Cute Japanese girls doing that thing cute Japanese girls do... Ahhh...
SPOnG believes that the Nintendo DS will launch in the UK at £99, following an explosion of speculation at retail level.
At the launch bashlet for the Nintendo DS held in London on Wednesday night, David Yarnton, MD for Nintendo UK made a comment that led many to believe NUK will aggressively seek to price out Sony’s PSP offering.
“I'm not going to disclose the two points you're all desperate to know. The UK price and release date, I can however, confirm that we are on track for our Q1 release. The DS will launch with a host of great titles and most importantly we will have a very competitive price.”
At the following function, retail attendees, chatting with Nintendo’s publishing partners were widely predicting a sub-£100 UK debut for the DS. “I can’t imagine it being any more than that. [Nintendo] has seen what Sony is offering and has a close idea regarding pricing. The DS has to be £100 – It’s as simple as that.”
We expect a full announcement to made at some point early next year.
Speaking to SPOnG this morning, a Nintendo official said, “At this point in time, there is no official price in place for the DS launch in the UK.”
At the launch bashlet for the Nintendo DS held in London on Wednesday night, David Yarnton, MD for Nintendo UK made a comment that led many to believe NUK will aggressively seek to price out Sony’s PSP offering.
“I'm not going to disclose the two points you're all desperate to know. The UK price and release date, I can however, confirm that we are on track for our Q1 release. The DS will launch with a host of great titles and most importantly we will have a very competitive price.”
At the following function, retail attendees, chatting with Nintendo’s publishing partners were widely predicting a sub-£100 UK debut for the DS. “I can’t imagine it being any more than that. [Nintendo] has seen what Sony is offering and has a close idea regarding pricing. The DS has to be £100 – It’s as simple as that.”
We expect a full announcement to made at some point early next year.
Speaking to SPOnG this morning, a Nintendo official said, “At this point in time, there is no official price in place for the DS launch in the UK.”
Read More Like This
Comments
Joji 26 Nov 2004 14:41
1/12
Not really news. What Nintendo need is for a big DS preorder push to begin in the uk. If this started in December they could surely meet their targets by April.
Would also help them steal a lead on PSP, which they will need.
Would also help them steal a lead on PSP, which they will need.
TigerUppercut 26 Nov 2004 14:46
2/12
Joji wrote:
Not really news.
Um, it's the price of the DS in the UK. How is that not news?
more comments below our sponsor's message
ArthurParsons 26 Nov 2004 16:02
3/12
£99...not much of a surprise really....only surprise is that we won't be getting overcharged more, since our friends in the US can get theirs for $170 (£90) £99 is fair....however I'd have thought we'd get shafted like normal and charged £20-£30 over the odds.
Joji 26 Nov 2004 16:42
4/12
Like Mr Parsons said " £99...not much of a surprise really...." that's what I meant by not really news. When the US price came out, we did the math back then to the nearest square figure it'd sell for here.
Come on Tiger, I'm very happy, jumping for joy, about the news, but we all knew it'd be about the GBASP price, once GBASP had a price cut from 90-70 quid. Would make no business sense to sell them at the same 90-100 pound price, because GBASP would surely lose out to DS, and disappear much sooner. Nintendo clearly don't want that to happen.
Come on Tiger, I'm very happy, jumping for joy, about the news, but we all knew it'd be about the GBASP price, once GBASP had a price cut from 90-70 quid. Would make no business sense to sell them at the same 90-100 pound price, because GBASP would surely lose out to DS, and disappear much sooner. Nintendo clearly don't want that to happen.
Ditto 26 Nov 2004 17:41
5/12
I think that this is great news. If Nintendo sold it at £20/£130 I would say the European market is PSP's. At £99 Nintendo may get some of the market after all.
Jayenkai 26 Nov 2004 23:06
6/12
I'm not too worried about the price, myself, I'm more worried about people actually knowing about the thing...
