Tag Archives: price cut

Amazon UK’s now listing Wii at £139.99.

The pack includes Wii Sports. This is stock clearance before the introduction of the the new official Wii bundle for the region – a £179.99 package that ships with Wii MotionPlus, Wii Sports and its sequel Wii Sports Resort.

Thanks, GI.

NoA’s Reggie Fils-Aime reckons the recently-announced Wii price cut and the imminent launch of Wii Fit Plus will have a seven-figure impact to the machine’s sales.

“There are literally millions of consumers out there who want a Wii and had been on the sidelines,” he said, talking to the FT.

“They’d been waiting for that little nudge to go out and pick it up – the price decline, the sampling, the launching of key software like Wii Fit Plus – we believe it’s what’s pushing them over the edge to get into the category.”

And what sort of sales increase have we seen from the cut, Reggie?

“The consumer response has been very strong to the price reduction,” he said, adding that it was too early to release precise sales figures.

We’ll know soon enough.

UK retailers have already started dropping the price of PSPgo, with Amazon, Play, GAME and HMV now selling the machine for £199.99.

It was £224.99 when it launched last week.

SCEE said earlier today that PSP hardware sales have risen 100 percent since PSPgo released on October 1.

Thanks, EG.

Nintendo’s confirmed a €50 price cut for the European Wii. Note: this doesn’t mean it’s coming down in the UK.

The machine will now retail for €199 on the mainland.

It was announced earlier this week that Wii’s UK trade price had been reduced by an unspecified amount, but no reduction has yet been seen at retail.

Thanks, GI.

Nintendo’s dropped the trade price of Wii in the UK and Ireland – having actually raised it earlier this year.

The news coming on the back of retail price drop for the US and Japan announced at TGS today.

Said the firm in a statement:

We will be reducing the trade price of Wii to retailers from 2nd October 2009. In the UK and Republic of Ireland we are also introducing a new configuration of Wii hardware from 2nd October 2009 which will replace the current offering and will include the Wii console and Wii Sports with the new Wii Sports Resort game and Wii MotionPlus accessory. This will be available to retailers at the newly reduced trade price. The ultimate price to consumers is, of course, determined by the retailers. Our aim has always been to expand the gaming population and there are still many more people out there who have not yet experienced the fun of video games. This compelling offer will hopefully make Wii more accessible to everyone.

The has caused some proper behind the scenes hilarity this morning. Such fun.

Nintendo’s just confirmed that Wii will drop in price from $249 to $199, as of September 27.

The move concerns American and Japanese markets.

Full press release is below.

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Wii is getting a price cut to $200 on Friday. In case you’re still unconvinced this is happening, take a look at the Best Buy email Engadget published last night.

It’s going to be announced on Friday. OK?

Thanks, Peter.

The Australian 360 Elite has been dropped AU$100 in price to AU$449 (£266), IGN reports.

The Arcade remains at an RRP of AU$299 (£160), while the Pro is on sale at AU$399 (£213) while supplies last.

Nintendojo’s reporting that a “retailer conference call” confirmed a Wii price cut for September 27.

“Nintendojo can now confirm that such a cut is indeed coming,” said the site.

“Wii will be reduced to $199, effective Sunday, September 27th, and will likely include retailers nationwide.”

Asking Nintendo now. Thanks, Gorman.

First Toys ‘R’ Us, then Target, and now Best Buy. Kotaku received the above flier from an alleged Best Buy tipster, and it looks mighty official to us.

The crowd’s gathering. “Off with its head!” they’re screaming. Then, a metallic flash. The Wii’s price tag sits, rent asunder, splurting $50 bills all about.

That’s the future, folks. Nintendo says the cuts are retailer-specific, but this heaping mountain of fliers begs to differ. Now then, Wii price tag, let’s have bit off the top, shall we?

Kotaku’s carrying a supposed shot of a Toys ‘R’ Us ad listing Wii at $199.

That’s means “price cut,” sports fans.

The machine currently retails at its launch price of $249. The pack shown on the ad contains Wii Sports.

The ad is apparently due to hit the week of September 27.

Hit the link for the full thing.

Microsoft’s confirmed a price cut for 360 in Japan, as expected.

And the numbers are:

• Xbox 360 Elite
  Previous Price: ¥39,800 (US$429)
  New Price: ¥29,800 ($321)

• Xbox 360 Pro
  Previous Price: ¥29,800 ($321)
  New Price: Open

• Xbox 360 Arcade
  Previous Price: ¥19,800 ($213)
  New Price: ¥19,800

All details on Kotaku.

Microsoft is to hold a press conference in Japan tomorrow in order to announce Asian 360 price cuts, according to Microsoft Hong Kong’s Julie Leong, NetworkWorld reports.

