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GameCube (Games) Entertainment Games

GameCube Demand Spiking in U.S.? 111

Posted by simoniker from the return-of-the-mack dept.
LlamaRama writes "Reuters reports that Nintendo has nearly sold out of GameCubes in the United States, with Nintendo spokeswoman Perrin Kaplan explaining: 'Store shelves are just running very dry... I'd say about 50 percent of our stores are out.' Seems like the holiday rush on GameCube might last a few months past December!" Kaplan also indicated that "...January hardware sales were up 60 percent year-over-year, while January software sales were up 101 percent" following last year's GameCube price cut to $99, though it's unclear how these increased totals compare with current PlayStation 2 and Xbox sales.
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GameCube Demand Spiking in U.S.? More

GameCube Demand Spiking in U.S.?

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  • Actually no (Score:5, Funny)

    by gasaraki ( 262206 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @07:13AM (#8439125)
    According to wordwide sales and ownership, Gamecube is not dying. In fact, in many countries it out-sells... Oh wait, sorry. I just assumed this was like all the other Gamecube articles.
    • "...like all the other Gamecube articles"

      Let's see, let's see...

      Aha!
      I found [slashdot.org] a negative Gamecube article on Slashdot!

      But guess what? It's from DECEMBER.
      People, STOP complaining about all the anti-Nintendo sentiment on this site. It isn't here. Nobody is saying that the system is dying. It's getting retarded. And I mean that in the most insulting way possible.

      Story-Nintendo is doing well
      Response-Oh yeah, well they're actually doing well and making a profit! Who needs GTA anyway?

      Story-Nin

  • January... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by oOMeggieOo ( 614205 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @07:25AM (#8439175)
    But doesn't January typically increase sales for nearly every product out there? I mean, that's when the stores are trying to get rid of their old items and cutting down prices 'n whatnot. And...if you're a person that's not really loyal to any one gaming system, the gamecube would be the easiest to pick right now considering its cheap price. Well, at least, it has a cheap price compared to the PS2 and XBox. Personally, now I'm tempted to go get one. The only reason I wanted a gamecube was for Super Smash Brothers Melee..but now that they have Zelda, Final Fantasy, and a few other good games offered only on their system. And, of course, the cost is lower, though not so significantly lower to really save any money..but..significantly lower to make my mind automatically think I would be getting quite a bargain deal.

    • Re:January... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I mean, that's when the stores are trying to get rid of their old items and cutting down prices 'n whatnot.

      The gamecube has remained at $99.

    • Re:January... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by edwdig ( 47888 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @09:47AM (#8440114)
      They aren't saying that January's sales were higher than average sales or anything like that. They said that this past January there was a huge increase in GameCube sales compared to the previous January.

      Microsoft and Sony are both showing decling system sales. Nintendo is the only one who's sales are inreasing.
    • No usually they are down signficantly, think of Christmas as an annual 6 week long shopping bump. Many stores will get more than 1/4 of their sales in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Then typically you have signficant decline in sales in the weeks after Christmas, back to the usual level of sales, with some bouncing around, pre-holiday weeks are generally up weeks. I know with video game software December sales are about 5 times most monthly sales (Novemeber is generally about half of December's level

  • I can verify this in New York City (Score:5, Interesting)

    by galaxy300 ( 111408 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [yenoornotlad]> on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @07:32AM (#8439206) Homepage
    I decided to buy a GameCube last week. I went to *every store in Brooklyn* trying to find one. None of the game stores, none of the electronics stores. After about two hours I finally got to Toys-R-Us, which happened to have 2 in stock. No memory cards, though. Had to go back to Gamestop to get that.

    Sheesh. It was worth it, though. I love the thing.

    • ? Here in Boise they are easy to get. Bestbuy had a whole stack of them.

  • Well, Nintendo better fix that problem soon... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Zangief ( 461457 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @07:46AM (#8439264) Homepage Journal
    It would be stupid for them to not have enough GCs to meet demand. This makes me remember when PS2 was launched, and there were not enough units in America to meer demand.

    Since Nintendo, at some point stopped the manufacturing of GC, they must have keeped all this time a low hardware stock (at least GCs...GBA's stock must be huge). That hit them now.

    Oh well, Nintendo moves in misterious ways.

    • Re:Well, Nintendo better fix that problem soon... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by b0r0din ( 304712 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @09:52AM (#8440163)
      I doubt this will be the case. If you can't get them at your local store, just go to amazon or ebay. Hell, I just bought one myself on ebay for 60 bucks. Believe me they aren't selling out anywhere on the web from what I can tell. I've noticed the Platinum color is more popular, but you can still get Indigo, and it's the same thing.

