Nintendo announced this morning that they are cutting the MSRP of the Wii console in the U.S. to $129.99, and will have a new bundle on retail shelves prior to the start of the Holiday shopping season.
The new bundle is starting to arrive in stores now, replacing the current $149.99 New Super Mario Bros. Wii package, and is expected to be “broadly available” nationwide by October 28th. The $129.99 bundle will include; a black Wii console, Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort on one disc, a black Wii Remote Plus, and a black Nunchuk controller.
With the Wii U launching on November 18th, it is not surprising that Nintendo has decided to reduce the price of the Wii. What is a bit unexpected is that The Big N has decided to launch a new bundle, and has kept the price above the magic $99 MSRP.
This is just a bit of speculation on my part, but I suspect that Nintendo is hoping the extra $30 will help offset the continued strengthening of the Japanese yen, which has been devastating the company’s earnings reports in recent years.