In 2006 when the Nintendo Wii was launched, it was priced at a competitive $249.99 and out of the gate the growth was steadily increasing at a record pace. Today Nintendo currently controls the majority market-share among both the PS3 and Xbox 360 at over 48%. This is huge however, times have drastically slowed down for the Wii.

With the September announcement of Sony’s PS3 price drop now established at $299 and Microsoft now offering their Xbox 360 Elite console at $299, the playing field has now dramatically changed. Now price point is no longer the benefactor for the Nintendo Wii. Wii sales have decreased substantially because now only priced $50 cheaper than the likes of Sony’s PS3 which offers 1080p HD gaming, blu-ray playback, an internet browser, built-in Wi-Fi, 120GB HDD etc, the option becomes a no-brainer for consumers. Nevertheless, Nintendo has responded.

As of October 1st the Nintendo Wii is now $199 and according to Nintendo, the new price drop has given new life to the console with the recent sales boost. In an interview with FT.com, Nintendo’s US president Reggie Fils-Aime stated that consumer response has been strong towards the new price point.

“The consumer response has been very strong to the price reduction,” he said, adding that it was too early to release precise sales figures.

“They’d been waiting for that little nudge to go out and pick it up – the price decline, the sampling, the launching of key software like Wii Fit Plus – we believe it’s what’s pushing them over the edge to get into the category.”

As we head into the holiday months it is going to be interesting to see how much of a factor price point will be for the Wii. Something that should be remembered is that once price no longer remains the negative factor against your competitors for consumers, features and software offerings begin to tip the scale. This holiday season might not see the Wii getting it’s mojo back.