No DS price cuts planned this year
Nintendo predicts it won't need them
It's probably not the most revelatory news to anyone who's been following the success of DS, but a quote from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and reported by Reuters extinguishes any hopes that Nintendo might be planning to reduce the price of the £99.99 DS at some point soon.
"Our earnings projection for the year is not based on hardware price cuts, and I don't think we are going to need them," Iwata said at an analyst meeting, speaking about both the company's DS and Wii consoles.
The prices of home consoles PS3 and Xbox 360 were recently cut, but then those two consoles are fighting over - arguably - the same demographic, which forces Sony and Microsoft to react competitively.
Nintendo on the other hand is in the enviable position that both its consoles are not only selling incredibly well across the world, but - in part - to an entirely different market to PS3, Xbox 360 and - in the case of DS - PSP as well.
So while it would be nice to think Nintendo might pass on to consumers the savings it's making from lowering production costs, while DS continues to enjoy a user base that grows by millions every year and a lack of direct competition, we can expect its retail price to remain at the £99.99 mark for the time begin.
