The Reasons Behind the Skyrocketing Nintendo Wii Price

Despite price cuts coming from both Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo has decided not to follow suit. The Nintendo Wii price is $249, and has no reason to drop the price which is producing some amount of concern among consumers.

Microsoft has dropped the cost of the Xbox 360 by $50, while Sony has introduced a cheaper 40GB model in Japan and Europe. It is rumored that Sony will lower the price of the new 80GB PS3 once 60GB stock is depleted, but no concrete statement has been made. “We’ll stay at $249 for the foreseeable future,” Nintendo senior vice president of marketing George Harrison was quoted by Reuters.  According to a statement released by the company today, The Nintendo Wii’s price tag will not exceed $250 in America, That price – presumably $249 – will include the console itself as well as the motion sensitive controller that was demonstrated for the first earlier this month at E3.

Nintendo plans to ship six million systems as well as 17 million games to retailers around the world between launch in the fourth quarter of 2006 and 31 March of next year. This number matches the amount of Playstation 3 consoles that are expected to hit the market in the same time frame. Nintendo believes that Wii and the handheld DS gaming system will drive overall company sales to an 18% increase for the current fiscal year, which ends on 31 March.

Nintendo did not announce which of the 27 games demonstrated at E3 will be available at launch and how much those titles will cost. Instead, the firm states that “exact launch dates, identification of the launch library of titles and details on the virtual console will be announced soon.” The look and functionality of the final next-generation game titles still has to be seen, but Nintendo appears to be following a different strategy than its competitors: While the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are all about pixel resolution and high-definition capability, Nintendo highlights a “new game experience, enabled by the controller system.

Availability various retail and online communities

Besides the fact that the supply demand curve for the Nintendo Wii is exploiting a major supply deficit, the Nintendo Wii’s popularity is boosting by the very minute.  The deficit that is presented with various retail stores is evident in many retail chains due to the out-of-stock signs that are posted both on the websites and in the store gaming cases.  The Nintendo company should really get a handle on this hot product before consumers come to their senses.  Wal-mart, FYE, K-Mart, and Best-buy are among the many retail stores that can’t keep Nintendo Wii’s in stock. 
 
Nintendo Wii price at various chain communities

Pricing for these systems are almost ridiculous.  Wal-mart has two evident online bundles available at $660.00 and $588.00.  These prices are absolutely outrageous.  The most common price range for this product is between $285.00 and $449.00.  The most outrageous range, though comes from that of the ebay community.  The Nintendo Wii price, whether truly in functioning condition or not, is in the range of $0.01 to $4,000.  Will this trend ever stop?  Am I the only one who is concerned about the Nintendo Wii price and its effects?  I guess that is truly up to the Nintendo company.  This clarifies the deficit of the supply-demand curve when the demand is greater than the supply.