Nintendo to Keep Wii at $249

Nintendo says it plans to keep its Wii console price pegged at $249 going into the holiday season, even as competitors cut prices.

Nintendo senior VP of marketing George Harrison has told Reuters in an interview that the company plans to stick with its $249 price point for its popular Nintendo Wii video game console, even as competitors like Sony are rolling out new, less-expensive units in anticipation of the end-of-year holiday buying season.

According to Harrison, the company sees no reason to lower prices because it’s stil selling all the Nintendo Wii systems it can make. In fact, the company recently warned consumers can expect shortages on the Wii console through the holiday season, even though the system will have been on the market for over a year.

The decision to stick with the Wii’s $249 pricing comes as Sony begins rolling out a new lower-priced 40 GB version of its PlayStation 3 console in Europe and Japan (and, most likely, soon in North America). Although the new 40 GB PS3 is so far debuting at prices below even that of Sony’s initial 20 GB entry-level PlayStation 3 system, the new 40 GB model lacks all backward compatibility with PS2 and PSOne games, which may deter some buyers.

Similarly, Microsoft has been gearing up for the holidays, expanding its Xbox 360 lineup to include not only a Halo-specific collectors’ edition, and recently reducing prices for Xbox 360 consoles in the U.S. and Europe.