      Anyway, I'm guessing this movement is the result of a lot of things. The big one is the price. $99 bucks for a new game system is not unprecedented, but it has certainly been a while since they were selling that low.

      Two, they've tied in their best-selling GBA portable into their system very well, people who have that GBA are now interested in the games that run on both, etc.

      Three, have you looked at their games lately? Mario Party 5 and Mario Kart Double Dash are amazingly fun, family games. I recently switched from PS2 to GameCube because my girlfriend loves Mario Kart and she thinks Manhunt is disgusting
      (it really is, too). They've got a really wide variety and they focus less on adult-themed games.

      Four, the DVD market has expanded fully. Back when the PS2 and later the Xbox was launched, very few people had DVD players - the PS2 was an attempt to get people to buy a device that could play games and DVDs. Now that the market is flooded with 40 and 50 dollar DVD players, people don't need the PS2 for that reason, plus most PS2s don't have the kind of full-feature DVD aspects like 5.1 surround. Plus, the PS2 has maxed out on graphics. The Gamecube's graphics are better.

      Five, it's trendy. Nintendo is sort of like the Apple of the video game world. They release different gamecube and gameboy colors, they appeal to old school by re-using old games like Mario 3 and incorporating a gameboy player so you can play those games on a TV, and they stick to their niche market. 2-D games, 3-D games, they have it all. Sure it costs more, but that's just smart marketing.

      • Adult games... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by JMZero ( 449047 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @10:44AM (#8440728) Homepage
        Mario Party 5 and Mario Kart Double Dash are amazingly fun, family games. I recently switched from PS2 to GameCube because my girlfriend loves Mario Kart and she thinks Manhunt is disgusting
        (it really is, too). They've got a really wide variety and they focus less on adult-themed games.

        I've noticed that the adults that I talk to - professional people, parents, etc - uniformly prefer fun games with mild presentation: ranging from Mario Kart to Project Gotham to Super Monkey Ball to Halo. Nobody is crazy for Postal or Manhunt or Xtreme Beach Volleyball. "Adult" themed games, like "adult" movies, would be more aptly named "adolescent".

        Adults, typically, have grown out of their desire to see nothing but boobs and blood. Adults don't think "ooh, I can't enjoy this because the graphics are cartoony and that's baby stuff".

        When people complain about Nintendo making kids games, they should at least get the criticism right: Nintendo doesn't fail adults, it fails wide-eyed 15 year old boys.
        • "When people complain about Nintendo making kids games, they should at least get the criticism right: Nintendo doesn't fail adults, it fails wide-eyed 15 year old boys."

          Heh, exactly. Do people think that it's mostly adults that actually buy adult games? Nearly ever teen has the desire to mature as quickly as possible - illustrated beautifully by the girlie-magazine "Just17" having a key demographic of 12-13 year olds.

        • Since you used a small base I will to. I'm at work with 4 guys, I'm the only one who owns a Nintendo. All our laptops only have games where stuff goes boom and people get shot. Infact we just played some Call of Duty. I am the youngest at 24, and the oldest is 56.
          • CoD may have some adult themes, but they're handled reasonably. Heck, stuff "goes boom" in Mario Kart. People dying is not the issue.

            It's like saying "Saving Private Ryan" and "House of 1000 Corpses" are the same kind of movie because they both get gory. The first is a movie adults enjoy (like they would CoD, Halo, or Age of Empires), the second is an "adult-themed" movie.

            The only real line-blurring games I've seen are Leisure-Suit Larry and GTA, and to a lesser extent survival horror or Eternal Darkne

      • Hang on a sec there. (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Inoshiro ( 71693 )
        "Four, the DVD market has expanded fully. Back when the PS2 and later the Xbox was launched, "

        The Xbox and GameCube launched within a week of each other in November, 2001. The the Xbox has very OPTIONAL DVD playback because the fact is, most people who care have about 3 or 4 things that can play DVDs now. Only on the PS2 do you pay for something you're not going to use.

        You're very right that it might've been a big deal in 2000 when it was Dreamcast vs. PS2, but in 2004 it's not, much like it wasn't in 2
    • Nintendo always has problems figuring out the right levels to produce things at.

      The GameCube significantly outsold the Xbox in the US at launch, but Nintendo was unable to provide more systems for months. This enabled the Xbox to surpass the GameCube in US sales, where it has stayed since.

