Iwata says Wii price-drop is effective
Nintendo's Earning Report has today shown that in the six month period ending on September 30, Nintendo's profits have dropped for the first time in four years.
In the six month time frame leading up to the end of September, the gaming giant's income dropped a whopping 58.6% compared to the same time frame last year, resulting in the income of 104.3 billion yen. This is thanks to sales of Wii consoles falling 43% to a total of 5.75 million.
Speaking in a press-conference in Osaka, Iwata was reported to have stated that the Wii has momentarily stalled: "Wii has stalled. We were unable to continually release strong software, and let the nice mood cool."
He went on to state that a lack of big-name titles was the cause for the drop in sales: "We were unable to show a new game to become 'the next thing.' In the game market, once you've lost the momentum, it takes time to recover."
While the sales drop has certainly affected Nintendo, Iwata says there is a silver lining, with the price-drop having a positive impact on sales. Talking above the new 20 million target for Wii sales this year, he stated:
"With the price drop, sales returned to a certain level, but they just did not reach the level of last year around this time. We decided that it would be difficult to sell enough to recover from the poor performance of the first half of the year." He said of the new 20 million-target, "In order to reach it, we'll have to move quite a large quantity, but it's a figure we released after having felt the momentum returning."
This is interesting news given the recent shift in console sales all around the world - there've been numerous shifts in which console has been top-dog. While the target does not currently look like being met, Nintendo are hoping for a large sales-spike during the Christmas season.
Source: http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/10/29/iwata_says_wii_price_drop_effective/