GC sales surge and Nintendo restarts production.

[Teasy]

Sales of Nintendo GameCube Continue to Surge

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2003--In the video game industry, momentum has a new name: Nintendo GameCube(TM). In just 35 days of availability at a new manufacturer's suggested retail price of $99.99, Nintendo GameCube has more than quadrupled its sales rate and grabbed 18 points of market share from its two competitors.

Sales figures gathered from the nation's largest retailers show that Nintendo GameCube effectively doubled its market share to 37 percent from 19 percent. The system now runs a strong second in the U.S. market as it challenges for leadership during the important holiday sales season.

"In a tough economy, we've found the sweet spot on pricing, and players are grabbing Nintendo GameCube systems off the shelves at the fastest rate since the console's debut," says George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications, Nintendo of America. "With an $80 price advantage over other systems and the impending launch of the mega-hit Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, this offer is just too good to resist."

Nintendo Restarts GameCube Production

November 05, 2003 - Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper reports that Nintendo has, as of October, restarted production on the GameCube hardware. According to the paper, the stock of four million systems held over from the previous financial term have all been sold, prompting the renewal of production.

Well the price drop certainly had a large effect in October. But will GC continue to sell strongly in November?

 

[Paul]

I told you GC would continue to hold it's second place title.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

I wonder how they'll manage the '3 year cycle' of the Xbox and GameCube... will they support the systems for another one, two years? Or will they just drop it like a stone...

 

[zurich]

I voted yes, only because the bundle pack in North America is pathetic, at best. Clone Wars and Tetris Worlds? UGH!

However, in other news, it seems the Xbox is out selling the GC 2 to 1 in the UK, despite the price cut.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=ret&aid=2511

 

[Gollum]

Depends on the market, recent figures from the UK suggest that its surge at least there is already over again. Computer & Videogames had numbers a few days ago that showed Xbox selling twice as many units as GC in the last week of october in the UK, which seems quite sobering IMO. That press release for the US market uses a lot of fancy numbers, but if they only show the increased sales of a few weeks following the price cut, in the end they might not mean much. Wait and see I guess, Nintendo sure has a compelling offer for this christmas season, that could very well help them in the long run!

 

[Teasy]

GC's sales surge in the U.K is over, but that just means its not increasing anymore. Its sales haven't dropped back to how they were before the price drop, which is a good thing (although they have died down a bit very recently, especially in the U.K). GC was actually outselling XBox in the U.K and the rest of Europe for 3 weeks. XBox outselling GC for that single week in the U.K is due to a new XBox bundle (XBox plus 4 games for £139.99) rather then GC's sales decreasing a lot. We'll have to wait and see if XBox's new bundle can keep its increased sales going for more then a week or two, because as you said Gollum, a week of sales doesn't mean much.

I think if MS give the U.S the same offer as the U.K then XBox definitely could fight back and get its second place sales back. But that doesn't look like happening.

P.S. Gollum, the numbers mentioned in the article are for the whole month of October.

 

[Qroach]

Well GC was number 2 for the month of october only, so let's not get get ahead of that. Xbox is still the number 2 console in North Ameirca and Europe. Also, I beleive that Gamecube sustained an increase over two weeks, not three in the UK, but we'll have to wait and see what happens after that.

I'm betting it won't last just like the UK, despite the bundle in north america for xbox. People keep forgetting that xbox has multiple bundles that include two games for the fall.

They still have

Halo + Amped (bundle)
KOTR + Amped (bundle)
Tetris + Starwars clone wars (bundle)

And all of them come with two free months of live.

Nintendo right now is bundling their best games (mario kart), and will have to compete with games Like GTA double pack and May payne on PS2 and xbox this fall.

 

[StefanS]

Well GC was number 2 for the month of october only, so let's not get get ahead of that. Xbox is still the number 2 console over all in north ameirca and europe Also, I beleive that Gamecube sustained an increase over two weeks, not three, but we'll have to wait and see what happens after that. I'm betting it won't last just like the UK, despite the bundle in north america for xbox. Nintendo right now is bundling their best games (mario kart), and will have to compete with games Like GTA double pack and May payne on PS2 and xbox this fall.

