Nintendo Wii price to rise for UK trade News

Why is this news hidden down here rather than on the main sidebar?

This is big news is it not?

If Sony announced this for the PS3 the internet would be up in arms.

Good lord! If this wasn't so ridiculous, I'd laugh.

First time in history of console price going up!? Going up!?

Nintendo, you really are the ogres we all thought you were!

If Sony announced this for the PS3 the internet would be up in arms.

not really. Sony are still making a loss on every console sold, as are Microsoft. This move would make sense for both of these; Nintendo however is already making a killer profit on it's hardware, and is now showing the kind of greed usually reserved for large oil companies...

last i checked the pound wasn't looking healthy. it was down against the euro and the dollar.

ò_Ó wow, Nintendo suck.

This must be a first, no? Only Nintendo can get away with it I guess.

Crikey.

N@:

Nintendo don't suck. The (non-existent) money in my pocket sucks. It's worthless thanks to the recession.

At least they passed on the VAT cut, so this isn't quite as offensive. Wait a sec...

I predict larger bundles at retailer. You might pay more, but you'll get an extra bit of shovelware at least.

As long as they don't change the price of the DSi it doesn't bother me. I'm going across the border to spend my €.

Ipods recently increased in price.

I appreciate that the pound is depreciating but who is willing to pay MORE in this current economic climate.

Plus its not as if the DSi can doing anything that DS lite can't at the moment, as detailed by last weeks article defending it.

Good luck I say

I just have this image of Nintendo head office containing people rubbing their nipples with wads of fifties while screaming "GIVE ME MOAR MONEYHATZ!!!"

The ridiculously low interest rates are putting pressure on the pound. There are large programmes out there that automatically shift money from currency to currency depending on the difference between interest rates and inflation.

There's hardly any profit in a store selling a Wii for £179.99 as it is. Most places make their money through selling crap accesories at the time of sale (cough, cough Argos). I really hope that people stop buying them.

@Rash'

Sterling is currently falling quite dramatically against the Yen as well. July 2008, £1 = 215 Yen; Today £1 = 135 Yen. That's quite a drop.

Wow £200 so Nintendo can make a profit on an overclocked Gamecube, while everyone else in the Industry is selling vastly superior products at a loss...

I think I need to lie down...

Think about all the people who yesterday might have said "I won't get a Wii now, I'll first wait for the price to drop a bit". Oh, the irony.

By the way, I'm sure Ninty's profit margin on the Wii is insane. It can't cost much to produce, so they are obviously gaining a great deal of money for each unit. Do they actually HAVE to do this? Would they risk alienating a part of potential buyer (who are also troubled by the crisis, so the higher price maybe would hurt) in order to keep their profit margin intact?

I guess so. That's the trouble with trendy products. People will buy it regardless of the price.

"We'd like to make some more money. We're saving for a new office made of gold, y'see..."

does it print money yet?... oh wait :(

yes because they arent already make shed loads of money!

I love how the level complaining is directly proportional to how much Nintendo care about those doing the complaining. People buy the Wii at a ridiculous rate, they have been doing since it came out and probably will continue to do so even after a price increase.
A significant portion of the market get the Wii, it's just a shame the small remainder are too close minded.

Nintendo are greedy cunt's.

They are already making money hand over fist, they want to make more for what is yesterdays tech with generally crap games. That Reggie looks like a drunk version of the ape from Donkey Kong too.

And people wonder why Sony have struggled with the PS3s price here. Our currency is fubar because of all the new money being printed, we're just getting started.

It really is basic economics.

This is what happens in a recession, and this recession hitting the UK hardest. The pound is weakening against ALL major currencies in the world. If your product is purchased against the Yen or the Euro, or now even the Dollar, they're all much stronger relative to the pound than were 6 months ago. It's not just Nintendo, lots of products, especially electronics, that we import are going to have price increases. Denon, for example, have already had massive price hikes on their AV products and it was only a matter of time before consoles got involved.

The other consoles will follow suit, unless the UK economy picks up soon relative to the reset of the world.

Rirekon: so wait, you absolutely don't care about the price? The way you said it kinda sounded like "those who understand the Wii will pay any price for it". I hope not, I mean, speaking as a consumer. I understand the Wii, but I still don't like a price increase.

Anyway. GIB also reports that Nintendo is warning us about software prices also rising. That's actually even worse, because unlike a console (bundles), retailers can't cover a price increase on games.

Is America getting a discount because the dollar is strong of late?

@JahB

"Sony are still making a loss on every console sold, as are Microsoft."

Why do people continue to say this. Supposedly Microsoft makes a small profit on the hardware now. Of course, with the price drops I suppose they could have put themselves back in the "small loss" category, but I have never seen any information to confirm that. I would like to see some recent information that indicates the 360 is sold at a loss. Maybe the Arcade, but surely not the Premium or Elite.

I don't know. Give me some facts please.

Oh Nintendo, what have you become!? Very nearly bought a Wii at launch.....to this day I'm still chuffed I didnt! Used to be a big Ninty fan back in the day, how times change. I'm very pleased with my current M$ rabid fanboy status thank-you!! No expensive Wii's for me! :)

"We are only - reluctantly - raising our trade price..."