      If you didn't preorder Smash Bros when it was released, odds are you weren't getting it for a few months. I know it was the same story with Ocarina of Time back in the N64 days. Nintendo's holiday games generally don't g

      • Re:Well, Nintendo better fix that problem soon... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by mahdi13 ( 660205 ) <icarus.lnx@gmail.com> on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @01:52PM (#8442966) Journal
        Nintendo always has problems figuring out the right levels to produce things at.
        Keeping from overstocking is not a problem. Nintendo tries very hard not to overstock their products and do not saturate the market with something they want everyone to think is the 'new hot thing'. They let the customers figure out what they like, when they want it.
        Sony is a completely 'in your face' company that wants you to get this and get it now.
        Overstocking is a very dangerous thing for business. If it doesn't sell as well as you hoped, you're left with warehouses of product that nobody wants, which has a huge overhead of
        1) Paying for the warehouse space
        2) Holding onto products that don't move which forces you to considerably drop prices in hopes that it will make people want it more.
        3) Causes them to release the old products at a considerable discount in hopes to move the product and avoid more of a loss by landfilling the overstock.

        Granted that #3 worked very well with the system and people can see a good deal when they see one. But over estimating this is one of the things that killed (aided in) the Dreamcast, it took Sega over a year to clear out their warehouses of Dreamcast systems at $50 (over a 200% loss per system).

        I think Nintendo is doing a good thing by making only what they need, if it pisses someone off because that person is not resourceful enough to find one and they get an Xbox instead or wait a month...it's not going to bankrupt Nintendo because they have sold enough already to be able to eat the (few) lost sales.
        • Uh well at my store they need to take some of their damn GBA's back, cause we have way to many... It's like a plague of GBA's that never sell... We've sold like 2 GBA's in the last month. But we still get more of them in.

          As for the gamecube, well we have been out of gamecubes for quite some time, but no one has even bothered to ask about them. If people want a new system where I work they come in asking for a PS2 or xbox. Heck the last person I sold a gamecube to came in to buy a PSone, but I talked them i

  • Here's why - at least for me (Score:4, Interesting)

    by seigniory ( 89942 ) <bigfriggin @ m e . com> on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @07:48AM (#8439273)
    I already bought an XBox, I already bought a PS2 - love them both. Variety is the spice of life, right? For $99, it's a great deal for something I know I'll use, but didn't want as my #1 system when I had a choice of 3. Probably the same for a lot of people.

  • You've got to be kidding me... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by nicksthings ( 678040 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @08:19AM (#8439425)
    This is an effin' joke. My store hasn't received ONE Gamecube system since mid-December when we sold out during the holiday. Not one. Neither have any of our other stores for that matter.

    High demand during the holiday season is only half the story and in fact, it's a very skewed perspective. Why can't you find any Gamecubes? BECAUSE NINTENDO HAVEN'T SHIPPED RETAILERS ANY IN CLOSE TO THREE MONTHS. It's ridiculous to paint a picture like there's still this mad rush to buy Gamecubes, because that's simply not the case.

    On the regular, I'm still selling Xbox and PS2 systems AND also being restocked on these items. I'm sitting on a number of used Gamecubes, of which I sell every now and then.

    This isn't a knock on the Gamecube, but this story is absolutely ridiculous and total PR bullshit. By the same token, let's go ahead and say Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the GBA is the biggest selling, most popular game of the past three months because well, I haven't had but three copies, tops, sent to my store from Redmond, Washington in that time frame.

    This spin makes me sick. I am, however, receiving a whopping FOUR platinum Gamecubes later this week. Yes, FOUR! Thanks, Nintendo! Limited edition color my ass.

    Bottom line, Nintendo is notorious for under shipping and barely, if not at all, meeting demand.

  • ooh profit (Score:5, Interesting)

    by h0mer ( 181006 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @08:29AM (#8439489)
    January software sales were up 101 percent

    This is bigger news, since games are what make the money. More systems being sold would mean more software being sold, chicken/egg etc.

    The most important part of the software sales is what games were bought specifically. I'd like to see if 75%+ is Nintendo first and second-party games. It would look great if Prince of Persia and some other third-party games sold well.

    It's very important that Nintendo keeps good relations with third-parties. Nintendo DS is going to need developers for this completely new hardware, the GameCube successor is going to need a lot of games also. In the meantime, support needs to be maintained for GBA/GC.

