Nintendo’s surprise sticker slash

Nintendo has announced it will be cutting the price of its 3DS handheld game console. In the US it has been slashed from US$250 to US$170, in Japan prices fell by 40 percent, and in Europe the cuts are expected to see at least a third of the retail price taken off.

A price drop for a console isn’t new; every videogame console has been discounted at some point in its life cycle. Doing so within a four month window? That is unusual, but it isn’t unprecedented.

When the original Xbox launched in the UK in March 2002, it retailed for £299.99. A scant four weeks later, Microsoft took the bold decision to knock a full third off the price, selling its huge black box for to £199.99. As history tells us, it didn’t go too badly for Microsoft and it successfully laid the groundwork for the Xbox360.

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