14 DAY TRIAL // During recent months, things haven't been so rosy for video game companies, starting with small developers, who keep their high-end titles for the end of the year, and ending with console manufacturers, which have recorded losses across the board, with a few exceptions here and there.
This is evident with the sales juggernaut that was the Wii, as the Nintendo console has seen some pretty steep drops in sales as opposed to 2008 for example. But don't think that these small numbers have made the possibility of a price cut that much more attractive for the Japanese company as its president, Satoru Iwata, was asked during a recent conference whether or not he was thinking about cutting the price on the small white console and his answer was not a positive one.
“It's not the case of the quality of hardware moved, the feeling of missing strong competitive power, lacking its luster or poor sales,” Iwata responded. “Consistently, big time titles will be released in the marketplace for this hardware. When that stops, to reinvigorate the console, or to put it another way, I think the current decline in hardware sales is due to the fact that there aren't many big titles (at the moment).”
Further pressed, Iwata said that his company had other things to think about than cutting prices. “Right now, there aren't a lot of discussions going on about what exactly to do about hardware pricing,” the Japanese executive revealed.
So it seems that the summer “drought” in terms of new and interesting games has taken its toll on console sales. With a few exceptions here and there, like Prototype, UFC 2009 or EA Sports Active, things have been relatively quiet in terms of new blockbuster releases.
You can be sure though that we will see a big boost as the fall approaches, and with it new quality titles.