Pachter: Aimed low on price of Natal, DSi XL not successful at launch
Industry analyst Michael Pachter has backtracked a bit on what he has twice "guessimated" to be the cost of Natal upon launch, stating that it will probably be released at a higher price-point than that.
Furthermore, he also believes that Nintendo's DSi XL will not go over well with consumers at launch, considering it is only $10 less than Wii.
"I probably aimed too low with my $50 Natal comment, as I'm sure that consumers will come to believe that the product and software has a lot of value," he told Industry Gamers. "That means to me that Microsoft may try to price higher than I guessed on the Pach Attack segment.
"Regardless, if consumers think that Microsoft is providing a lot of value with Natal, it could be priced higher. The more they and Sony charge, the lower unit sales of the competing controllers will be, and the less they charge, the higher.
"I don't see either expanding the GAMING audience, but do see them expanding the user base beyond the core gamer in the household. I do not expect the multi-user household to buy a significantly higher number of games, but think that once these other household members are introduced to the PS3 and 360, they may begin to enjoy the many features of each, and are more likely to justify movie downloads, joining Netflix, or whatever is planned in the future, as the consoles are more approachable with motion controls."
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg stated at X10 that the company is going to be "very careful" with the sorts of games that it releases for the peripheral - so it may every well get other users in 360 households using it, depending on the offers.
As far as the new DSi XL is concerned, considering DS Lite is $60 less than the new handheld and $20 more than the regular DSi - Pachter does not see that going over to well at retail.
"I think that the price point of all DS products are too high, and think that a price increase for the DSi XL is not going to sit well with consumers," he said. "The difference in price between the DS Lite and the XL is $60, and I'm not sure that bigger screens provide the value that Nintendo thinks.
"The difference between the DSi and the XL makes sense, but all three models are due for a cut, the DS to around $99, the DSi to $129, and the XL would then make more sense at $149. I don't think it will be a success at launch, since it costs only $10 less than a Wii."
Yesterday during it's Media Summit in San Fran, Nintendo revealed that DSi XL would release with three pre-installed games and come in three colors on March 28 for a suggested retail price of $189.99.