Ever since the 360 and PS3 price drop there has been rumors of a Wii price drop. Webcam pictures of “leaked” ads here and there, but little confirmation. Well a few reliable sources have said that these whispers in the wind are actually factual.
The first of the sources is not so surprising, Best Buy. An internal memo, that ironically says “please keep this quiet!”, says the price drop will be announced by Nintendo this Friday. The timing matches up with the Tokyo Game Show which starts tomorrow, the Japanese equivalent of the E3 which Nintendo usually doesn’t attend, but rather holds their own unique little event.
The second reliable source is extremely surprising, Sony. During a Sony event a price chart showing off the three prices of the major consoles. The Wii’s price is shown as 199 in the picture, suggesting they know about the price drop. Sony contacted Kotaku saying it was only showing a speculative price, but I find that hard to believe.
I’m not so surprised about the price drop, but I wonder how much Nintendo will make off of them after price drop. To my knowledge Nintendo used to make less than 10 dollars off every unit sold around the launch. Either they’ll be selling at a loss, or the cost has dropped dramatically.
Update: Nintendo just officially confirmed it. Price cut will take effect in the US and Japan this Sunday.
Sony Confirms Wii Price Drop? [Kotaku]
Rumor: Internal Best Buy memo confirms Wii price cut this Sunday [update] [Kotaku]
From what I remember the Wii only cost around $100-$150 to actually make, so a $50 price cut will still net them at least $50 profit.