Nintendo Prez Sez: ‘Price Drops Tell Consumers It’s Better to Wait’

In an interview with a site that I can’t read, through another site that I can’t read, and finally through Kotaku, word has come out once again that right now, Nintendo Co. Ltd. President Satoru Iwata isn’t terribly interested in cutting the Wii’s price:

This is my personal thinking, but when the model’s price-tag drops over time, manufacturers are telling consumers it’s better to wait, and I’ve always thought that was a mistake. — Touch-DS.jp via Livedoor blog via Kotaku

However, he’s not entirely opposed to the idea, but his counter-reasoning is intriguing:

Over the console’s lifetime, companies are able to reduce manufacturing costs. Some companies pass those savings onto the console. Iwata apparently thinks this is a mistake? Not really. He goes on to say that it’s important that the first people who go out and support a product aren’t made to feel like they bought something at a loss. Point!

Nintendo wants everyone to pay the same price because Nintendo cares about you, me and mad profits. — Kotaku

It is something of a double-edged sword. As it stands now, the Xbox 360 seems like a better value for the money, from a technological standpoint if nothing else. At the same time, to engage in a price war would seem to reek of desperation, which is something Nintendo clearly isn’t feeling right now.

Will the Wii price come down? Inevitably, but likely not until there’s a slowdown in people purchasing the unit, and consumers who bought the console x number of years ago don’t even care how much it is any more. After all, even the DS has come down a little.

Incidently, in Microsoft’s case? They’d probably need to have a cheaper console if they want people to replace them after they red-ring. Yes, I went there. I’m sorry.