Nintendo has been sitting pretty with a $250 price point on the Wii for awhile now, but as recent NPD figures have revealed, sales are taking a hit. While the market is still far from saturation, there’s only one way Ninty can boost unit sales back to 500K and above levels, and that’s with a price cut. Or so says Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter:

Until the late August PS3 price cut, the Xbox 360 appealed to consumers, likely due to a higher perceived value proposition (the Xbox 360 ‘core’ model was priced $100 lower than the PS3),” he wrote. “With the core PS3 and Xbox 360 models priced only $50 higher than the Wii, we expect year-over-year sales of Wii hardware to continue their annual declines until the company either changes its bundle or lowers price.

From looking at the slow yet steady decline of Wii sales, I’d have come to the same conclusion. Consumers are realizing that other platforms offer better value for the money. And with motion control hitting the PS3 and Xbox 360 in the near future, Nintendo needs to make a move now to one-up the competition before it is too late.

Wii Sales Down 50% Over Last 5 Months [IndustryGamers]

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Read more: Pachter: Wii September Performance Not Looking Up, Price Cut Needed To Stay Competitive, February NPD: Xbox 360 Maintains Steady Lead Over PS3, June NPD: Yearly Sales Decline By 31 Percent, Economy Likely To Blame, July NPD: Industry Sales Remain Sluggish, Wii Sports Resort Leads Software Sales, Iwata: No Wii Or DS Price Cut This Year