Nintendo sets Revolution launch price at $99? - Joystiq - www.joystiq.com
Rumors are swirling that Nintendo might launch Revolution at $99. The main theory behind this is that Nintendo has launched it's previous consoles at $199, rarely losing more than a few dollars per sale. Considering that Microsoft and Sony will be losing at least $100 a unit if not more, Nintendo launching the new console at a $100 discount would put it into a completely different pricing structure from the other "next-gen" consoles.
Nintendo certainly has the cash-on-hand to make this work, but considering the company's strict Japanese business ethics, it's very hard to determine if they'd take such a risk.
Personally, I think Nintendo would screw up the pricing structure of not only all their other products, but probably skew the value of the software as well. Nintendo could launch at $149 and still seem like it was in a different class than Microsoft and Sony without nearly the same financial risk or damage to the pricing of the existing SKUs.
However, if the past has been an indicator, I can't see Nintendo launching lower than $199.
1 comment:
Actually, Nintendo took a HUGE loss on Virtual Boy, but I think we can all agree that VB doesn't count.
But to give you your example, Nintendo was losing money in the single digits at the launch of GameCube, but had already managed to erase that loss by March of the following year. Nintendo also lost small amounts of money on each sale of the Nintendo 64 at it's launch, due in part to the pre-launch price cut down to $199 (Nintendo 64 was supposed to launch at $249, and had the price cut to $199 three days before launch).
Nintendo does lose money on their hardware on occasion, but it is fairly rare for that to happen. It's currently theorized that Nintendo is losing small amounts on money on Nintendo DS, but I'd have to analyze their recent financials in order to be sure, and I haven't had the time or inclination to do that yet.
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