After sitting at the $200 price point for years, it looks like the Wii will be climbing down to $150.
When the Wii launched in 2006, it was priced at $250, and it was later slashed to $200, but other than that the price has remained steady. Nintendo has sweetened the pot by packing in extra games, but until now has shrugged off any suggestion of a price cut, even as sales of the console began to decline year-over-year.
Analysts and video game publishers have called on the company to scale back the price as a way to re-invigorate the market. Now, according to Engadget, Nintendo is finally heeding that advice.
According to the blog, the Wii will hit the new $150 price point on May 15, about one month before the world’s biggest video game trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
The Xbox 360 and PS3 have both seen drastic price cuts over their respective life spans. The 360 is now available for around $200, while the PS3 begins at $300. Both were hundreds of dollars more expensive when they first launched.
The impending price cut is leading to strong projections that Nintendo will reveal a Wii successor at E3. Although the company has said nothing official about a new home console, comments by its executives have hinted that a new device is in the works.
At $150, the Wii would become the cheapest any home console has been in a long time during an active life cycle.