    I want Nintendo to start looking and sounding like a winner again. This is just the first step.
    • While not exactly a direct answer to your question, IGN posted a list of the 25 most popular unreleased games [ign.com]. Their methodology isn't very clear, but it seems to be based on a variety of things [gamestats.com].

      In any case, the notable point is that the most popular games are evenely split between 1st and 3rd party, but almost all the games are either exclusive or have some sort of exclusive feature on GameCube.

  • This Explains A Lot (Score:3, Informative)

    by kannibal_klown ( 531544 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @09:16AM (#8439844)
    This explains a lot.

    My brother's unit died over the weekend. Fortunately, he purchased the extended warranty from BestBuy (you know, that thing they bug you about every single time).

    However, I found out the hard way that none of the stores nearby had a unit in stock (in any color). I visited 2 of the stores that are each within 15 minutes from my house, and then called a bunch of others. NOBODY had it in stock!!!!!

    Well, I guess we'll have to wait a while then. Personally, I'm annoyed I purchased an XBox instead of a GameCube. Those games are fun (I love the blue sparks).
  • Its all because of Linux [gc-linux.org]. Viva the Revolution!!!
    • I think that is true also, with the GAmecube being fairly easy to hack with very little hardware knowledge nowdays. Selling more GC's but not as much games to match? PR spin time baby!

  • From Experience (Score:4, Informative)

    by V50 ( 248015 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @09:36AM (#8440009) Journal
    About a month and an half ago I decided to buy a GameCube. The first store I went to was sold out of several of the games I wanted, but had a few Cubes. The second store had no Cubes, and only one copy of Super Smash Bros Melee. Both were sold out of Nintendo Memory Cards, so I had to settle for a crappy 3rd party card. I ended up buying the lone copy of SSBM from store #2, and my Cube, memory card, and 2nd controller from #1.

    A week later I go to buy more games. All the stores in my town were sold out of good GameCube games, yet were mostly full of PS2 and full of Xbox games. I ended up having to buy my games at an out of town Wal-Mart, the only place that wasn't sold out of good GCN games.

    Additionally, while looking for my GCN games, I saw about 3 other parties come, and leave empty handed, which was more than I saw buying PS2 games.

    In my area, at least, it sure seems demand for GameCubes shot up.
    • You're mistaking the lack of product for a demand. My store receives a very small amount of Gamecube product because it doesn't sell like their Xbox and PS2 counterparts. For every 4 copies of a Gamecube title we get that's multiplatform, we'll get at least four times that many on the Xbox and PS2...because that's where the demand is.
      • I am not mistaking the lack of product for a demand. When I went to the second store, I specifically asked an employee if they had any, and he said that they had all their shipments had sold out since Nintendo lowered the price. Likewise, when I went to my local Zellers to see what games they had, and found they were sold out, I was not the only one doing so. In my short (5-10 min) period of time there, three (3) other groups of people came looking for GCN games, and also left empty handed. Only one group e
  • My friend got a GameCube for Christmas, and my resistance to buying new consoles broke down a couple months after that since I couldn't get that SSB:M music out of my head.... Also, a few somewhat anti-Nintendo friends I have on the internet broke down over MK:DD around December-January, which caught me by surprise.

    Well, that and I was trying to complete most of the old PSX RPGs at the same time so I was just on genre overload, and GameCube seemed to have the freshest action titles.

    Either way, I'm grea

    • Either way, I'm greatly enjoying Metroid Prime (oh, and unlike most here, I didn't have trouble finding a system in Montreal).

      Well that's good for ya. As you can see by the topic title though, GameCube Demand Spiking in the U.S.?, we aren't talking about you all from the frigid North. On the other hand, we could all go up there, buy all your stuff at a cheaper price, our dollar is stronger, and then leave you with nothing.

      Sorry, I'm from Upstate NY, we're supposed to tease the Canadians. I think it's a law

      • Actually the Canadian dollar has been up recently; maybe the problem is us canucks buying GameCubes down south because it's cheaper......eh?

        Though, point taken: I had forgotten that Nintendo finally set up a Canadian shipping company a few years back, so it's not the same warehouses anymore.

  • Price Drop In Games! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by superpulpsicle ( 533373 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @11:09AM (#8440978)
    I have to admit if they keep dropping the price like that, it's pretty tempting to get a system.
    But the system you ONLY buy once.

    I'd rather see all gamecube games come out at $29.99 because they are on the lower end of the market. Is it me, or does it seem like PS2 games are always the cheapest?
    • There are a couple of reasons why PS2 games seems more expensive:

      1) The PS2 games have ben out longer on average, and more have been dropped to bargin-bin or greatest-hits status.

