Nintendo Fights Bad Press

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With steady pronouncements of 3rd parties taking their balls and leaving while retailers in the UK are halting Gamecube sales Nintendo is doing some damage control. Not that they call it that of course, Nintendo's usual response is to tilt their collective heads to the side and say "We do things differently here, you wouldn't understand"

I'll tell you what I understand, Nintendo needs to wake up and smell the status quo.

G-Cube received a statement from Nintendo about the state of their company and the recent announcement that the Dixons Group will no longer be selling Gamecubes. It's pretty short so I'll post it here:

What is the current situation with the Dixons group?
Nintendo is continuing to actively trade with Dixons. Nintendo GameCube is currently available in 4500 stockists across the UK including Comet, HMV, Toys 'R' Us, GAME, Virgin Megastore, Argos and Woolworths. The current Nintendo GameCube price promotions are retailer initiatives.

What about the worries concerning sales of hardware and software?
Nintendo has already seen a 45% uplift in software sales this week following the launches of Resident Evil Zero, Sonic Mega Collection and Phantasy Star Online I & II, all exclusive to Nintendo GameCube. This week has also seen a 21% uplift in Nintendo GameCube hardware sales. Metroid Prime for Nintendo GameCube is launching in Europe on 21st March, having sold 250,000 in its first week of availability in the US. In May Nintendo of Europe release The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for Nintendo GameCube, the latest installment in the Zelda franchise, a series that has sold over 36million units to date worldwide.

Finally, the issue of third party support has re-emerged what is Nintendo's thoughts on this?
Nintendo has very strong 3rd party support with 80 Nintendo GameCube games launching this year to accompany the many 1st and 2nd party games in development. In addition, EA recently announced their continued commitment to both Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance by confirming approximately 20 forthcoming Nintendo GameCube titles over the next 12 months, a number of which are expected to support connectivity between the formats.

You know what I call pronouncements like this? Coasting. Nintendo continues to make changes only when it seems like their base way of operating is threatened. 3rd parties leaving? Don't bother making strides to retain them, just cut a deal with EA and say you're doing great!

Why not do both you lazy bastards?

- Certis

Comments

Hey, no stealing my material!

As you can see, my post was first on the page. It's not my fault I beat you to the punch while you searched for the perfect metaphor to add to your long winded diatribe.

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