Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has said in an interview that Nintendo could consider cutting the price of a Wii console in half to boost demand. Nintendo focuses too much on its own franchises, says EA’s John Riccitiello.
“I would say [Nintendo] did exceptionally well in 2007 and 2008, started tapering in 2009 and 2010, and…I think if they were to price [the Wii] down to $99, they would explode,” Riccitiello told IndustryGamers in an interview posted yesterday. Riccitiello believes that a recent slump in sales of Nintendo Wii consoles could be avoided again by cutting the console’s price in half to just $99. Additionally, he suggested that Nintendo should do more to promote third-party titles than focusing so much on its in-house titles.
He also thought that Nintendo could improve sales by making more effort to support third party titles, rather than focusing almost all of its attention on its own franchises. “I think it’s a frustration for all third-party publishers, when a platform holder does less to promote third-party content. A great third-party company is Apple, a company that’s all third-party content,” he stated. “I don’t care whether it’s Mario or Twilight Princess or GoldenEye; it was their own content. I’m going back to N64, and I can go back to SNES if you want, but they’ve never really been a heavy third-party supporting system.”
As a top third-party publisher on the Nintendo Wii, Riccitiello is especially concerned about the popularity of games on the Mario creator’s console. He told IndustryGamers that he’s frustrated by Nintendo’s penchant of doing “less to promote third-party content” than its own games.
It’s hard to argue with the idea of a $99 dollar Wii selling exceptionally well, but whether Nintendo would consider dropping the price that far is much less certain. The Wii costs around $200 at most retailers and it seems more likely that Nintendo would split the difference and go with $150, if/when it does decide to lower the price.
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