Ninty tells FT that they're "not concerned" over Wii sales

FT.com wrote:Nintendo's all-conquering Wii games console is showing its first signs of weakness with Japanese sales last month falling below those of Sony's PlayStation 3.

According to data released yesterday by Enterbrain, the games research group, Sony sold 146,948 PS3s in the five weeks to March 29 compared with 99,335 sales of the Wii.

If the trend continued and spread to Europe or the US, it would mark a reversal of fortune for the two Japanese companies.

Nintendo's Wii, with its innovative motion-sensitive controller, has dominated the current generation of video game hardware since its release in 2006. "It is still the first few months of the year when sales are slow for the industry, so we are not particularly concerned," Nintendo said.

The Wii outsold the PS3 by nearly three to one in the larger US market in February, selling 750,000 units, according to NPD, the research company.

Nintendo expects to receive a boost this month from the release last Friday in Europe and Sunday in the US of an updated DS handheld console called the DSi, which includes two cameras.

Cumulative Wii sales in Japan of almost 8m still exceed PS3 sales of about 3m machines.

Last month's figures reflect both a slowdown in Japanese sales of the Wii - down by 63 per cent compared with a year ago - and a run of stronger sales for the PS3.

Analysts attribute Sony's increased sales to the number of popular games that are not available on the Wii, such as Yakuza 3 and Resident Evil 5 , which were released for the PS3 in March.

Nintendo conceded that sales of some recent titles, such as

Wii Music , had not taken off but said that "we hope to line up strong software to support hardware sales in the second half of the year".

That sales of Wii hardware now depend on game launches may be an indication that the novelty of its controller - which measures motions by the player rather than button presses - has faded, at least in Japan.

Analysts, however, remain optimistic about the Wii's prospects. Koya Tabata of Credit Suisse said in a recent note to clients that the cost to Nintendo of producing a Wii has fallen by 45 per cent since its launch. That would give Nintendo the scope to cut the price of the console to stimulate sales.

Mr Tabata also argued Nintendo could introduce low-priced versions in emerging markets.

Additional reporting by Chris Nuttall in San Francisco

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/807b9d96-2309 ... ck_check=1

That last bit is interesting - low priced versions a possibility?

Should Nintendo be worried, though?

Analysts, however, remain optimistic about the Wii's prospects. Koya Tabata of Credit Suisse said in a recent note to clients that the cost to Nintendo of producing a Wii has fallen by 45 per cent since its launch. That would give Nintendo the scope to cut the price of the console to stimulate sales.

They must be making nearly 100% profit on each unit sold by now.

suzzopher wrote:
Analysts, however, remain optimistic about the Wii's prospects. Koya Tabata of Credit Suisse said in a recent note to clients that the cost to Nintendo of producing a Wii has fallen by 45 per cent since its launch. That would give Nintendo the scope to cut the price of the console to stimulate sales.

They must be making nearly 100% profit on each unit sold by now.

Makes the price hike look even more outrageous, quite frankly.

KKLEIN wrote:
suzzopher wrote:
Analysts, however, remain optimistic about the Wii's prospects. Koya Tabata of Credit Suisse said in a recent note to clients that the cost to Nintendo of producing a Wii has fallen by 45 per cent since its launch. That would give Nintendo the scope to cut the price of the console to stimulate sales.

They must be making nearly 100% profit on each unit sold by now.

Makes the price hike look even more outrageous, quite frankly.

You would have though that Nintendo would have learned that pride comes before the fall. For a company with such long traditions, their institutional memory is pretty poor.

KKLEIN wrote:
suzzopher wrote:
Analysts, however, remain optimistic about the Wii's prospects. Koya Tabata of Credit Suisse said in a recent note to clients that the cost to Nintendo of producing a Wii has fallen by 45 per cent since its launch. That would give Nintendo the scope to cut the price of the console to stimulate sales.

They must be making nearly 100% profit on each unit sold by now.

Makes the price hike look even more outrageous, quite frankly.

Nintendo are allowed to fleece people though.

They have more of a duty to their shareholders than they do to appeasing whiny kids on the internet.

Oxx wrote:They have more of a duty to their shareholders than they do to appeasing whiny kids on the internet.