      2) The PS1 games are there too, and some companies still release budget titles on the platform because they know the PS2 crowd can buy it too (Final Fantasy Orgins, for example)

      3) Sony has had lower royalty payments for each disk sold. This increases margins on cheap games to enable them to be sold better.

      To their credit, Nintn
  • Anyone know of ways to shave off the already low pricetag? I'm trying to make good use of my tax return, and you have to get a decent number of accessories for the GC it seems like.

    F-Zero is very awesome though.

  • GC cheap, games expensive (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Mr. Piddle ( 567882 ) on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @12:29PM (#8441967)

    I was just about to buy a gamecube, but realized my cheap ass would have to pay more for GC games (on average). I am very used to paying less than $20 to $25 for PS2 games and was disappointed to see most GC games were still above $25 to $30. I saw $60 on the Zelda bundle and choked.
    • ). I am very used to paying less than $20 to $25 for PS2 games and was disappointed to see most GC games were still above $25 to $30.

      On average, I've paid $15-25 for most of my GameCube games, the exceptions generally being the newest titles (F-Zero, FF:CC, Mario Kart, Viewtiful Joe). Even the more expensive titles that were not new ran in the $25-35 range, and have since become "Players Choice" titles and dropped another $5-10. Generally speaking, though, the prices on the games seem to drop before they

      • umm what Zelda bundle?

        I'm pretty sure I saw a "Collector's Edition" at Toys'R'Us recently. However, I may be mistaken about the "Wind Waker" game you mentioned. The $59.99 on the pricetag was unmistakable, either way.
        • I'm pretty sure I saw a "Collector's Edition" at Toys'R'Us recently. However, I may be mistaken about the "Wind Waker" game you mentioned. The $59.99 on the pricetag was unmistakable, either way.

          The Zelda Collector's Edition (I, II, Majora's Mask, Ocarina of Time) is supposed to only be sold with a system or through a couple of other offers (it looks like most of them have expired looking at http://www.nintendo.com/zeldaclassic/ and http://www.nintendopower.com/zelda/ ). Either way, you can still pick up
    • $60/35 is standard whack for a game in the uk [game.net]
    • you can get the zelda bundle for like $20 - they were giving it away free with subscriptions to Nintendo Power (subscription cost is $20) - thats how I got mine
  • I finally bought a GameCube last week. Best Buy was sold out, so I ended up buying it from Fred Meyer (along with three extra controllers and Mario Kart: Double Dash).

    I guess what made me finally buy it was the low price combined with the urging of friends who wanted to play Mario Kart. Also, I was bored.

  • This might be true (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pluvius ( 734915 ) <pluvius3NO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday March 02, 2004 @02:36PM (#8443651) Journal
    Though I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo was just putting a positive spin on simply understocking the retailers, it's possible that the GC really is doing well in the US right now. I can think of two reasons for this:

    1. The GC is only $99.

    2. Tax refund checks are coming in.

    I'd say that #1 is the major reason for it. I don't pay income taxes, but I still went down to the local Wal-Mart a few days ago to get a GC (and yes, they were sold out). My reasoning is similar to the reasoning I had when I bought a Dreamcast: Hey, there aren't that many games on the GC worth buying the system for, but it's only $99. With the DC, Soul Calibur and the Virtua Tennis series were enough to justify the cost; I figure it's the same with Zelda, Mario, and Metroid on the GC.

    Rob
  • The Gamecube was the last console I was holding out on, but I found a wicked deal! For $90 I got a used system, 3 controllers and Mario Kart, SSBM and Eternal Darkness. There's something to be said about the "Nintendo Charm", something that's just plain simple and fun.

    Plus, I was getting bored with the multiplayer games for the Xbox/PS2 and realized that the GC shines for those nights you have your buddies over. Not to mention some added bonuses now that I can hook my GBA SP to it.

    On the downside,
  • For $99?? it's cheaper than a GBA! ... too bad I got mine when it first came out, for $199, but it was still well worth it back then. The little box really does pack some punch, and on an interesting note, I believe its the only system (of the 3: ps2, xbox) that really prevents piracy.. I haven't really checked hard about copying games, but I also haven't heard of anyone doing it, mainly I'm assuming due to the propriatary media in which nintendo uses, I could be wrong?? I also find that the GC controlle
    • You can't exactly copy the games but its possible to stream them trough the gc bba from your pc into the gamecube. Thou from what i've heard it's a bit of a hassle (swapping involved) and isn't too reliable.

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