Nintendo try to push Wii sales with price drop and free game

Nintendo are keen to try and push Wii sales by a recent price drop to $150 with free game.

Nintendo are offering this deal in the states from May 15th, and it will include a white or black Nintendo Wii, a Wii remote and a copy of Mario Kart with a white or black steering wheel for the game. This offer will last until inventory runs out before summer. When this happens, then the current $200 system which offers Wii Sports Resort and Wii Sports will be discontinued. Amazon and Best Buy are already offering this for $170 to try and maintain sales figures in the tough climate.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said “There is quite a bit more volume to be sold on the Wii home console and the way we are going to get there is by offering the system at this low price and by including a key software title like Mario Kart.” Mario Kart has sold 10 million copies and is one of the top ranked Wii games.

“From our perspective, there are literally millions of consumers getting into the video-game-playing age,” Fils-Aime says. “And there's no better system for those entry consumers than the Wii.”

The Wii has been a big success story for Nintendo, selling 86 million units since 2006 and it is still the top selling video game system. Sales recently however have taken a dive with the console selling 15 million units in the fiscal year that ended March 31st, down around 20 million from the previous year. This helped lower overall company revenue down to $12.3 billion, a 29% drop on the previous year.

There will be a replacement console for the Wii showcased at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June, but the unnamed console wont be on sale until Q2 2012 according to Fils-Aime.

Some games will be dropping in price, such as Wii Sports, The Legend of Zelda, City Folk and Mario Super Sluggers – all dropping to $19.99 in the US.

KitGuru says: Will this help to drive sales? We are waiting to see how the UK stores answer this.

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