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GameCube (Games) Entertainment Games

Capcom, Sega Drop Gamecube Software Prices 37

Posted by simoniker from the more-bounce-to-the-ounce dept.
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Nintendojo report discussing the price drop, to $39.99 in the US, for a number of forthcoming Gamecube games. It appears that Nintendo has reduced its royalty rate for all third-party publishers, so not only can publishers like Eidos, Rockstar, and Acclaim choose to put some titles out at $39, Capcom and Sega seem to be releasing all their titles at that price (including Viewtiful Joe, Billy Hatcher, and more.) Seems like good news for gamers.
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Capcom, Sega Drop Gamecube Software Prices More

Capcom, Sega Drop Gamecube Software Prices

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  • Seems like? (Score:5, Funny)

    by SandSpider ( 60727 ) on Wednesday May 21, 2003 @05:23PM (#6011393) Homepage Journal
    "Seems like good news for gamers."


    What, lower prices? I doubt that. I mean, I think you're going out on a limb there. Gamers, see, they are usually better off if they pay more money. Honestly, you'd think you didn't hear the outpouring of dissent when all the console prices lowered. The game companies, they're trying to ruin us, I tell you!


    =Brian

  • About time (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It looks like Nintendo finally got a clue that their royalty rates have always been way too high.
  • Now all Nintendo needs is a steady stream of quality games (not just one hit title every 6 months) to go along with the low prices.
    • I'd rather have just one really really good title every 6 months, one that can last all those 6 months. The gaming market is filled to the brim with mediocre-to-good titles that you play and forget. I'd rather have all that creativity poured into a really good game that you won't forget that easily than another Mark of Kri or Primal that you forget two weeks after finishing it.

      And it takes time to make games. Even with dozens of game developers all working on titles in parallel, it still takes each of them

  • Great move for the companies all around (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday May 21, 2003 @05:28PM (#6011427) Homepage
    The biggest area of suffering for the Gamecube has been in the third-party area. All of the Nintendites have already bought a Gamecube for Zelda, Metroid, Mario and the rest but people who are more interested in third-party games have bought a PS2 (most likely) or an Xbox (to a lesser degree, mostly for the perception that third-party games look better on Microsoft's hardware). With the royalty and price drop, this will bring in people who might have at least a little interest in Nintendo first-party games but tend to buy mostly third party.

    For Sega, which has been in financial trouble for quite a while (since the 32X?), this could give them a much-needed boost by exposing more people to their games and, maybe more importantly, their characters/franchises (Sonic in particular).

    I'm not a die-hard Nintendo fan (or Xbox fan or PS2 fan for that matter) but I certainly hope this, combined with the Gamecube/Gameboy Playter deal (amazing at $150), gives Nintendo the boost they're looking for. If it does, it could portend a similar drop in prices for first Xbox games and finally PS2 games (Sony has the least incentive to drop prices due to their current "mega-dominance").

    Kudos to Nintendo for once again leading the way in terms of bringing down prices.

  • very nice for GC sales (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Filiks ( 578065 )
    If Sega releases NFL 2K4 for $50 on xbox and PS2, but only $40 on GC, I'd bet there will be many more sales for the GC. If that makes it worthwhile for publishers to produce games for the GC, they will. As long as the GBA is keeping the books in the black, Nintendo can afford to do this in hopes of selling more consoles. Nintendo makes plenty of money from in-house titles anyway.

    • Re:very nice for GC sales (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gmhowell ( 26755 ) <gmhowell@gmail.com> on Wednesday May 21, 2003 @06:13PM (#6011698) Homepage Journal
      Bad logic. The people who already have an Xbox or PS2, but don't have a GC will not buy a $100+ machine just to save $10. Unless they are severely retarded. For the handful of people (myself) who don't have a current generation console, it may be an issue.
      • I didn't flesh out my argument. With cheaper games, people may buy more of them for the GC. That means companies are more likely to release titles for the GC. If people looking for another console see the GC games are cheaper than another console, that may be the deciding factor. As the installed base grows, word of mouth could further increase sales. If the cheaper prices do nothing but create goodwill between Nintendo and gamers, perhaps things will turn out better in 2005 or 2006 when the next-gen s
        • I won't fault you on that expanded argument:) But the large chain of 'ifs' demonstrates how risky a move this is by Nintendo. My lack of a current console is largely down to the fact that about half the games I'm interested on are GC, half PS2. The fact that I can play PS1 games on a PS2 was what had me looking at them yesterday.

