Retailer expects UK consumers to see Wii price rise

I think sony and microsoft just had a heart attack.

Agreed. Fantastic.

Would yours?

i was thinking the same thing. people have been joking about Nintendo doing this with the Wii with it's shortages for years now, never thought i'd actually see it happen though. oh well, i already have mine and i don't live in the UK anyway.

Its been two years, both M$ and Sony have dropped their price, while Nintendo who already makes profit raises it, I dont think it cost that much to make a shitty console

Agreed. The Wii cannot cost more than $50, labor included, to make. Greedy ass sons of bitches charging so much for last gen tech...

Anyway, in this topsy-turvy world, they will probably double in sales in the UK after the price increase.

You'd be surprised. A lot of tech goes into the Wiimote, and the NAND RAM they use for the internal memory is apparently still expensive stuff. The rest can't amount to that much (although it might come full-circle that the processors are now so archaic that its actually costing more to make them), but $50 is laughable. That thing still costs at least $150

Mr. Khan,

Actually, anywhere past 100 is laughable

Look, this is an article about Wii manufacturing cost

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/15/wii-manufacturing-costs-ring-up-to-just-158/
http://kotaku.com/gaming/wii/wii-autopsy-discovers-manufacturing-cost-221736.php

According to the article, the total cost of the Wii was about $ 158.30.

That was 2 years ago, not only has a long time has passed, but they have sold a hell lot of units, the manufacturing cost is very likely to have dropped drastically.

So yes, to say that the Wii costs more than 100 is, once again, a laughable idea.

oh, and Feba, yes, they are expected to, not only because demand for Wii's hasn't been met by supply, but also because, unlike Sony and Microsoft that run razor thin profit margins with their respective consoles, Nintendo makes profit off each console sold!

They haven't even decreased the prices, not one single price cut, yet they are already raising the prices because of "economic times", that's just bullshit buddy, they already make enough from console/peripheral sales, software sales, and royalties.

@Noshino:

The manufacturing cost doesn't decline anywhere near as quickly as the other platforms because it wasn't based heavily on the cost of a couple of bleeding-edge chips which started out extraordinarily expensive due to low yields and reduce in cost drastically as processes improve (witness the move to newer manufacturing processes on other platforms). I'm sure that no chip in the Wii had anything other than an excellent yield to begin with. Similarly, how many significant board revisions have they done compared to the other manufacturers? The bleeding-edge systems started with very high numbers of components which could rapidly be designed down and integrated - Wii was probably well-integrated to begin with. And a higher proportion of the system's cost is in things like manufacturing, case, PSU, packaging etc that don't really decline in price much.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they have been making a good profit margin and this price increase is a way to protect that margin, not to stop losses.

The yen price paid by UK customers will still be significantly lower than at release, so in effect, Nintendo have already decreased the Wii price by a large margin in the UK. Ordinarily companies eat losses (...or profit decreases) caused by currency fluctuations, even large ones as we've seen recently. But given that people are still buying the system in droves, Nintendo can increase the price to get back some of that large profit margin, and it's not entirely shocking that they have done.

Sam,

The Wii used for the most part old components, not many of them were current, the price of said pieces was likely on a decline, to say that the price of non-cutting edge components doesn't decline drastically over a course of 2 years or so is rather naive.

As for board revisions, Im 100% sure about 1 of them (http://tinyurl.com/yva8g2). Also, look at the wide array of serial numbers that the Wii has (http://tinyurl.com/39s25u), take in mind that Nintendo is known for not publicizing many revisions that they want to leave under low profile.

"And a higher proportion of the system's cost is in things like manufacturing, case, PSU, packaging etc that don't really decline in price much."

As shown on the article about the Wii's cost, it seems that you are incorrect, more than 50% of the price, at least back 2 years ago, was only on the hardware.

Anyway you want to spin it, there is no excuse as to why they would have a price raise before even price cut.

But how is the Euro doing, and will prices in mainland Europe stay consistent?

On second thought, the British would get screwed over anyway when changing their pounds into Euros, especially if the Euro is still doing better than the British pound.

Eh?

"Such F'ing greed. But of course its Nintendo and everyone on joystiq will defend this.

I wish Sony and MS would raise their prices just to see what all of you would say."

Is that what you're referring to? Your comment from the other day? In which I replied saying you were jumping to conclusions, and that was all?

I see people calling this greedy, saying it's a bad move, I see people asking when their thirst for dough will be quenched, I see people discussing manufacturing costs, I see someone threatening to kill any consumer that'd buy it at an increased price, I see people in bemused awe that this is happening.

What I don't see is evvveeeeryyyyoooooneee on Joystiq defending this. At all. I mean is that what you were talking about? 1st time I get called out on Joystiq, and it's about that?

Gosh, I wish MS and Sony would raise their prices, just to see what you would say (dumbest statement evar kthxbaiomg)

Never, this would be the first ever console to raise the price before there was even a price cut...

Actually, TECHNICALLY Microsoft raised the price of their Arcade console after massive drop to $179. It was raised to stay in line with the other SKUs to $199.

However, this is just asinine.

Guess what price a 360 Elite is at GAME? £199.99

THE WII IS NOT WORTH AS MUCH AS A FUCKING ELITE NINTENDO ಠ_ಠ

@dan: The difference is people want Wiis and they don't want 360s (as much). Turns out that for whatever reason - better commercials, word of mouth, people like casual games, greater supply of kid- and adult-friendly games, or whatever - Wii is, in fact, worth more to most people than a 360. That's been true for ages, at least with the Arcade model 360.

People don't make console buying decisions based on the system's processing power.

By the way, a £20 price difference is sufficient to make people 'stupid' enough that you're getting all vigilante killer up in the place? I think Wii is pretty damn expensive for what it is (even in Japan or the US), but if you want a Wii, the extra £20 doesn't make much odds.

@curve: oh, and while I agree with the sentiment that it's way expensive, sadly the way companies are set up is that they're only responsible to their shareholders (providing they follow applicable laws etc). Nintendo has a responsibility to make the biggest profits they can (while not pissing people off so much that they risk losing money in future). That's it.

people have over paid for it before i wouldn't be surprised to see it again

Guilty as charged here. Think I paid 50 beans over retail ages ago off to some smelly dude who posted it on craigslist. I think his name was Rob, or Rich, or something, but remembering his name as Smelly gives him a more endearing place in my memory.

There was someone audibly grumping one out in the bathroom the whole time I was there completing the transaction.

Don't hate the playa, hate Smelly