OCT. 15, 2012 • In anticipation of the Nov. 18 launch of the Wii U, Nintendo of America is reducing the price of the original Wii to $129.95 from $149.95. The new package should be shipped-in to retailers by Oct. 28, includes a black console, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort, a Wiimote Plus, and a Nunchuck controller. The package replaces the existing $149.95 bundle that included New Super Mario Bros.  Nintendo has made no similar price reduction announcement for Europe or Asia, although there have been some reports in the U.K. that detailed the same features as the new $129.95 U.S. bundle, but with no mention of MSRP.
Impact: For the first four years of the current console cycle the Wii dominated sales. Despite the leveling out in market share since the Kinect and Move motion controllers launched, by most measures Nintendo won the cycle. With the Wii U arriving Nov. 18, Nintendo would like to take a page out of Sony’s playbook and extend Wii sales well into its successor’s run. The original PlayStation sold 20 million units long after the introduction of the PS2 and the PS2 sold over 30 million units after the launch of the PS3. While we cannot disparage the value of everything that Nintendo is packing into this $129 bundle, we would have preferred they rolled the dice and also included a SKU with just the console and Wii controller for $99. The $99 price point is magical, and despite the value of the announced $129 package, sending the Wii off into its sunset years with an under $100 option could open up a whole other tier of budget-conscious consumers. We think pulling in those extra dollars sooner than later would go a long way in further extending the life of the Wii.