According to that piece, parts of Asia-Pacific will begin enjoying dropped 360s on on September 10.

The SRP of an Elite will be lowered by around 28 percent to US$305 in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

More through there. Thanks, Kotaku.

Sony WWS boss Shuhei Yoshida’s told GI that the GamesCom-announced PS3 price cut has removed a barrier to “success” for the company’s products.

“We’re so excited about the products we’re working on for release this year, but if there was one thing that could have prevented the success of our titles we felt that would be the price point – so we’re relieved to see it finally happen,” said the exec.

Yoshida added that the addition of general economic recovery will broaden his market and allow the more casual part of PS3′s line-up to flourish.

“Games like MAG, or those hardcore games, we have no concerns over,” he said.

“But games like EyePet, or Heavy Rain, or ModNation Racers – they’re targeted to grow the audience, and it’s crucial to make the hardware more approachable to those consumers.”

Relief all round. More through there.

European Xbox 360 head Chris Lewis has told GI that the 360 Pro pack’s been discontinued due to a need to “clarify” the machine’s SKU-base.

“We felt that the time is right and there’s been a demand to clarify our SKUs and our offerings to the consumers,” he said, speaking after the announcement this morning of 360 hardware reshuffle in both the US and Europe this morning.

“We continue to offer an entry console in the Arcade unit and, now we’ve lowered the price of the Xbox 360 Elite, we’re confident we’re offering a premium gaming experience at a very competitive price.”

It was confirmed today that the Pro SKU would be dropped in favour of a set-up featuring a more expensive Arcade and cheaper Elite.

There’s a full interview through the link.

Xbox Europe boss Chris Lewis has told MCV that the now-confirmed 360 Arcade SKU price hike to £159.99 from £129.99 is thanks in part to exchange rates.

“We are making modest increases on the Xbox 360 Arcade console as you can see,” said the exec.

“The reality now is partly to offset currency exchange rate fluctuations which have impacted us in local market conditions – particularly in the UK.

“And you’ve seen other consumer products operate in the same way. But I think even with that we still offer the most affordable console in the marketplace out there.

“So we’ve reset the price point largely based on exchange rate fluctuations, but are still very happy we offer great value through the Xbox 360 Arcade.”

Microsoft said this morning that Arcade would rise £30 in the UK, while the Elite pack would drop to £199.99.

Microsoft has told VG247 that dropping the HDMI cable from the newly-reduced 360 Elite bundle will allow punters to pick the HD cable of their choice.

“In order to offer the Xbox Elite to consumers at a reduced price, now €50/£30 less at $249.99/£199.99, we eliminated the inclusion of an HDMI cable,” said a rep in statement.

“That said, we are confident that providing even better value for our premium console will allow people the flexibility to purchase the HDMI cable of their choice so they can enjoy the full benefits of our high-definition and 1080p experiences over Xbox LIVE.”

Microsoft confirmed Elite’s much-rumoured drop this morning for both the US and Europe. HDMI cables are cheap now, right? Right?

Microsoft’s confirmed the Stateside leg of its 360 price cut, saying the American Elite will drop to $299.99.

The 60Gb Pro has been cut to $249.99, although production on the pack, which has been fully discontinued in Europe, has now ceased.

The American Arcade unit remains at $200, which its price has risen in Europe to £159.99 from £129.99.

It looks as though the HDMI cable has been dropped from both the European and American Elite packs.

Get all details on the European cut here.

Told you so. Microsoft’s confirmed that 360′s Elite model will be cut to £199.99 in the UK and €249.99 on the mainland from tomorrow, August 28.

“With the Christmas season right around the corner, it’s already time to start looking for entertainment and gifts that everyone will enjoy,” said Euro Xbox head Chris Lewis.

“We have a goal over the next 18 months to reinvent entertainment in the living room and we want to ensure that we have the right foundations in place for our consumers to make simple informed choices around their entertainment platform.

“We know that price is a critical influencing factor in consumer choice, but we also know that consumers across Europe are looking for value, benefit and entertainment experiences, so we need to address all these points to continue to grow and be successful in Europe.”

As we reported last night, the Arcade SKU has been pulled up to £159.99 from £129.99.

PR after the break. The American drop details have also been confirmed, the US Elite dropping to $299.99.

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Price cut? Imminent? Xbox 360? UK retailers having orders restricted? What do you say, Mr Microsoft?

“We’ve made no such announcements and have nothing to share at this time,” a rep told us this afternoon.

Talk’s now gathering pace that Microsoft is on the verge of dropping Xbox 360′s price, with rumours today pointing to British retail lines drying up.

A UK retail source told VG247 today, simply, “Game on!”

Engadget ran a few shots from a Target ad earlier this week showing pretty clearly that the little white chap’s about to see a drop.

Watch this space. This one. Watch it.