WiiLoaded.com - Wii Forum and News

According to analyst Billy Pidgeon with IDC, the Wii's success in making an incredibly popular console while always retaining a profit-per-sale may lead to future games consoles being cheaper in price.

With Sony losing an estimated $240 on every PlayStation 3 sold at launch and Microsoft with a similarly dismal $125 per Xbox 360, Nintendo was the only company to come out of the launch affair making a profit on each console. For many months, Sony and Microsoft relied solely on software and other hardware sales, such as games and extra controllers. Nintendo's "GameCube 1.5" approach to the technological aspect on their latest console led to cheaper CPUs and GPUs to choose from.

"I think the results of this cycle will have a strong influence on the next cycle, in that cheaper consoles will be expected. Microsoft and Sony will attain successful business on this generation, but catering to the early adopter hardcore gamers with a technology leader strategy will be difficult in 2011. Third party publishers are already looking for ubiquitous platforms to reach the market increase achieved by Nintendo and Guitar Hero."

So what's you're opinion? Will Wii's economically sound price lead to a new trend in the gaming industry?


Written By: Aaron Hastings

This is a tough one. The market for video games has grown substantially, thanks to the headway from the Wii and the DS. It would be hard to reach that same audience with expensive next gen systems. High end systems made from now on might occupy a niche of "hardcore" gamers (much like high end PCs are not mainstream).

One would argue that the Wii and DS's success has been good for everyone. Nintendo has regained their former glory, and more consumers have been brought into the world of gaming, and 360/PS3, who do not compete directly with the Wii, can catch the casual gamers brought into the fold by the folds of the Wii that wishing to add to their experience.

Could the next gen handle multiple cheaper consoles? Would this create a market that is favorable to the higher priced alternative? All is yet to be seen.

I would be afraid that several "cheap" next-gen systems would actually compete simply by seeing who could release games the quickest, thus throwing quality out the door. We've already had issues with the Wii whereas amazing games get no fan-fair at all, while simple (quickly made) games seem to get the spotlight. Does Zack and Wiki ring a bell?

i think 'gamecube 1.5' is not a fair reflection of the wii at all

it is in fact a revolutionary system not just the next in a series of incremental improvements

but beside that: i have a feeling the next wii is gonna be comparatively higher priced, not sure if another developer can make an inexpensive next gen console

I was referring to the technological aspect i.e. hardware (see quote below)

I don't view Wii as "GameCube 1.5" at all. It's a different console, quite simply.

Sounds good to me. I'll likely buy it regardless of cost.

ohh, okay, that fair,

i do hate the "2 GCs duct-taped together" descriotions that gets bandied about at some game sites thats all

I really liked that the Wii wasn't that much. I hope the second one is still cheap.

You can bet that if Nintendo wants to keep the same crowd for their next console that it will indeed be cheap.

They better make some more hardish games, but still have the console cheap. We can all dream, can't we?

They can make some decent hardcore games for Wii, it's just they choose to produce more third party titles instead as they are the main reason why the Wii is so successful nowadays.

Nintendo don't choose to produce more third party titles, because Nintendo don't make third party titles. And it's more or less impossible for Nintendo to make first party games at a faster rate than third party games are being made.

I would like the next Nintendo console to be more powerful, have a god damn freaking hard drive and decent online capabilities.

Nintendo have now proven they can do the games and get the support. Now give us the damned hardware!!

It will come... in time.

But will Sony, Microsoft, Apple (it's rumored) always be ten steps ahead?

So do I, because technologically, it's 1.75 GCs duct-taped together.

which is more than enough to keep the system affordable and fun for owners...wii owners dont look at only processing power, the DS wasnt as strong as psp graphics wise, but its a better handheld, same goes for the wii

Hmm, so they believe that the Wii's success is in its price point and not its originality in controls? Me thinks it's more that latter than the former. Sure it being cheaper helps its sales, but it's the controller/game(s) driving the sales (mainly Wii Sports).

And shovel-ware (low budget, quickly produced games) is nothing new. As I've stated SO MANY times before, the biggest systems of all time are all guilty of this. The Atari 2600 was the biggest offender, and ruined the industry for a period of time (until Nintendo saved it with the NES/Famicon). It's better known to most gamers more for it's biggest flop (E.T.) than anything else. IMO, Nintendo's only had two consoles guilty of being swarmed with shovel-ware (the NES and the Wii to date.. I don't see the SNES as being guilty). Sony in their short career has had 3 (due to the cheap manufacturing costs of CD's and DVD's), and will probably on their 3rd when all will be said and done this gen. Microsoft is borderline 2 with the 360 as things stand now. This is all just my opinion though. I don't think this "problem" is a bad one. Games will sell if their is a market, the publishers advertise effectively and they are of high quality. I wouldn't blame consumers or less than steller developers.

good post, sometimes it feels like beating a dead horse doesnt it?

the wii is the most revolutionary and innovative console and just happens to be the most inexpensive

I was reading that post until I saw the letters E.T. and then I started having flashbacks of stuff I would like to forget. I say it all depends on advances in technology. Older technology gets cheaper and is replaced by more expensive technology that gets cheaper in time. It's the cycle that has been there forever and I don't see that changing. I guess it depends on if the newer system will be using a bit older technology instead of state of the art (for that time) technology.