Hey! Wii's manufacturing costs are apparently down by 45 percent. Time for Nintendo to pass on those savings to you with a pricecut, no? Nope, the UK got a price hike.
"Regardless of the cost price of manufacture, the decision to raise the [Wii's trade] price to retailers in the UK was taken due to the severe depreciation of the pound," Nintendo told game site EDGE. The company did not appear to confirm or deny the 45 percent figure stated by Credit Suisse analyst Koya Tabata.
So while manufacturing costs are down, the yen has been up, hurting Nintendo's bottom line. "From the Wii launch in December 2006 to December 2008, the value of the Pound fell by 43 percent against the Yen," Nintendo added. What's more, the Dollar and the Euro also dropped against the British Pound by 22 and 18 pounds.