GameCube $99 Price Drop Now Official

Michael_Blessed writes "An MCV story confirms the official GameCube price drop to $99, effective tomorrow. Strangely, this brings it to a similar pricepoint as the GameBoy Advance..." There's an official press release over at Yahoo which clarifies that the deal includes no bundled games, but "opens an $80 price advantage over its two console competitors", and quotes NOA President, George Harrison, as saying "So far in 2003, Nintendo GameCube is the only home console showing an increase in unit sales compared to 2002." We reported on Amazon's ahead-of-time price drop yesterday.

Comments

Should have cut the game prices instead

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

A $99 console is nice, but it still doesn't mean market share when the games are $40 each.

Statistics for anything

[kneecarrot]

I'm always amazed how someone can come up with a statistic to support pretty much any conclusion. I think if the Cube were to be yanked completely due to lack of sales, Nintendo would say:
"We are the only console maker to fully realize and pinpoint our maximum sales potential."

Re:Funny how Microsoft was tooting its horn yester

[Snowspinner]

The statistics are entirely different. Nintendo claims an increase in unit sales from 2002 to 2003. That is to say that, strictly in terms of sales, more Gamecubes were sold in 2003 than were sold in 2002.

Microsoft, on the other hand, is only claiming that the percentage of people who own an XBox has consistantly gone up over the past year compared to the other two consoles. In other words, Microsoft's statistic is in comparison with both Nintendo and Sony, whereas Nintendo's statistic is in comparison only with themselves.

Considering that Nintendo released a Zelda game early in the year, my guess is that they then had a slow quarter somewhere after that, so their share did not substantially increase in a given quarter, while their overall sales increased dramatically for the year.

Re:Bundles?

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

I e-mailed Nintendo earlier today about this issue because of the previous article. I asked when the price drop would take effect and what would be bundled with it. Here's the response I got.

Hello and thank you for contacting Nintendo,
As far as I know, the $99.95 will be for the Nintendo GameCube Control Deck only. There will be no game enclosed in the packaging.
Now, when will it be available? The new prices will be effective tomorrow (September 25th), but remember that retailers always determine the prices at which the sell their merchandise. You may want to shop around for the best deals!!

So even though the Yahoo article doesn't mention one way or the other, the Slashdot blurb is correct - there will be no game for $99.