I have voted for yes. I think there's a slight chance that Nintendo could manage to stay ahead, their line up in November is quite good (Mario Kart is eagerly awaited by a lot of people) and they still got the price advantage. However, the question will be not if but when Sony and MS cut their prices. Probably they'll make that move about 1 month before christmas (nov 24th) just to be competitive in December, and that's when overall sales usually surge...
So I don't exspect the GCN to stay ahead of Xbox in monthly sales for long but November is doable.

 

[Megadrive1988]

I wonder how they'll manage the '3 year cycle' of the Xbox and GameCube... will they support the systems for another one, two years? Or will they just drop it like a stone...

erm, both the GameCube and the Xbox are having a '4 year cycle' if not a '5 year cycle'.


they'll both be supported for all of 2004 and all of 2005, even IF the new consoles come in late 2005. We will most likely still see Xbox and GC releases in 2006, perhaps only a trickle of new games.

Only by 2007, will things dry up for GC & Xbox.

 

[a4164]

I hope the new zelda classics bundle helps. All that Zelda lovin'...makes me want to get another GC.

 

[zurich]

Best Buy has a decent bundle.. an Xbox with MechAssault/KOTOR. But man, the default bundle just makes me cringe.

 

[Li Mu Bai]

Despite Nintendo's initial sales surge tapering off, they still are selling at 7x the pre-price cut rate in the UK. The Box bundle is just insane, however with F-Zero's successful launch, VJ, RS3, MKD, etc. all launching/or having recently launched their UK lineup looks healthy. Nintendo is making strides there, conversely MS is doing nothing in Japan.

 

[cthellis42]

Xbox is still the number 2 console in North Ameirca and Europe.

Weren't the total numbers on that still disputed? Last I knew, certain sources showed Xbox ahead and others showed GameCube. Regardless, it's too damn close to be meaningful, I'd think. Seems rather like the Xbox's NA advantage and GC's Japan advantage are in a boxing match.

This holiday season's likely to be interesting. ^_^ I have a feeling by the end they'll be coming out still in position dispute. (and/or meaningless advantage)

 

[Magnum PI]

if we are talking about worldwide sales, i expect the GC to stay second.

 

[GHost]

Do not forget it's not all about prices and bundles. Xbox's momentum was based mainly on it's "more-mature" image, combined with the "twice-as-many-MHz-CPU", no more no less, we're all aware of that IMO, as well as that it's based on hype only (i.e. not on the presence of more mature games, but on the lack of "kiddie" games, and not on having the better graphics, but on not being proven otherwise).

And that's changing a lot lately. More Cubes in ppl homes, less hype, IMO that is what will have Nintendo not only keeping its current position, but also improving. People are not stupid, they're just prone to media BS, until the facts emerge on the neighbour's HDTV.

I vote for GC staying second (and that is not this Christmas only).

 

[Tuttle]

I think a great deal of damage has been done to the current XBox with the IBM news.

Reading the responses from around the Net, there are a lot of angry and or shocked XBox owners. I think a lot of the XBox world is still hoping for that this news is all part of some Microsoft negotiating strategy or some sort of misunderstanding.

A great many of the XBox crowd are diehard x86 people. Many of them have spent the last five or so years talking about Apple lies about the PPC chips. And now Microsoft is dumping x86 for PPC.

The GameCube market looks sparse compared to the constant flow of new PS2 titles, but there always seems to be a new gem that comes out every couple of months. Viewtiful Joe is my current gem.

There are enough killer exclusives on the GC that the new low price is getting alot of PS2 owners to finally get around to picking up a GC and some exclusive they've wanted to play.

 

[StefanS]

The GameCube market looks sparse compared to the constant flow of new PS2 titles, but there always seems to be a new gem that comes out every couple of months. Viewtiful Joe is my current gem.

There are enough killer exclusives on the GC that the new low price is getting alot of PS2 owners to finally get around to picking up a GC and some exclusive they've wanted to play.

If taken as a second console the somewhat odd, different, specialized and exclusive game library is a strong point of the gamecube...

 

[Ooh-videogames]

And when commercials start running for MGS:TS, you can be assured that Nintendo's market would increase. Then again the gaming industry is so unpredictable, it may turn out the opposite.

 

[gurgi]

The same was said for REmake.. in a similar situation.

 

[LisaJoy]

Yea, I don't see MGS:TS doing anything for Nintendo, I played the first and Enjoyed it, who is seriously going to salivate over it with MGS3 coming out on PS2?