Nintendo Wii: £120? Or £85?

Japanese retail sets first expectations.

Posted by Staff
A couple enjoys Wii together
A couple enjoys Wii together
Over the weekend, several Japanese retailers listed Nintendo's Wii console for pre-order. The listings cropped up early on Friday, were live for around four hours, then pulled. The interesting thing is that a consistent pricepoint was used - 25,000 Yen - equal to £120, $220 and €174 as the current rate of exchange. We believe that the move was triggered by Nintendo's confirmation to journalists in Japan and the US that its new console would not pass the 25,000 Yen/$250 price.

However, the removal of the listings isn't the end of the story. Later that day, several new listings appeared, seemingly led by consumer tech store PC-Success, this time with a much lower price of 18,000 Yen. At the time of writing, this figure equates to a mere £85, $160 and €125. Though again, the listing was removed hours after going live, along with any trace of the whole Wii price bubble...

So what does any of this mean? Well, the good news is that the Wii is going to be cheap. Nintendo isn't ready to announce its pricing, though around the £100 mark in the UK shouldn't come as too much of a shock.

We'll update you as we learn more.
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Comments

Joji 31 May 2006 00:38
1/2
Good news comes in small doses. I still reckon a £120-130 GC type price would be very cool indeed and more likely considering its improved GC tech.

Jeez, I might be able to afford two of these for chrimbo.
soanso 31 May 2006 05:04
2/2
I agree with you Joji.
I'm thinking the price will be the exact same as the GC was.
Below £100 would be great for us skint people but I think it's more likely to be in the £129-£179 range.
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