Nintendo Co. has cut the price of the top-selling Wii for the first time since the game console's debut in 2006 to maintain its lead after Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. reduced the cost of their systems.

The motion-sensing Wii's price will fall by $50 to $200 in the U.S. starting Sunday, Nintendo said. Prices will be cut in Japan on Oct. 1 and in Europe the following day, Ken Toyoda, a Nintendo spokesman, said Thursday.

The reductions are a victory for game publishers and retailers, who have been calling for cheaper hardware prices to revive growth in the industry. Nintendo, which last quarter reported its first drop in global Wii sales, was the only one of the three console makers to sell fewer machines in August in the U.S., according to research firm NPD Group Inc.

"The timing of the price cut was very good since Wii sales were slowing down," said Etsuko Tamura, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. "Combined with upcoming game titles, sales will probably increase toward the end of the year."

Price cuts have worked for Sony and Microsoft. Sales of the PlayStation 3 increased in August after Sony lowered the price 25 percent to $300. Microsoft's sales also rose after it reduced the cost of the most expensive Xbox 360 model to $300.

After leading the U.S. game market to a gain of 19 percent last year by drawing new players with its motion-activated controllers, Wii sales have fallen for five straight months, according to NPD. The drop has pulled the overall U.S. game industry down 14 percent this year through August.

Microsoft is the only console maker to register an increase in U.S. sales this year, helped in part by a previous price cut last September.

The Wii, which lets players pretend they're swinging a bat or brandishing a sword, is the best-selling game console, with more than 52.6 million purchased worldwide, according to company reports. Microsoft has sold more than 30 million Xbox 360s and Sony has sold about 24 million PS3s, according to company estimates.

The Wii's popularity led game companies including Electronic Arts Inc. and Ubisoft Entertainment SA to earmark spending on development for games that use the system.

Nintendo needed to cut the Wii's price to meet annual sales targets, according to Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. The company projects it will sell 26 million consoles in the 12 months through next March.

Game publishers and retailers had called on the console makers to reduce prices. In June, Activision Blizzard Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick, who heads the top game publisher, said the developer of the "Guitar Hero" games may shift away from making products for Sony. Daniel DeMatteo, head of GameStop Corp., the largest video game retailer, said in May that console prices are "too high."

Sony PS3 sales goal

Sony Corp. is "extremely confident" it will sell 13 million PlayStation 3s worldwide this year after it cut the price, the company's U.S. head of computer entertainment said.

U.S. sales of the video game console have surged 300 percent since Sony reduced the price by $100 to $300 in August compared with the three weeks prior, Jack Tretton, chief executive officer of Sony Entertainment America, said Thursday.

"We had high expectations and it's exceeding those," he said.

Meanwhile in Tokyo, Kazuo Hirai, head of the company's games business, said at a conference that worldwide sales passed 1 million units in the past three weeks.

According to Tretton, sales of the PS3 are on a "massive trajectory" in Asia and Europe as well as in the U.S.

About 24 million PS3 consoles have been sold worldwide since its introduction in 2006, according to Sony. Sales of the Xbox 360 Elite machine also rose after Microsoft Corp. cut the price by the same amount last month, according to industry tracker NPD Group.

Nintendo Co. will lower the price of its Wii console for the first time by $50 to $200 starting Sunday, the company announced Thursday.

The price cut "will improve their sales, but it's not a game changer," Tretton said.

PS3 sales rose 72 percent last month to 210,000 units. The PS3 is now $299 in the U.S.

Store sales of the Xbox 360 rose 10 percent to 215,400 units. The company continues to sell a less-powerful $200 model.

Tretton said this year's holiday sales for games and hardware will be "incredibly strong," boosted by upcoming titles including "Uncharted 2" and "Ratchet and Clank."