It's Officially Official, Wii Now $199, New Super Mario Bros. and Wii Fit Dated

Nintendo has announced, at last, through a press release that beginning on September 27 the Wii will be sold at retail for $199. This will include the console, Wii Remote, Nunchuk and Wii Sports.

“Wii has reached more video game players than any game system before because it attracts everyone—both men and women, and people of all ages,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Our research shows there are 50 million Americans thinking about becoming gamers, and this more affordable price point and our vast array of new software mean many of them can now make the leap and find experiences that appeal to them, whatever their tastes or level of gaming experience.”

Also in the press release we have official release dates for both Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which will launch of October 4th and November 15th respectively.

Now all of the speculation is finally over and Nintendo can quit denying that they will be dropping the price. I'm most excited about the official announcement of New Super Mario Bros. Wii as this game is sitting on top of my most wanted list.

So let everyone know, if they don't have a Wii, they've just gotten 50 more reasons to go out right now and pick one up.

Source: Nintendo Press Release

Best Buy Memo Confirms Wii Price Drop?

Here is piece of evidence #5 that the Wii will be dropping to $199, though this is still not official until Nintendo makes its announcement on Friday. Best Buy is circulating a memo inside the company telling employees to keep quiet until Friday and not talk to customers about this.

If you don't have a Wii, you're probably not visiting a site like this. If you are you already have a Wii and aren't affected at all. I know it's good to be at the lowest price point for all consoles and Nintendo doesn't really need to drop the price to remain on top. People are still buying Wii's but this could allow some games to get a jump in price if people go into the store expecting to pay $250 for the system.

We'll see in the next couple of months how this affects sales of the Wii, but it won't really be evident until after the holiday sales. People are getting ready to be in holiday shopping mode so sales were going to go up anyway.

More Price Drop Rumours Add Fuel to the Fire

This is getting a bit ridiculous and it's getting to the point where it can't be ignored. Those three ads are for Target, Best Buy, and Toys 'r Us. Best Buy is the newest and showed up today. Those images along with the word about a Walmart circular showing a new price for the Wii can't be coincidence. If it had been just one of those companies I could see this being a limited store based price drop, but four different companies all in the same time period showing the same discount? These all go in effect September 27, or the first week of October.

Rumors show up in my mail box every day and I don't post about them. If this had been a single store I wouldn't mention it, much like I have until now. But the evidence for a Wii price drop is piling up. Nintendo still won't comment other than to say they don't comment on rumor or speculation so we'll have to wait until TGS when the announcement could be made official.

Michael Pacter Once Again Predicts A Price Cut

Michael Pachter, analyst for Wedbush Morgan is once again announcing that Wii will get a price cut. This time he says it will be no later than November.

We estimate sell-through of 240,000 Wii hardware units (down 47% from last year), 205,000 Xbox 360 (up 5% from last year), and 160,000 PS3 consoles (a 14% year-over-year unit decline) as the overall sales decline trends continued until price cuts spurred demand in the last few days of the month. Sony cut the PS3 price in the last week of the month, and we expect to see PS3 sales grow substantially in September. We do not think that Nintendo’s Wii hardware forecast is achievable without a price cut, and as long as the Wii remains at its November 2006 launch price of $249.99, we expect continued year-over-year declines for that console’s sales. We expect a Wii price cut no later than November. - Wedbush Morgan analyst, Michael Pachter

I don't know how many different news stories I've heard where someone says that Wii has to receive a drop in price to stay competitive or to meet sales goals. Every time, the rumour is countered by Nintendo saying that it won't happen or they're happy with sales figures to that point. Eventually, though, you'll have to give him credit. At least once he's going to be right.

Analyst Says Nintendo Should Cut Price On Wii

See that little white box over there in the picture? That's a Wii. Since November 19th, 2006 and as of right now that will cost you $250 to purchase. I think that's a fairly reasonable price. In that same amount of time its competitors, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 have dropped their prices numerous times and come out with a large number of different versions of their consoles. The Wii has stayed virtually the same and has not dropped the price at any point.

A Gamasutra report says that an analyst with EEDAR is saying the Wii should now be dropped in price to $199 to compete with those boxes. Not because its in danger of losing its foothold on the top, but because eventually it will be in danger of losing its foothold there.

"In order to maintain this position Nintendo should drop their Wii console down to $199, not because the current Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 pricing structure poses a threat; rather, because they will eventually pose a threat. Nintendo's strategy should be to capture as many consumer dollars as possible while their competitors are still weak in their offerings to the casual audience and price sensitive consumers," Divnich adds.

The problem I see with that is that for three years now at the $250 price point the Wii is selling. Sales have not dropped off dramatically and it still outpaces its competition every month. The other consoles needed shots in the arm to boost their sales and get people buying their platform. Wii has had no problem leaving store shelves and Nintendo continues to put out quality software that people are buying, even at price points higher than a normal game. There has been no reason for Nintendo to reduce their price and I see no reason especially with the lineup they have over the next few months to drop the price.

It's really been an anomaly in the console business for a console to do as well as Wii and DS have done and continue to push forward rather than slow down.