GameCube Demand Spiking in U.S.?

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.

Comments

January...

[oOMeggieOo]

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...

[edwdig]

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.

Re:You've got to be kidding me...

[YomikoReadman]

For someone who works in a games store, you appear to be way out of the loop. The platinum color of the GC was reissued as a standard color around Christmas.

Re:You've got to be kidding me...

[Anonymous Coward]

it couldn't possibly because THEY ARE SOLD OUT AND HAVE NONE TO SHIP TO YOUR STORE

see, I can shout in all caps and be cool too. Now go restock the deer hunter Online display monkey boy

Re:You've got to be kidding me...

[MMaestro]

On the contrary, Nintendo is very good at meeting supply and demand better than some other company *cough*PS2launch*cough*.

Nintendo is simply trying to avoid manufacturing costs since they already have enough units manufactured as it is. Its cheaper to do a little supply juggling than to start production of a few thousand units only to find out no one wants to buy them. Nintendo is simply trying to finish off selling what they already have out in the market instead of glutting it.

GC cheap, games expensive

[Mr. Piddle]

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.

Hang on a sec there.

[Inoshiro]

"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 2003 and 2002.

Re:Well, Nintendo better fix that problem soon...

[mahdi13]

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.