Nintendo President Says Price Cuts Are Bad

How do you know Nintendo feels in no way threatened by the way Microsoft aggressively cut the price of its Xbox 360 gaming console? It’s easy. You just have to take a look at the statements made by Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata.

He spoke to a Japanese site, Touch-DS, saying that “This is my personal thinking, but when the model's price-tag drops over time, manufacturers are telling consumers it's better to wait, and I've always thought that was a mistake”. In other words, when you have a few million people buying the Xbox 360 before its price drops significantly, you get a few million people who might not be too eager to get the next Microsoft console when it launches. They might also be thinking that it’s worth waiting a few years to get it at a discounted price. According to Nintendo’s president, such a move hurts not just one company but all in the business of making and selling gaming consoles.

Microsoft slashed the price of the Xbox 360 in September. The price of one variant of the device, which lacks an internal hard drive, is now below the selling price of the Nintendo Wii in Europe, the United States and Japan. As a result, Microsoft has reported a surge in sales, at least initially, but the Nintendo Wii is still the runaway winner of the console wars, selling on average more than its two closest rivals combined.

Just as Microsoft announced its price cut, Sony stated that it would keep the price of the PlayStation 3 at the same level, mainly because of the extra feature the console has. Nintendo also signaled that, until Christmas, the price of the Wii would remain the same.