I was recently at Fry’s buying, I don’t know, something. They had a stack of hard-to-find Wiis right up front, a great big pallet. I thought about grabbing one, then realized it cost $329.
Knowing that the retail price of a Wii is $250, I asked what was up, and an anxious employee told me the Wiis were only available in bundles that included three additional controllers and nunchucks, a game, and some pretty useless stuff. He said it was over $400 worth of merchandise, to which I said, “I live alone. Just me. I just want a Wii.”
And he said I couldn’t have one. I thought this to be dishonest and a lousy way to make a buck, and now it seems our favorite corporate goon ever, Reggie Fils-Aime, agrees. While Nintendo doesn’t have a way of stopping them — retailers can re-package, or make “kits”, with anything they want to — he made it clear that Nintendo does not approve of the practice.
We’re for the idea of Nintendo withholding shipments of Wiis to these nefarious villians, and we’re hoping they get reallocated to more scrupulous retailers.
Reggie: Retailers have been told we are not fans of forced Wii bundles [MaxCon]