GameStop CEO anticipates possible slowdown in Wii sales, and has been told to get ready for something big at year’s end.
In an interview with CNBC, GameStop CEO Dan DeMatteo had some opinions to offer about demand for Nintendo’s Wii, and what we can expect from them at the end of the year. When discussing whether or not price cuts would be advisable for each console, he had this to say about Wii:
"I think [demand for] the Wii could slow down to the extent that Nintendo may want to cut the price," he says. "Nintendo has it within its arsenal to do that. The component costs have come down considerably. They used to break even on the Wii, but now they're making a considerable margin."
He also revealed that Nintendo has tipped him off about something big coming at the end of 2009:
"We think there will be a Nintendo key property coming out by the end of the year," he says. "They haven't given us any insight, but they have told us to reserve [shelf] space."
While this comes as no surprise, it’s the first rumbling that we’ve heard about Nintendo planning a major holiday game release. We’ll surely hear more about this at E3 in June, but the phrase “key property” seems to indicate a title based on one of Nintendo’s major franchises.