3DS price will rise, Nintendo warns
"Don't wait."
Nintendo has warned gamers that the eye-catching 3DS prices currently doing the rounds at UK shops will not last long.
The Nintendo 3DS, which went on sale in the UK at midnight last night, can be bought for as little as £175.
Gamers anxious to get their hands on the glasses-free handheld at launch have enjoyed the benefits of a price war, but according to Nintendo, the cost will soon go up.
"The only thing I would suggest to any readers is, don't wait," marketing manager James Honeywell told Eurogamer at the London Nintendo 3DS launch last night.
"I'm not sure a lot of those offers will be there for the long term. Those are great offers for the launch. There's huge amount of noise and hype around the launch. Those prices will start to revert a bit.
"Clearly people are trying to get as many possible sales as they can in these first couple of days. After that, perhaps a little more normality will come back to the market and you'll see that creep up again.
"So don't wait and think, oh, if this is how far it's gone down, it's going to go down even lower. You might see the opposite."
Nintendo does not set the retail price of the Nintendo 3DS, so "any retailer can make their own choice about what they do, how they choose to sell it and at what price".
This hasn't pleased all. Don McCabe, CEO of the independent CHIPS retail network, told Eurogamer he was concerned that the low prices currently offered by some supermarkets were devaluing the device in the minds of consumers.
But Nintendo denied the suggestion.
"It's just great for the consumer because in a competitive marketplace you will get the best possible prices," Honeywell said.
A Eurogamer news investigation published yesterday estimated the 3DS's innards cost around £61.76 to put together. Eurogamer sources have revealed a trade price of £170.73.
Nintendo hopes the 3DS will enjoy the biggest console launch ever in the UK. Sales of 200,000 in the UK alone have been targeted.
