Analyst: Xbox 360 price drop won't make Nintendo slash Wii's price

by David Hinkle { Sep 4th 2008 at 12:42PM }

With the Xbox 360 dropping in price later this week, many are looking at one of the console's particular SKUs because, well, it's going to be cheaper than the Wii. For almost 2 years, the Wii has been the cheapest option on the market, so how could this lower price affect the Wii's standing as top sales dog? Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian says Microsoft may see stronger sales, but doesn't "anticipate either Nintendo or Sony to match the Xbox 360 price cut."

The Wii is in good standing and really doesn't need to cut its price, so we're not expecting Nintendo to do so, either. But, if Microsoft manages to start taking away some of Nintendo's sales, we wouldn't be surprised to hear about a price cut early next year or, if sales drop that much, this holiday. We're not expecting sales to shift that dramatically, though.

Tags: business, microsoft, price-cut, price-drop, pricecut, ps3, sony, xbox, xbox-360, xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Roddie @ Sep 4th 2008 12:56PM

If I start sending you my guesses, will you post them too?

SoshiKitai @ Sep 4th 2008 1:14PM

If you've got a certificate. :P

igorponweed @ Sep 4th 2008 3:05PM

Oh man, now I'm tempted to get one! Even if only for Rare games and Dead Rising, the good one. I may try and get a used from gamestop for $150-$180 (just a guess).

Rick @ Sep 4th 2008 1:03PM

why would nintendo lower its price when there is no Wii left on the shelves ? they cant sell more than all they gives to stores !

Erik Stroud @ Sep 4th 2008 5:09PM

They won't. Also, if they were smart, they would. The 360 is more powerful, and now is cheaper. They are almost always in stock. I get the feeling Nintendo may have to do something soon, or else they might not be the "king" any more.

(the reason I put king in quotation marks is because its not sale that make the console, it's games.)

sn1per @ Sep 4th 2008 8:17PM

@Erik: These companies are just that: COMPANIES, and as such, sales *is* what makes one console king. MS, Ninty, and Sony don't care who has the best games, they care about who makes the most money, period.

TWOO DEE @ Sep 4th 2008 1:13PM

i'm hoping nintendo decides to add wii sports resort and the m+ attachment to the current bundle once they feel they're losing momentum

hellhammer @ Sep 4th 2008 2:22PM

I had hoped that MS would include (at least) a 20gig HDD with the bottom of the line 360. But that might actually make sense.

In my eyes, it's pretty apparent that the Arcade model is a ploy to get 'teh momz and grandmoms 2 buy it 4 kidz'. Good way to bash Nintendo's marketing strategies and then turn around and wholly adopt them, MS. Now please include a HDD.

Thunderbird @ Sep 4th 2008 1:18PM

Xbox live gold costs $50 a year, and that brings the price of the 360 to $250 the same as the Wii.

Eric @ Sep 4th 2008 1:37PM

I would be much less surprised if Nintendo added a second Wii Remote (and possibly a nunchuck) and kept the same price. That's what they've done in the past.

RupeeClock @ Sep 4th 2008 1:48PM

Ah, so that explains the Wii price drop I saw in woolworths, it's just temporary.

http://www.woolworths.co.uk/web/jsp/browse/index.jsp?cat=cat1007212

Crustin @ Sep 4th 2008 1:49PM

I'd get a Xbox 360 except that I hate Bill Gates..

...also the only person I know personally who owns one is a complete and total jackass.

Mr Bunky @ Sep 4th 2008 2:54PM

This will definitely hurt Nintendo's sales. $50 cheaper, HD support, built in DVD player and 5 full arcade games. You don't have to spend the $50 on live and quite frankly, online multiplayer is basically non existent on the Wii. Affordability was one of the biggest things going for the Wii and this price cut is really going to hurt them.

ChromeAlchemist @ Sep 4th 2008 3:37PM

i think i disagree bunky. considering the reason they cut the price (so lil timmy can buy it! and play with mummy n daddy!) the fact that it is cheaper than the wii wont come into play, because kids want the new mario, not the new gears. and how many homes own a pc do u think? or a DVD player? chances are almost anyone who will buy that for their kids will own one or both, so no one would buy it for DVD support, 5 full arcade games are pointless because internet games are free and dont require a 360, and what child gives a rats deriere about HD support? a child that needs to go an play some goddamn outdoor games with his friends thats what! this wont hurt nintendo, but if we get some more interesting things from them because of this then im game!

Crustin @ Sep 4th 2008 4:02PM

I agree with ChromeAlchemist!

The price drop on the Xbox 360 won't make a difference in Wii sales. It may mean more sales for MS, but it won't mean less sales for Nintendo.

ChromeAlchemist @ Sep 4th 2008 3:16PM

LULZ

its jokes, because they are going to get loads of shovelware and sell a little more, i mean the kind of people who would play 360 for stuff like COD, GOW etc wouldnt buy that unless they were uninformed of the fact that its two thirds of a 360. they will probably abandon this whole idea of undermining nintendo's family friendly idea in about half a year tbh. plus their motion support is coming in a few months, with Rare spearheading the first game, oh Rare, how far you have fallen....

P.S. this guy explains why nintendo is so successful, and why 360 are doing what they are doing and why it will fail (its not in a nutshell, mind you, its a fairly lengthy article but a great read, i recommend all of you to read it)

http://malstrom.50webs.com/birdman.html

ChromeAlchemist @ Sep 4th 2008 3:27PM

oh, and i also meant to say that the cheap ass 360 will lack the quality first party titles that nintendo have that appeal to more than the usual market of consumes, unless they want to work Rare to the bone to make some kind of amazing line of quality titles solely for their whatever the crap they will call it motion control. and even after all of that it wont matter, 360 will still come third (not that i really care, as long as i get good games i couldnt give a crap where my consoles come. gamecube anyone?)

CalcProgrammer1 @ Sep 4th 2008 3:38PM

You're meaning to say the PS3 is better than the 360? That's total madness, the PS3 never even left the ground until years after its release, just now it is starting to get reasonable games, but it's still too expensive to matter. The 360 on the other hand actually took off, launched with good games (so did the Wii, which I think is near tied with the 360 in terms of game quality), and has a much better controller than the lame PS3.

The 360 is great for online (Halo 3) while the Wii is good for Nintendo's awesome first-party titles (Zelda, Mario, Smash Bros, etc). The PS3 looks kinda shiny, I guess people made it into a nice looking grill, and I guess it could sit in a corner as a supercomputer or something though, but I definitely wouldn't want to play games on it.

CalcProgrammer1 @ Sep 4th 2008 3:28PM

I have both a Wii and an XBOX360. Both consoles are great. I bought my Wii last summer (summer 2007) and I feel that $250 is a good price for it. I got my 360 for free because it was broken and I fixed it. If I hadn't got one for free, I would probably buy it when the price drops (though I would've gone for one with HDD for online content like Halo 3 maps). I like the 360's HD graphics and excellent online play, but the Wii also has some fun games that the 360 doesn't.