President of Nintendo of America emphasises software as main driver for motivating continued Wii sales success.

Asked in an interview with US business news TV channel CNBC whether he saw further price cuts in Wii’s future, he said, “Absolutely not. What we have is great software.”

Citing New Super Mario Bros. Wii as evidence of a strong lineup of games for Christmas, he continued, “As long as well have this great drumbeat of new software, we’ll be able to motivate the consumer.”

He went on to deny that the Wii’s recent price cut in US and Japan, to US$199.99 and 20,000 yen respectively, was a response to competitors – rather, it was to support Wii Fit Plus to give Wii sales ‘momentum’ into Christmas. It's a line that backs up statements recently made by Nintedo VP of corporate affairs Denise Kaigler.

Wii has not had the official price drop in Europe, but is currently being offered in the UK for £179.99 (US$286) bundled with Wii Sports Resort. “Europe is a very interesting market,” Fils-Aime explained. “A lot of different retailers, a lot of different regions, a lot of different taxes and things of that nature, so it’s a market by market solution.”

Challenged by the interviewer that Nintendo hadn’t maintained the same level of innovation that it had set on launching Wii and that Sony and Microsoft were nipping at its heels in quality and innovation Fils-Aime replied, “We have to keep innovating”. He referred to DSi’s two cameras and downloadable games - features that have long been offered on mobile platforms while downloadable content is now a focus for PSP - as evidence that Nintendo was doing just that.


He assured, too, that Nintendo is prepared for high Christmas sales this year. “We do not expect to have shortages on our products. If we do experience them, I’d love to have that problem, but we’re not seeing that this year."