Pachter Calls Wii Price Cut

Flying in the face of various statements from Nintendo, Michael Pachter, ever-vocal analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, reckons there will be a Wii price cut this year.

“Wii supply has finally exceeded demand, so we expect hardware sales to show year-over-year decreases for the first half of 2009”, Pachter stated in a research note. “In order to hit its full-year Wii shipment forecast, we expect Nintendo to cut the price of the Wii before [the] holiday, likely to $199.99.”

Nintendo has forecast 26 million Wii sales over the current financial year.

While Nintendo has conceded that Wii sales are flagging, Pachter's prediction flies in the face of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's assertions that price cuts are ineffective during financially-troubled periods and short term fixes at best.

Iwata has claimed that Nintendo will aim to strengthen the Wii's software line up to boost sales instead of cutting the console's price.

^{Source: Edge}