          In any event, if it's to be a two horse race, I hope that it's Nintendo vs. Sony.
          • Well, this isn't really a move by Nintendo. All they did was lower their royalties, and that happens regardless of whether 3rd parties choose to lower prices accordingly.

            I don't really see it as a "risky" move by anyone, except perhaps Sega. The Sonic games sold really well at the $50 level, and they were all just remakes and ports. Seems like they're potentially eating into their profits for any future Sonic game that's released.

            --Jeremy
      • Bad Logic. The original poster didn't say anything about people already owning a console. You know, I bet there's dozens, even hundreds, of people in the world that don't own a current generation games console. *gasp*

        Meanwhile, it's nice to see someone tackling the real major issue affecting people's buying decisions -- price of the games. I guess they ran out of other variables to change.

      • Yes, but who buys just one game? If I had $10 times every console game I've ever bought, I'd have a pile of money. $10 a game times the 10-20 titles the average gamer might own and it starts adding up. I think this is a move to make the Gamecube a better value than the other consoles. More and more games are coming out on all three and this makes it more difficult to justify the higher prices of the other two. It's also a smart move when Mom and Dad are buying for someone else because of the lower price
    • Actually, the $10 extra for the Xbox and PS2 versions is probably quite worthwhile for the "real" sports fans since both versions will have online capability. A friend mentioned to me the other day (I haven't bothered hunting down the information myself) that the Xbox version will even have the capability to play franchise mode online which means that you could form full 32-team leagues online which would be a blast.

      In short, Sega discounting sports games foe the Gamecube, even without the royalty restru

      • I don't know. I consider myself a real sports fan, but wouldn't play the Xbox or PS2 versions of any sports games simply for online play - I doubt I'm going to find 32 players I trust to actually show up for their games to form a league.

        Now if you're talking about players who find formations that the AI-controlled linemen (in a football game) have trouble cracking, and just run deep routes with their wide receivers on every play - yeah, I'm sure you can find 32 of those. And have fun with them.

        I own a P

    • Sega have already announced that they aren't continuing the sports releases on the cube. Don't blame them either, I bought NBA2K3 for my cube and I don't see what everyone is raving about. It isn't that special.
    • Features are often left out of GameCube releases because it's the lowest on the console priority.
      • I should have been more clear. If there's a game, say a sports title, that's released on PS2, XBox, and GC, they'll be finished in that order. So it's mostly never true that they'll be the same versions and have the same features, so it's often best to decide on a per-game basis which system to buy it for (if you have the luxury of owning all 3 systems of course).
    • If Sega releases NFL 2K4 for $50 on xbox and PS2, but only $40 on GC

      That would be nice if they were released NFL 2K4 for GC period but they aren't they canceled it a while ago I can't find the story but here's a link to Sega's E3 list which shows that it is not coming out for GC and infact they canceled all sports titles for GC.
      http://www.gamespot.com/all/news/news_6025862 .html
    • The only problem with your idea is that Sega already announced that it was dropping the 2k series from Gamecube due to lack of demand.
  • Nintendo should have made this move a long time ago, they don't have the market share to act like the 800 lb. gorilla anymore. So is there also going to be a drop for 'Player's Choice' titles? (currently $30). Ah well, less money spent on games is always good.
  • (insert standard rant here about game prices in australia being top dollar all the time (the standard price is AUS$100, which is ~US$55), and hardly ever getting games on budget labels for consoles, and the fact that all these cheaper games will still be full price in .au)
  • and if anyone owned a Gamecube, this would mean something.
  • Ever since the Atari 2600 & C64 came into existance I always wondered why they were advertising for the teen & pre-teen market but tagged prices that the target market could not afford.

    I can remember getting my 2600 and then my C64 when they first came out and then having to spend about 3-4 days convincing my parents to spend $40+ for a game.

    Now in the past few years it's been trying to justify spending $80+ for the same thing - 1 game.

    This is what originally started game cracking in the first pl

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