Report: Wii Manufacturing Costs Down 45% Since Launch

Analysts have suggested that Nintendo has been able to cut the manufacturing costs of the Wii by 45 percent since its launch, leaving the company plenty of scope for future price cuts. The figure was suggested by Credit Suisse analyst Koya Tabata, who also argued that Nintendo could introduce a lower-priced version of the hardware in emerging markets. Although Wii sales continue to dominate the home console market in the West, they have been underperforming in Japan for several months. With few new software titles to stimulate demand, the PlayStation 3 has outsold the Wii for the last five weeks, according to Media Create data. Recent Enterbrain data also puts the PlayStation 3 ahead of the Wii during March, at 146,948 units to 99,335. This puts Wii sales down 63 percent on a year ago. Commenting on the figures in a Financial Times report, a Nintendo spokesperson commented: "It is still the first few months of the year when sales are slow for the industry, so we are not particularly concerned." The PS3 has been boosted by recent titles such as Yakuza 3 and Resident Evil 5. When asked about the lack of new titles for the Wii, the spokesperson commented: "We hope to line up strong software to support hardware sales in the second half of the year."