Mike Hickey, an analyst for Janco Partners has stated in his latest equity research newsletter that Nintendo need to cut the price of the Wii immediately, due to Sony and Microsoft entering the motion control space this fall.
“We believe Nintendo needs to cut the price of their console from $200 to $150 immediately, as they should establish as meaningful of an installed base as possible before the Natal and Arc are introduced.”
“We believe they also need to generate strong hardware sales momentum into their competitors release or face the draconian consumer perception of the Wii having a dramatically reduced entertainment value proposition over a faded technology innovation; Rock Band anyone?”.
“We expect 3rd party publishers could benefit significantly over the emerging casual cycle, as their prior experience at the casual market was often tortuous from Nintendo’s software domination.”
“The casual hardware extensions from both Sony and Microsoft will likely drive both additional hardware and software sales, for casual and non-gaming mass market opportunities. We expect a potential up-migration from a portion of Nintendo’s Wii market, as many new gaming console households chose to upscale their game entertainment experience, enjoy a broader array of multi-media options and experience “the new” casual gaming opportunities.”
– Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey
Sony’s Motion controls don’t look like they are too big of a trouble compared to the Wii but then again I don’t usually read about it’s motion controls. I think they should do a price cut because of Project Natal
DANGIT!
i just bought one for $200
Yeah I agree, if they don’t do something fast then they might suffer the same fate as Atari.
wow that thing is just a cheap ripoff from the wii-mote what moron would by it?
i completely agree. Even people who love Sony and Microsoft will say it looks only decent, but how many of them will actually go out and buy it?
@Luigi: Nintendo’s position is in NO WAY akin to Atari’s prior to it’s collapse. :/
@Nick sorinto: While the motion control in the PS3’s Sixaxis controller could be considered a hastily conceived attempt at diminishing the Wii Remote’s motion control advantage, neither Natal nor the new Sony Motion Controller are “cheap ripoffs” of the Wii Remote.
Right. I’m sure that casual gamers are going to entering the market for the first time are going to ignore how popular and cheap the wii already is, choosing instead to purchase a ridiculously expensive and confusing 360 or PS3. Nintendo is in big trouble. :P
The cheapest Xbox 360 is now cheaper than the Wii, so if Natal is not too expensive, people might decide to go that way.
I still think a lot more kids will want the Wii though.
Surely nearly everyone who wants one has a Wii by now though? Time to make some awesome games for the thing to keep money coming in.
No its not, but there are so many better games for casual gamers on the wii anyways.
They won’t cut the price. They just did a few months ago! Hasn’t anyone realized that these game analysts are always completely wrong????? Every week some idiot sales analyst says some dumb ass thing like “Nintendo will completely forget what their business is all about and start making PEZ dispensers to outsell the iPhone”—i mean the things they predict are so random and pathetic. Nintendo will NOT drop the price an additional 50 dollars to compete with a shitty wand thing that’s just a total rip-off of the Wii remote and Natal (which just looks boring).