Wii U’s Launch Price Stacks Up

[Demon_Skeith]

Ever wondered how game launch prices stack up against each other? You can get the Wii U price here, and see the others below:
Nintendo Wii

Launched: November 19, 2006
Launch Price: $249.99
First Price Drop: September 2009 (2 years 10 months), to $199.99
Current Price: Wii bundles range from $149 to $199
Xbox 360

Launched: Noevmber 22, 2005
Launch Price: $299.99 for "core," $399.99 for "premium"
First Price Drop: August 2007 (1 year 10 months), to $249.99 / $349.99
Current Price: A 250 GB model costs $299.99; the 4 GB version, $199.99
PlayStation 3

Launched: November 17, 2006
Launch Price: $499.99 for the 20 GB version; $599.99 for the 60 GB
First Price Drop: July 2007 (8 months), to $499.99 for the 60 GB version
Current Price: A 160 GB model costs $249.99
Perhaps the most noticeable trend across all three current-generation consoles is that as prices have decreased, integrated storage space has increased dramatically, showing off just how important hard drive installations, downloadable content, and digitally-distributed games have become.
Of course, the past seven years have also seen a great deal of change in the handheld market, as mobile devices have become dominant and portable gaming systems have tried to catch up with their set-top brethren. So what of the others? Straight comparisons are more difficult, because handheld device generations are much shorter than set-top console generations. Still, there are numbers to look at.
Nintendo 3DS

Launched: March 27, 2011
Launch Price: $249.99
First Price Drop: August, 2011 (5 months), to $169.99
Current Price: $169.99 (with the XL version now available for $199.99)
PlayStation Vita

Launched: February 22, 2012
Launch Price: $249.99 for WiFi-only version; $299.99 for 3G model
First Price Drop: None yet (8 months)
Current Price: $249.99 / $299.99
iPhone

Launched: June 29, 2007
Launch Price: $599
First Price Drop: September, 2007 (3 months), to $399
Current Price: The iPhone 5 launches this month with $199, $299, and $399 versions. The previous generation (the 4S) is dropping to $99—but iPhone prices tend to include cell provider contract-signing subsidies.


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[GracefulAssassin]

PS3's launch was obscene now that I look back on it.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

very much so.

 

[GracefulAssassin]

I know they want to make profit, but they won't make any profits without people being able to buy it...

 

[Demon_Skeith]

yeah, if I was Sony CEO I would never approve of it.


It's better to lower it as low as possible to make profit from the sales of quantity.

 

[GracefulAssassin]

Well, not lower it as much as possible, otherwise you literally won't make a profit.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

obviously lower it in the margin where you make money. There are millions of people so even if they come off it one dollar ahead and a million people but it there is 1 million dollars right there.

 

[hissae2]

Wow, ps3 looks like it was so much more than everything else. :o

 

[GracefulAssassin]

I think they could have been making a profit if they made it $450. At least then it would have been able to compete with the $400-500 Xbox.