Panasonic Stops Production Of GameCube-Based Q

cdneng2 writes "Gamesindustry.biz has the scoop that Matsushita (Panasonic) has stopped production of the Nintendo Q system. For those of you who weren't aware, the Q system was an integrated Gamecube and DVD player. Too bad it wasn't offered in the United States at all." IGN Gear had a review of the Panasonic Q when it first launched in early 2002, and now that "Matsushita intends to cease manufacture of the device immediately", the device's collectible status seems assured.

Comments

Nintendo wants to compete in this space

[ObviousGuy]

Panasonic likes to play well with others and are one of the foremost of Japanese companies that freely licenses their patents and technologies. But they are also deadly competitive and do not take kindly to serious encroachment of market share by 'partners'.

And that's exactly what Nintendo did by releasing a chrome GameCube. Nintendo set out to capitalize on the Q's popularity by creating a less-costly, feature-lacking clone of the Q and undercut Panasonic's market.

Throw into the mix that Panasonic is more interested in making PVR's now with their Diga line of hard disk recorder/DVD players and it was just a matter of time before Matsushita began seeing better opportunities elsewhere.

Nintendo now has to survive on its own without the benefit of a large hardware powerhouse like Matsushita driving GameCube sales. In a sense, Nintendo killed the Q and now will have to deal with their own bad management.