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Slightly later than originally scheduled, my Editorial
this month has been inspired by the most unlikely of twists to the
Christmas 2007 rush. Before the final sales figures for worldwide,
 UK and even
Electronic Theatre’s own charts for the fourth quarter of
2007 arrive, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my own retail
experience over the period. Unsurprisingly, Wii and NintendoDS
hardware has been the best selling, while software was lead by the
Xbox360. Wii and NintendoDS software also performed incredibly well,
as would be expected, and PlayStation2 software continues to remain
fair even under the pressure from all three machines of the
Current-Generation. The big surprise, however, was the lowly little
GameCube.
It seems that perhaps the industry has overlooked the
interest that remains in the system. Long considered dead – far
before that of the Xbox and PlayStation2 – the GameCube may not have
seen any significant bursts of hardware sales in the period,
however, in my experience; the software for the system actually
outsold that of the PLAYSTATION3.
With no new releases, no price-cuts and no marketing
spend at all, you may wonder exactly how the GameCube
managed to fell the might of SONY’s all-encompassing PLAYSTATION3
push. The answer? It could be many things; but that which springs to
mind first is a phrase that many, many publishers tend to throw
around like hot potatoes: “installed userbase”. The GameCube may not
have been the most successful console of the Previous-Generation,
but it arguably had more quality exclusive titles than either the
Xbox or PlayStation2, and when considering that for the best part of
2007 it’s been relatively easy to find GameCube’s at retail for
prices below £50 for a new system, it’s not hard to see
GameCube’s being picked-up by collector’s and those to whom spending
several hundred pound on a videogame entertainment set-up may seem a
slight excess.
These new adopters, those who still find themselves
without a Wii and those simply wishing to find a few missed classics
may now be finding it quite difficult to acquire new software in the
high street. Of course, Electronic Theatre Retail Outlets
still retain stock of both new and Pre-Owned GameCube software, and
so through my personal involvement with this sector, I’ve noticed a
drastic increase in interest in the format during the
 annual
gift-giving onslaught. And not only is it the predictable First- and
Second-Party titles, such as
Soul Calibur II, Mario Kart:
Double Dash!!,
Eternal Darkness and The Legend Of
Zelda: Wind Waker, but also some less inspiring Third-Party
titles, including Bratz: Forever Diamondz, Medal Of Honor:
Rising Sun and Dave Mirra’s Freestyle BMX that have
enjoyed a healthy fourth-quarter.
It seems that even while the media, Third-Parties and
Nintendo themselves are considering the GameCube a defunct console –
which is easy to understand given Wii’s backwards compatibility with
the format – the public certainly are not. Not only was the
PLAYSTATION3 found short when compared to the GameCube, but also the
PSP and Game Boy Advance; both systems which still claim to have
respectable sell-through rates.
So maybe there’s still room for growth in the
Previous-Generation? Well, certainly, that’s this gamers’ opinion;
but with the rest of the industry having moved-on, it’s highly
unlikely. With Microsoft having dropped support for the original
Xbox as soon as the Xbox360 hit the shelves, and SONY forcefully
stating that they will be using their resources to promote the new
Current-Generation, as opposed to pushing the previous, it seems
that those few still in love with the last-generations’ machines may
find themselves in the same position as those enamoured with any
generation before it. |
