How big of a role does price play in the Console wars?

[Coral]

The 360, is about to be cheaper than the Wii in North America, and it already is in Japan. This creates a few questions in my head.

Is the Wii in the lead worldwide because it was the cheapest system from launch? Will 360 sales pull ahead of Wii sales? Will Nintendo drop the price of the Wii to counter the 360 price drop? Did the Wii have to be as underpowered as it is seeing that the 360 will be sold for less? If price hasn't been the biggest factor in console sales this generation, what as been?

Debate!

[HGW XX/7]

The 360 price drops won't matter 'cause it's only the Arcade that's cheaper than the Wii.

And everyone knows the arcade is lame.

The 360 won't catch the Wii in sales.

And price wasn't the factor it was waggle.

[Tanooki]

Price is a factor and a good one for the average consumer who is feeling it pretty bad these days wherever you live with due to job loss, gas hikes (which affect), food prices, material prices, etc. It's not the only one by far, ultimately it would for probably as many come down to what the hell the system does and what is on it the others don't have. Japan had been suffering for quite awhile economically so perhaps this price could help, but seeing it is the crap Arcade version stripped model probably not much of a change at all. As far as the Wii went it was price of hardware, cheaper price of games, two pronged advertising assault (normal and casual/non-gaming types), and the unique setup with related wow factor off it.

[Monkeylord]

Whilst walking to the train station on my way to work this morning I passed my local Woolworths which had a big sign in the window -

Wii Price Drop: £159.99 (rrp £179.99).

I think this is a limited thing though.

Price definitely plays a price in my house though.

[Smokey]

For me, price is a huge factor, which is why I don't have a PS3 yet. As for gamers in general, I think price is one of the main factors, though not THE factor. I do think if the Elite drops below the Wii in price (hypothetically speaking, because there's no way in hell that's happening this gen) that the 360 would be leaps and bounds ahead of the Wii in sales, but otherwise the 360 won't catch up unless the Wii's library turns completely to ****.

[MR EPIC]

I don't think price is a factor at all to most gamers, whether casual or hardcore, at least when it comes to Wii. People have been buying Wii bundles each holiday season since it's launch from $400-$600 dollars. Also, the 360 is now cheaper than the Wii in many regions yet it's not going to propel the system over the Wii as far as sales go. If somebody wants a 360 they're going to buy one, not a Wii. If somebody wants a PS3 they're going to buy one, not a Wii. The only situation where price will play a factor is when deciding between the two HD consoles. A lot people have been reluctant to buy a PS3 because of it's high price tag and since the 360 has many of the same games that it features as well.

[Darc Requiem]

I was going on this long and elaborate rant, but John hit all my points. :thumbs up:

[Tanooki]

Well I'm not buying the whole Wii bundle bs, because outside of those turds at Gamestop nearly anywhere will not force you into a $400-600 wii bundle. Most places you can walk in(given they have them) and get out at $249.99+tax and at least having some stuff to do between Wii Sports and the internal stuff/downloads.

[MR EPIC]

People are still playing absurd amounts of money for Wii bundles on Craigslist and I expect to see more consumers abused by the shortage of Wiis this coming holiday season. But even if I were wrong about that one point in my argument, price still doesn't play a factor and that's the point I'm trying to make here. I don't believe that there is any situation where a person who's planning on purchasing either a PS3 or a 360 to go with their brand new HDTV walks out of the store with a Wii instead because of it's budget price. The bottom line is that people buy the system they are most interested in, regardless of price. I can maybe see a mom buying her kid a Wii because it was cheap, despite the fact that the kid wanted an HD system, but I seriously doubt it happens very often. Again, people buy what they want when it comes to gaming systems.

[MAX]

For me, personally, zero.

[Tanooki]

I agree someone already with an HD set with their mind set solely on a HD system would blow wii off as a first purchase unless they're really into Nintendo first party, otherwise it would be a later supplement. That said though, everyone has their own budgets and so forth I mean hell I bought that 26" LCD HDTV but right now I barely could find the $150 for that PSP setup and ditched my GBA **** for 60% of the games I have currently (minus the 2 I got yesterday off stupid Brawl on Wii and a few other little things.)

[MikeWolfskin]

Well price as kept me from buying one console begin the PlayStation 3. Price is a big deal to me and many. In my opinion there is a price I and almost most gamers will not go beyound.

The price tag is $300 on home console and $150 on Handhelds. In turn if where not buying the console because of price tag then there not getting are cash or sells on software and games.

In my opinion the one who can remain at there original price tag selling the most the longest is the winner of the console wars dispute what anyone says about Hardcore or casual games.

What I will say is I already had the understanding last generation Nintendo was losing because of price drop after price drop, but this generation I already understood Nintendo was winning because there has not been one price drop yet.

[MR EPIC]

You're missing the point of the OP Mike. You didn't buy a Wii because you couldn't afford a PS3 right? You would have bought one anyway right? So price wasn't a factor for you in purchasing a Wii. And even in the scenario you gave price isn't a factor, it's just that you can't afford one, which is a budget problem. If you had the money you'd buy one, so that's the point we're trying to make.

[Smokey]

Well, when you put it like that, no, price isn't really much of a factor then.

[MikeWolfskin]

Not truth at all, as I posted above , anything over 300$ for a home console is to costly no matter what console it is. Wii and PS3 came out with in a day of each other and the price tag played a huge rule on me getting Wii versus PS3. It wasn't just me hating Sony but more the fact that there was huge 350$ price difference. As I've told you before I'll get it when it's 300$ or lower not tell, so yes I did answer the question of does price play a huge role in the console wars. Again not even if I had the cash, I'd would not have payed beyound $300 for any game console ever!