By Craig Zammit
SYDNEY: Negotiations between Nintendo and Harvey Norman have reportedly broken down, with Nintendo now vowing not to conduct business with the Harvey Norman retail network.
As reported by Game World Network (GWN), Nintendo public relations manager, Vispi Bhopti, claims that the terms being insisted upon by Harvey Norman are not realistic, and that Nintendo will not be in further discussions with the retailer.
“They are telling the market that we are in discussions with them, but this is not true,” Bhopti said.
“We don’t like their terms or the way they operate and we are refusing to do business with them. We are dealing with most mass retailers with the exception of Harvey Norman. Their terms are ridiculous.
“The Nintendo Wii is set to be a hot product going into the peak Christmas buying period, so why should we give away margin to Harvey Norman? We are confident that the new Nintendo gaming console will drive sales during the peak buying period that is coming up.”
JB Hi-Fi managing director, Richard Uechtritz told GWN that Harvey Norman’s “bullying” tactics have come back to bite them.
“This is one product that Harvey Norman wanted and I believe that a lot of vendors will take note of what Nintendo has done in refusing to accept Harvey Norman’s terms.”
Despite the Harvye Norman fallout, the Wii will be touring the country prior to its Australian release on 7 December 2006, hitting most major shopping centres around Australia starting tomorrow.
Shoppers will have the chance to play a number of new Wii games, including Wii Sports, Wii Play, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Excite Truck and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, as well as to sample Nintendo’s new control system to be incorporated into the Wii.
Full details on where the Wii will be touring can be accessed from www.nintendo.com.au