A guy was in my shop the other day (off-license) telling me he'd bought a GBA for his kid.. He's out on the road quite a lot.. "I might buy one for myself!"
I suggested that if he wants one for himself, he waits for the DS, and he hadn't the foggiest what I was on about!
"Two screens.... Touch screen.. The new gameboy..."
... Not the foggiest..
A guy was in my shop the other day (off-license) telling me he'd bought a GBA for his kid.. He's out on the road quite a lot.. "I might buy one for myself!"
I suggested that if he wants one for himself, he waits for the DS, and he hadn't the foggiest what I was on about!
"Two screens.... Touch screen.. The new gameboy..."
... Not the foggiest..
SPInGSPOnG 27 Nov 2004 07:07
7/12
Jayenkai wrote:
I'm not too worried about the price, myself, I'm more worried about people actually knowing about the thing...
It's an interesting point. But I wouldn't get too worried just yet. We tend to foget that outside the world of games-lovers, the DS hasn't really been announced.
But I'm pretty sure that before it hits the shelves Nintendo will have had features in all the specialist press, all the mens mags (Maxim, FHM etc). And they can easily rustle up some mainstream press interest by announcing the sale of the 150,000,000 (or whatever it is) Game Boy just as they announce the launch of it "successor" - the inkies love crap like that.
OK, so this dude might buy himself a GBA, when a DS would be better... but by launch, I'm betting EVERYONE will know what DS is.
SPInGSPOnG 27 Nov 2004 07:11
8/12
ArthurParsons wrote:
since our friends in the US can get theirs for $170 (£90) £99 is fair
Whoa, hold on a second. Until that idiot Bush invaded Iraq the quid was only worth $1.45 so $170 would be £117...
PLUS traditionally, things like this have cost £ for $.
£99 seems like a bargain to me - though clearly for Nintendo, there will be benefits from being under the "Magic £100" price point.
You don't want to get used to this $1.9/£ it won't stay like that forever. At least, I hope not... I get paid in Dollars, and I can't afford to by squat in the UK at present.
Zeo [banned] 28 Nov 2004 02:30
9/12
-deleted-
Ditto 28 Nov 2004 11:41
10/12
Yeah, you've got an excellent point. Nintendo are hardly know for their excellent marketing.
The following would be the best bet:
* Get posters in game shops.
* TV ads (remember the good GBA ones?).
* Magazines but not just games. Computer, lifestyle etc.
* Consumer programs.
Any more ideas?
The following would be the best bet:
* Get posters in game shops.
* TV ads (remember the good GBA ones?).
* Magazines but not just games. Computer, lifestyle etc.
* Consumer programs.
Any more ideas?
Arse McAdams 29 Nov 2004 09:42
11/12
Joji wrote:
Not really news.
OK, so it's still not confirmed but, up until now, the DS has generally been expected to come in around the £130 mark, with earlier reports suggesting even more.
The fact that the current exchange rate points to about £90 means sack all - we've never even come close to been offered the same market value on any machine from any manufacturer, and in the past have been closer to matching dollars for pounds than anything else.
Even if it's merely speculation, for the DS to hit a sub-£100 price point is indeed news, and good news at that.
GeoffreyBa 29 Nov 2004 13:23
12/12
Rod Todd wrote:
But I'm pretty sure that before it hits the shelves Nintendo will have had features in all the specialist press, all the mens mags (Maxim, FHM etc). And they can easily rustle up some mainstream press interest by announcing the sale of the 150,000,000 (or whatever it is) Game Boy just as they announce the launch of it "successor" - the inkies love crap like that.
I just thought I'd let you know that in almost all of those magazines in America atleast, there has been articles on the Nintendo DS, and I'm not talking about the buisness card margin articles that you sometimes get, they had atleast a good two or three pages for each magazine. Of course it was accented by the mostly beautiful women that are in their magazines holding a DS.