wanted to make it as cheap as possible but at $250 they'll be making a profit.

      Comment


        #4
        making a profit.. isnt that the general idea?

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Champloo
          Ok, maybe it can't go as low as $100 but surely they could have made it cheaper than $250? I mean he's saying they wanted to make it as cheap as possible but at $250 they'll be making a profit.
          Isnt making a profit the whole point of buisnesses?

          edit: beaten to it

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by kernow
            making a profit.. isnt that the general idea?
            Not always on hardware sales, no. What i'm pointing out is that they're saying they wanted to make it as cheap as possible, but $250 isn't as cheap as possible.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Champloo
              Not always on hardware sales, no. What i'm pointing out is that they're saying they wanted to make it as cheap as possible, but $250 isn't as cheap as possible.
              During Edge interview Nintendo's market rep said that Nintendo originally intended to bring Wii to shop shelves in the UK and US for ?150 and $200. Unfortunately larger retail chains started to pressure Nintendo, because they had concerns over low margins and console's so-called 'basket value' (ie, the amount of revenue generated from a customer's overall purchases at the till).

              My own personal theory is that this is actually true, but the original 200 $ price point didn't feature Wii Sports (like the case is in Japan). It was easy to add into package, as Wii Sport was originally internal tech demo for wiimote and most of its expenses were already calculated into Wii's own development costs.

              Source: http://www.cubed3.com/news/6231/1/Wi...,_Basket_Value
              Last edited by elkatas; 16-11-2006, 18:54.

              Comment


                #8
                bah who cares, i don't. Much rather spend X amount for a new console than quabble on about it.

                Nintendo could've charged us PAL gamers ?200 and i'd still buy one.

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                  #9
                  Price perception probably had something to do with it as well. Retailers like stuff to seem pricey enough to be desirable but not *too* pricey. If cheap stuff was perceived as well as broadly similar but more costly products I wouldn't have been picked on at school for having Hi-Tech trainers instead of Nike

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                    #10
                    Then we have the factor of Sony not launching in Europe before 2007, that will have pushed the price up, even though they are not competing (so we are led to believe).

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                      #11
                      Are we now grudging paying ?179 for a new piece of hardware ? The PSP cost the same at launch and it's games will be the same price.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Ouenben
                        Isnt making a profit the whole point of buisnesses?

                        edit: beaten to it
                        Razors are sold at a very small profit knowing that the loss is made up with sales of blades. Consoles seem similar.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Yoshimax-UK
                          Are we now grudging paying ?179 for a new piece of hardware?
                          Yeh, exactly. My only problem with it being the escalated EU and UK price compared to other territories, but apparently we earn more so just suck it up and get on with it. As far as I'm concerned, I thought the traditionally aimed for release point for consoles was somewhere between $250 and $299, before the US$ went tits up. Of course, PS3 is nowhere near.
                          179 quid is a ****ing bargain IMO, almost impulse price and certainly in some cases worth buying two per household, one for the adults and one for the kids.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Nintendo have made an excellent console which is well worth the money imo, so I see no problem

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Yoshimax-UK
                              Are we now grudging paying ?179 for a new piece of hardware ? The PSP cost the same at launch and it's games will be the same price.
                              I wasn't complaining, i'll buy it at ?300.

                              But there's a big difference between sub-$100 and $250 and I was just pointing that out. If they still intended to make it as cheap as possible, without any losses, it'd be less than $250.

                              Comment

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