Wii Production Costs Down 45% News

News from the financial world has sparked speculation that Nintendo still has a few cards left to play where the Wii is concerned, with an analyst suggesting that the cost of producing a Wii is down 45% since the console’s launch.

This news comes from a Financial Times article on Japanese hardware sales, which notes that Wii sales have recently dropped below the PS3 in the region, and goes on to state that Koya Tabata, a Credit Suisse Financial Analyst, recently reported the Wii’s production cost drop in a note to clients.

Although the Wii entered the market as the cheapest ‘next-gen’ console late in 2006, Microsoft has since introduced aggressive price reductions to its Xbox 360 Arcade and Premium units that have brought them below the Wii’s RRP.

While the Wii currently retails at £179.99 in the UK (as it has done since its launch in the region), the Xbox 360 Premium unit now retails at £169.99 and the Arcade SKU has dropped to a lowly £129.99.

If Tabata's claims that production costs have nearly halved for the Wii since its launch are accurate, this suggests that Nintendo still has plenty of fuel left in its tank to stimulate sales of the home console as the current generation’s console war unravels.

Nintendo recently announced its 50 millionth Wii shipment, a milestone that was achieved in just over two years and four months of sales, nearly eight months faster than the previously held record of three years by Sony’s PlayStation 2.