Gaming Target - News: GameCube Price Drop a Boon for Nintendo

Written by Leigh Culpin on November 08, 2003

GameCube Price Drop a Boon for Nintendo: A bit too little too late, but it's something.

Nintendo has announced that since its price drop to $99 last month, the GameCube has increased its market share by 18 points, vaulting it into second place behind the PlayStation 2 in the current-generation console wars. The GameCube rose from a 19 percent market share to 37 percent, according to NPD, which tracks sales for the gaming industry.

"In a tough economy, we've found the sweet spot on pricing, and players are grabbing Nintendo GameCube systems off the shelves at the fastest rate since the console's debut," said George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications for Nintendo of America.

The numbers are somewhat misleading, though. The PlayStation 2 has had a huge lead in console sales for a long time, so it's not as if consumers are choosing to buy a GameCube instead of a PS2 -- rather, they're purchasing a GameCube in addition to a PS2. Still, this is one of the more positive developments for the GameCube and Nintendo in a while. In fact, since the beginning of the year, Nintendo's systems are the ony who have actually seen an increase in sales. The numbers for the GameBoy Advance are up 25 percent, while the GameCube has seen a 2 percent increase. In that same time period, Xbox sales dipped 3 percent and PlayStation 2 figured dropped 17.5 percent.