Considering Nintendos track record, I'm not suprised. They rip off gamers again and again.

Nintendo might have won this generation, but they've spent it constantly biting the hand that feeds them (both retailers and core gamers)

Retailers probably hate them for the artificial console shortages, and now this, and core gamers... well I don't need to explain that one.

Good luck to them next generation, they're gonna need it after pissing away all the goodwill people had towards them...

As much as everyone says this sucks if I were in Nintendo's shoes I would have done this two years ago!

and to think I was thinking of getting rid of the dust collectot as it is, might actually be worth more 2nd hand than it was brand new.

Amazing scenes.

Give it a few hours and the obvious shitehawks are going to pour into the thread justifying the move.

Ninty are cunts - official.

lol, retaillers hating nintendo. i can just imagine the people at game shacking there fists and saying "grrr you nintendo, increasing the size of the gaming market, grrr"
This was an inevitability, the pound is not as worth as much as it did when the wii came out and demand is still high.

Dont blame nintendo blame the rich cunts at the banks who have been pissing all our savings down the drain on dodgy investments. This is entirely there fault.

Oh my god. Please learn about economics, capitalism and free markets before you spout your hippy bullshit about Nintendo being greedy cunts who get a kick out of ripping off gamers.

Given the ratio of the value of the pound to other currencies now compared to 6 months ago, a 10% price increase equates to a CUT in profits for Nintendo. They have absorbed this difference themselves in order to keep the price increase to a minimum.

So many armchair economists.. so many people who dont realise just how fucked the pound is..

"yes but my 360 is cheap" : while ignoring the fact the US dollar is fucked too
"but the ps3 hasnt gone up in price" : hasnt come down either has it?
"but nintendo are making huge profits on each of these" : So you've seen their profit/loss sheets?


I find it AMAZING that the first fuckers to complain about a company selling games at a cheaper price in america (because if you do a straight dollar to pound conversion it looks like they get stuff cheaper).. Are the ones complaining about this... If you're going to base prices on exchange rates - then prices go up as well as down!

But no.. gamers just like to moan.. boo fucking hoo.

If you dont like it.. dont buy..

But then most of the people moaning here had no intention of ever owning a wii did they? Just fanboys of other systems wanting to say how "evil" another company is... sigh

Lol don't get your panties in a bunch

"A significant portion of the market get the Wii, it's just a shame the small remainder are too close minded. "

That one made me laugh out loud :)

Through out gaming there have been fanboys from the Speccy to the PS3 but none, NONE, are as condescending as Ninty fanboys, even back in the SNES days :)

get the Wii, what a wally! :)

Apple have just done something very similar, and I expect others will do the same at some point, especially if things do not improve in the UK. With more and more people losing there jobs I cannot see an increase in sales.

The only thing I will say is that this doesn't really fit with the lower price of the Wii in the US previously, at a time when it was $2-£1....

"Through out gaming there have been fanboys from the Speccy to the PS3 but none, NONE, are as condescending as Ninty fanboys, even back in the SNES days :) "


Erm.. i think you've misspelled "xbox fanboys" there.

Does this mean that the big N will invest the money in the non-existent first party titles in development?

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate the depreciation of the pound. Importing games from the UK is so damn cheap right now.

this isn't new a lot of jap products are going up and i wouldn't be surprised to see sony following suit either. most of the big jap camera retailers did this a month ago, canon, nikon and sigma have all hiked prices to compensate for the exchange rate so it's not a case of ninty taking the piss it's just the global economy. get used to it.

back to the sensible comments:

"Apple have just done something very similar, and I expect others will do the same at some point, especially if things do not improve in the UK. With more and more people losing there jobs I cannot see an increase in sales."


Its nothing to do with sales, and everything to do with the exchange rate. I cant see many drops in prices from US made products (due to the US dollar being also screwed), but the yen is sky high in comparision..


"The only thing I will say is that this doesn't really fit with the lower price of the Wii in the US previously, at a time when it was $2-£1...."

1. the US is a bigger market - so the import/export costs pay for themselves
2. most world wide companies try to factor in exchange rates over the period of the lifespan of the product when they set the original price (thus the reason you get a load of fanboys crying every time a new console is released when they see they can get it "cheaper" elsewhere - while ignoring the fact exchange rates change). Seems like in this case they underestimated it. Usually companies over-estimate it so they can lower prices at a later date..

>and i wouldn't be surprised to see sony following suit either

I would be!

The reason the price of the ps3 has remained high without a price drop at all (Despite it not selling awfully well) is because of the exchange rate.. Cant see it going up any time soon.

That said with the US dollar equally as screwed as the pound - i half expect microsoft to cash in on this and lower the price of the 360 again.

"Erm.. i think you've misspelled "xbox fanboys" there. "

Nah Smelly the xbots are relatively young compared to you lot ;)

fair comment smelly but sony will be taking a hit right across their product base and will prolly spread the necessary rises across their range as a small amount rather than specifically targetting products with more shocking high increases. in which case the ps3 would not be immune

I just hope the retailers in Ireland don't follow suit, given that the Euro is relitively strong, but I know they will, they're oppertunists!!

Don't really care about the price of the Wii, I already have one, and never use it. The software price jack up is slightly more worrying though....