Wii was supposed to cost < 100 USD

[Juan]

Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's general manager of entertainment, analysis and development, has revealed that the Wii was originally planned as a sub-$100 console but spiraling costs of new technology prevented the company from achieving its goal. 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."

[APE]

Yeh the SD card slot and wifi hardware is insanely expensive.

[Disheveled DrFreeze]

i do believe you mean < 100 USD

they are incorporating 512 mb NAND flash, not just the SD slot, and that was just an example

honestly i would have prefered a sub 100 dollar Wii too, but what is the point of this topic anymore? the wii will be out soon, and cost 250

[Phantom]

If they wanted a cheaper console they should have gotten rid of the non-essential parts. They want this to be a family console, but Mrs. soccer mom probably doesn't even know what Wifi means.

Right now Nintendo only hold a very small portion of the console market (not counting handhelds of course). I believe that in order to become a major player again they need to be very aggressive. The Wii needs to be $50 cheaper within 2 months, and say $100 cheaper within 6 months, then maybe they have a chance.

[Calavera]

Why didn't they just release a lesser verison without those features ( Like Xbox 360 Basic and Premium.....)

[Smiley]

Imo, they could have kept the cube and brought out the wiimote for it. Problem solved. Since basically, the wii is nothing more than an overclocked cube repackaged as 'cutting edge' very much like atari did with the 7800 when they released it two years after it was initially developed.


That being said, I still think the $250 price is reasonable. Yet, a lot of what they are doing right with the wii, should have been done with the cube.

[Phantom]

That being said, I still think the $250 price is reasonable.

To us seasoned gamers, possibly, but Nintendo want to appeal to the mass market. In order to do that they need to price it accordingly. Otherwise they're positioning the Wii as a competitor to the 360, and I don't think that's a battle they can win.

[Disheveled DrFreeze]

but Mrs. soccer mom probably doesn't even know what Wifi means.

The same Mrs. soccer mom who gets phreaked out when she has to somehow wire up the console/pc to the router using cables? id say wifi is a damn strong selling point, the only reason i dislike the 360 wifi adapter is the ginormous pricetag (for wifi anyway)

Why didn't they just release a lesser verison without those features ( Like Xbox 360 Basic and Premium.....)

because youll have tons of people going "OMG premium price tag, OMG gimped console, just like with the 360 base and the ps3 base, besides, this would only serve to further confuse Phantoms soccer mom

Since basically, the wii is nothing more than an overclocked cube repackaged as 'cutting edge'

the hardware isnt cutting edge, nor did nintendo scream "OMG 2TFLOP my epenis is bigger then yours microsoft" or something similar, the control method is cutting edge though. as for the hardware, right now there isnt enough information to be sure if it is merely a dieshrinked ghekko under the hood or whether they added features and such (im betting they did tweak the ghekko besides the die shrink)

and how hard did you try to not include the atari link?

ok, im done taking on the world now

[Covar]

first off soccer moms have soccer husbands, and everyone understands what "wireless internet" means. people love wireless electronics. also everyone who has asked me how much the wii is going to be was surprised when i responded $250, about 90% of those people thought it was affordable, the other 10% thought it was expensive.

[Phantom]

The same Mrs. soccer mom who gets phreaked out when she has to somehow wire up the console/pc to the router using cables?

You don't *have* to wire up the console to the internet at all. At least I hope not, that would be rather silly.

Does anyone know any statistic of the % of, say, xbox players that play online regularly?

[butters]

If they wanted a cheaper console they should have gotten rid of the non-essential parts. They want this to be a family console, but Mrs. soccer mom probably doesn't even know what Wifi means.

Right now Nintendo only hold a very small portion of the console market (not counting handhelds of course). I believe that in order to become a major player again they need to be very aggressive. The Wii needs to be $50 cheaper within 2 months, and say $100 cheaper within 6 months, then maybe they have a chance.

Who cares what their market share is? Nintendo have made profits off of every console they've ever sold. Nintendo even make profit in their bad years, which is not the case with MS or Sony's gaming divisions. Revenue - Cost is what matters, everything else (like market share) is just fluff.

[Phantom]

Who cares what their market share is? Nintendo have made profits off of every console they've ever sold. Nintendo even make profit in their bad years, which is not the case with MS or Sony's gaming divisions. Revenue - Cost is what matters, everything else (like market share) is just fluff.

Currently there's not a single GC game in the Japanese top 50. When you say Nintendo profits, that also includes the handheld market which they've reigned for decades. I highly doubt Nintendo are happy with how the GC did, and surely they want the Wii to do better.

And in general, market share is very important. That's why companies like Youtube that have a large market share, yet make no profit, get sold for millions.

