Will GameCube be Nintendo's Last Console?
08/07/02

"We can't be optimistic about the market. No matter what great product you come up with, people get bored. I feel like a chef cooking for a king who is full.

"We're reaching the limits of how far we can appeal to consumers by boosting the machine's performance or providing more compelling graphics and sound."

Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo

At a recent press conference, the new Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, hinted that GameCube could be Nintendo's last home console (see above quote). While Iwata-san did outline bullish sales targets for Ninty's cube-shaped box of tricks, there was a marked note of pessimism in the continued technology-driven hardware-renewal cycle whereby consumers must upgrade their consoles every 4 or 5 years. Furthermore, it is clear from the above quote that the Nintendo president lacks the enthusiasm of happy-go-lucky cockney geezer Jamie "Pukka" Oliver and his other modern-day chef contemporaries.

Games websites were quick to interpret this as a signal that GameCube may indeed be Nintendo's last home games console. While this is obviously by no means a given fact, the possibility still remains that Nintendo may eventually follow Sega's recent (and highly successful) abandonment of hardware manufacture to focus exclusively on making top quality games for all formats (Virtua Fighter 4 (PS2), Super Monkey Ball (GC) and Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xb) being three strong examples).

While it would be sad to see Nintendo abandon home hardware - GameCube is possibly the best console they have ever made (both from a technical and aesthetic point of view) - this may in fact be a very good thing indeed.

Will the imminent release of Super Mario Sunshine weaken Sony's PS2 dominance?

You only have to glance at the current Japanese sales figures to see that PlayStation2 is currently giving GameCube and Xbox an utter pasting. On the week ending 30th June 2002, Sony seemingly effortlessly sold a staggering 63,000 PS2s by doing nothing more strenuous than breathing lightly. In stark contrast, GameCube only managed a piffling 7,900 units (incidentally, Xbox choked on 3,000 units, and was incredibly outsold by PSOne at 4,400 units!). Nintendo's only real success came in the form of flogging 37,000 Game Boy Advances. Admittedly, this is just a snapshot of a single week, but this does seem to be reflective of the general sales trend.

The situation globally is not too dissimilar. PS2 is consistently and very significantly outselling both GameCube and Xbox in every territory. Sure, both consoles will probably be able to notch up good sales, but realistically they do not stand a chance of surpassing Sony's rolling juggernaut.

So why not abandon hardware manufacture? Imagine Nintendo releasing the next Mario or Zelda game on PS2 - it would sell by the utter truckload all over the world. Nintendo would make absolutely millions. More people would be drawn into gaming by the sheer diversity and markedly different approach Nintendo has to software. The games market would benefit massively. Even more significantly, the industry would be one step closer to having that entertainment holy grail - a standard format. Once this happens (if this ever can happen - a subject for a feature in itself!), games will truly be accepted by the mass market as a valid and thoroughly engrossing form of entertainment. Phew.

Mario Sunshine on PS2?

In the short-term however, it is clear that GameCube is here to stay, and with possibly the strongest games line-up of any console this year (Mario Sunshine, Zelda, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 0, Wario World, etc.), there is much to look forward to from the big N.

Louis