So does every company but the fact that the Wii has not had a price drop since launch while the PS3 has dropped a fair bit speaks volumes. I'm sure Nintendo are just as capable of making the console less expensive to manufacture as Sony so that can't be the reason.
Usually when a product cost's 40% less to manufacture you will see some kind of price drop for the consumer.

Peter Crisp wrote:
KKLEIN wrote:
suzzopher wrote:
Analysts, however, remain optimistic about the Wii's prospects. Koya Tabata of Credit Suisse said in a recent note to clients that the cost to Nintendo of producing a Wii has fallen by 45 per cent since its launch. That would give Nintendo the scope to cut the price of the console to stimulate sales.

They must be making nearly 100% profit on each unit sold by now.

Makes the price hike look even more outrageous, quite frankly.

Nintendo are allowed to fleece people though.

Short term memory failure much? Even Ninty Fanboys on here were outraged over the stealth price-hike.

TheTurnipKing wrote:Short term memory failure much? Even Ninty Fanboys on here were outraged over the stealth price-hike.

Some were and some seemed to feel it was justified. Anyway to anyone who feels I'm wrong and need to shut up can we agree to disagree as I'd rather not start a new argument and looking back at my posts it seems like that's what I was doing.

Sorry everyone :oops:

.

Peter Crisp wrote:
TheTurnipKing wrote:Short term memory failure much? Even Ninty Fanboys on here were outraged over the stealth price-hike.

Some were and some seemed to feel it was justified. Anyway to anyone who feels I'm wrong and need to shut up can we agree to disagree as I'd rather not start a new argument and looking back at my posts it seems like that's what I was doing.

Sorry everyone .

Don't worry Mr Crisp, we all still love you. If Nintendo had sent DBlock to rape our dogs too we'd all hate them as much as you do.

Wii sales are only sluggish in Nintendo's homeland, last time I looked. However the entirety of the videogame market in Japan is moribund so it's all relative. They've got the fastest selling system in gaming history so I wouldn't put too much stall into the FT's analysis.

the cost to Nintendo of producing a Wii has fallen by 45 per cent since its launch.

and they put the price up :lol:

Robbing bastards.

Rik wrote:
the cost to Nintendo of producing a Wii has fallen by 45 per cent since its launch.

and they put the price up

Robbing bastards.

Well to be pedantic, no they didn't. They increased the cost price for the retailers and the retailers control the price. It's not Nintendo's fault that the GBP/Yen exchange rate is currently so appalling because our economy is in the shitter.

Also, the alleged 45% figure is the FT's estimate. I don't see Nintendo confirming that figure. Not that they would anyway. Frankly, I've read so much gooseberry fool from ill informed analysts and 'experts' on the Wii in the last couple of years I take anything they say now with a huge pile of sodium.

After saying all that however I think it's regrettable that Nintendo has come to this decision with regards to the cost price. Although it is entirely possible to buy the Wii for less than the MRRP currently if one shops around. So not really something that deserves getting one's knickers in a twist over really. lol yeah right

Sales have only come down from the simply amazing amount they were selling but they are still doing fine. Sales had to come down at some point as surely not everyone in Japan wants a Wii and a fair few already have one. They are just printing slightly less money than they were this time last year is all.
I honestly can't see much of a problem here.

Well the Xbox 360 has fallen from £279.99 to £169.99 with an added HDMI socket and three times the originals HDD.

The PS3 has fallen from £425 to £299.

Both of those were making a loss at launch and Sony still are, Nintendo were making a profit from day one. There has been no price cut anywhere else either and their currencies don't give the same excuse.

Something Fishy

Suggesting that they will swap place globally also ignored the fact there is another viable competitor outside of Japan. I think that changes the dynamic a bit in itself.

The market decides the price.

If millions of people think that the Wii is worth $250/£180 (or more) then that shapes Nintendo's policy.

The market thought that the PS3 wasn't worth £425.

Oxx wrote:The market decides the price.

If millions of people think that the Wii is worth $250/£180 (or more) then that shapes Nintendo's policy.

The market thought that the PS3 wasn't worth £425.

Someone gets it!

Shame we don't get hardware sales figures for the UK market so we can see how the recent 'price change' has affected sales, if at all.

Ninty tells FT that they're "not concerned" over Wii sales

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