[MrSiggler]

I'm sure Nintendo cares quite a bit about market share.
Sure, they make a profit on each Gamecube sold.. but the amount made back -- considering those cubes are only $75 at the moment.. can't be much. And judging by the lack of shelf space seen locally for Cube games and peripherals, not just now, but it's entire life span, that profit could not have been too high. Would they have liked a larger market share? I'd think so. Larger market means more shelf space, more word of mouth, recognition.

And if Nintendo was not getting it's pockets filled from handheld sales, after the performance of the Gamecube, I doubt they may have been willing to gamble so much on this new control scheme for the Wii.

[butters]

Who cares what their market share is? Nintendo have made profits off of every console they've ever sold. Nintendo even make profit in their bad years, which is not the case with MS or Sony's gaming divisions. Revenue - Cost is what matters, everything else (like market share) is just fluff.

Currently there's not a single GC game in the Japanese top 50. When you say Nintendo profits, that also includes the handheld market which they've reigned for decades. I highly doubt Nintendo are happy with how the GC did, and surely they want the Wii to do better.

And in general, market share is very important. That's why companies like Youtube that have a large market share, yet make no profit, get sold for millions.

Unfortunately Nintendo don't publish a breakdown of their different console sales versus cost. Sure, they don't sale as many consoles as Microsoft or Sony, but they seem to hit their estimates well, meaning there isn't a lot of surplus inventory. This means they actually do make money on console sales, though probably not a much compared to their portables and their first party software. Money is money, regardless of how much.

Nintendo simply don't have any option but to make money off of everything they do. If they don't, they go out of business. They don't have TVs or operating systems to fall back on if their videogame business isn't successful.

edit: Interesting, Nintendo is forecasting 6 million Wiis sold in the April '06 to March '07 fiscal year.

[Phantom]

This means they actually do make money on console sales, though probably not a much compared to their portables and their first party software. Money is money, regardless of how much.

True, but if you cannot hang on to a significant portion of the market retailers will eventually drop your products. They basically want to sell games, and lots of them. They really couldn't care less whether the company producing the games is making a profit, they only care about their own profit.

As MrSiggler pointed out, GC games have almost completely disappeared from the shelves over the past few months, even though it is still Nintendo's current game console. That's not a good thing no matter how you look at it. I really don't think the GC has generated a lot of profit for Nintendo in 2006 (but I have no figures to back it up).

[DuffMan]

Personally I think the Wii will rock everyone's socks off. I played yesterday and it was AWESOME!

[Phantom]

Personally I think the Wii will rock everyone's socks off. I played yesterday and it was AWESOME!

I hope it'll be very succesful. I won't be getting one soon though. At $320 (the european price) I think it's too expensive. I'm hoping for a price drop in a few months.

[butters]

This means they actually do make money on console sales, though probably not a much compared to their portables and their first party software. Money is money, regardless of how much.

True, but if you cannot hang on to a significant portion of the market retailers will eventually drop your products. They basically want to sell games, and lots of them. They really couldn't care less whether the company producing the games is making a profit, they only care about their own profit.

As MrSiggler pointed out, GC games have almost completely disappeared from the shelves over the past few months, even though it is still Nintendo's current game console. That's not a good thing no matter how you look at it. I really don't think the GC has generated a lot of profit for Nintendo in 2006 (but I have no figures to back it up).

I guess it kind of really depends on the store's target market too. From what I can tell, Toys R Us must sell tons of Spongebob and Pokemon Gamecube games, as well they should because they sell toys and only toys. Every Toys R Us (granted it's only 2) I've ever been in in the last few years has had almost as much shelf space for the Gamecube as they had for the PS3 because of Nintendo's popularity with kids.

Does any of this mean anything? Not really. It's also important to keep in mind that videogames are low margin items for stores (especially at Walmart), and consoles are typically losses. This is why they love to offer bundles with consoles.

[RMD]

See the problem at $250 is for $50 more you can get a 360. I think they should of aimed to loose a little bit of money on hardware for once and went with a odd price of around $180 just so they could say its under $200 which would be a first for a Nintendo home console. They should of also opped at the higher end price tag of 59.99 per game just like every other company does now.

[JuddWack]

For $50 more you can can the version of Xbox 360 that no one wants... and you still have to buy a game. Don't forget that this thing is ready to play out of the box. Sure Wiisports may not be the most appealing title but it's a great introduction to the system.

I think what Nintendo is trying to do is draw in parents through the kids by watching them play Wiisports game. If the Wii didn't have a pack in and was a bit cheaper I certainly wouldn't opt for wii sports, but I'm not sure that my uncle would be to impressed when he walks by the TV on christmas day and sees link or samus on the screen battling enemies. I'm certain if he saw me playing golf, tennis or one of the others he would give a try... something he's never done before. And I'd go one step further and say there would be a Wii in his house within 2 weeks.