New GameCube pricing in Japan

TOKYO--Nintendo said today that it will be revising the price of the GameCube console in Japan by a small margin due to a new government regulation in the country that requires products to be labeled with prices that already include tax. Up until now, Nintendo's GameCube was labeled at 14,000 yen ($131), but its actual cost was 14,700 yen ($137) for consumers, based on the addition of a 5 percent consumption tax that was charged on the console.

Despite the new regulation, Nintendo decided that it would continue to keep its GameCube price tag at 14,000 yen rather than hike it to 14,700 yen, which means that the company will be making a virtual price drop so that the added tax will not affect its price tag. Nintendo's Enjoy Plus Pack (GameCube and Game Boy Player set) will also continue to hold the same price tag as before at 19,800 yen ($185), and the GBA SP's price tag will stay the same at 12,500 yen ($117). For consumers, this means that they’ll be saving 700 yen ($6.50) on the GameCube, and they’ll be saving 990 ($9) and 625 yen ($6) on the Enjoy Plus Pack and Game Boy Player, respectively.

At the same time the new pricing goes into effect on April 1, Nintendo will also be removing the digital AV output on future models of the GameCube. A GameCube model with the digital AV output will still be available as a special package bundled with the connector, but details on its price and release schedule remain unclear. One additional change will involve the fact that the circular nameplate on the top of the GameCube console will no longer be detachable from the unit.

The new tax change is not completely welcomed by retailers and consumers. While the government explains that the change is designed to simplify retail pricing for consumers, many analysts speculate that the new regulation was created as a method to raise the tax percentage in the future without its increase being revealed to consumers. This is not necessarily a good thing in economically depressed Japan, where companies and stores that need to relabel their prices to include the tax rate are already concerned about losing customers. These companies and stores fear that this move will make it appear as if a price increase has taken effect.