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Forums - Nintendo - Why did the Gamecube fail???

Jordahn on 19 February 2009
bardicverse said:
Jordahn said:

 

I still have an "old" issue of EGM which reported that 50% of PSOne users were 18 years and older (which I was one of - let me go back and look this up).  That was an example of the media, and NOT SONY doing this.  I also remember a gaming website (not SONY) showing a picture of a teletubby holding a mock up GC before its release, pushing the "kiddy" stigma.  And Mortal Kombat was only one game.  Genesis exclusives such as the Golden Axe series, Space Harrier, and Streets of Rage were more "mature" than what can be found on the SNES.  Was SONY totally innocent, no.  But "Sony was doing everything in their power...", keep pushing the hate, buddy.  But like you said, "Problem is, teenagers are stubborn creatures that love to be negative."  And such negativity can lead to clouded judgment.  Were you a teen in those days?  Either way, please be careful. 

;)

You are right the media definitely helped with their biased views throughout, but even the interviews from sony reps kept pushing the "fact" that Nintendo was designed for little kids, and this is the point I'm making. They spewed a LOT of the "kiddie" stuff not only to the media but other members within the industry. Trust me, they laid it on good. No hate, just stating how it was. Their press releases were more detrimental to the "kiddie" image of Nintendo than you're giving credit for.

Also, no I've not been a teen since 1996, less than a year since the PS1 launch, but have seen enough disgraceful things in the last gen (PS2/XB/GC) era from otherwise respectable people in the industry.

On topic of the Genesis games, I cant see how any of those games were considered mature over other games. Ive played them all, and they were good games, but I cant see how they stand out any differently from games like Double Dragon or Life Force. I think MK was alone in being a "mature" game due only to the blood thing. Really pushed the issue.

 

I agree with the majority here (and common sense) that developers went with the PS2 over the GC because of established usersbase and target market from the PSOne to the PS2.  The highlighted statement just destroyed your credibility.  And sometimes you also have to blame Nintendo. Core/Eidos wanted to put Tomb Raider on the N64, but Nintendo refused the title because Lara Croft's big breasted sex appeal.



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perpride on 19 February 2009

Cause it did not have enough must-own titles. I remember buying a Cube to play the Twin Snakes and RE4. Most people wouldn't buy a console for two games.



bardicverse on 19 February 2009
Jordahn said:

I agree with the majority here (and common sense) that developers went with the PS2 over the GC because of established usersbase and target market from the PSOne to the PS2.  The highlighted statement just destroyed your credibility.  And sometimes you also have to blame Nintendo. Core/Eidos wanted to put Tomb Raider on the N64, but Nintendo refused the title because Lara Croft's big breasted sex appeal.

I dont see how that destroyed my credibility. I'd listened in on many a conference when I was a fledgling in the industry, brought along by the team I worked for. If direct experience and discussion with other industry members is tantamount to destruction of credibility, then Im unsure what IS credible.

Of course, Im not saying Nintendo was brilliant back in the day, nor angels. After all, Nintendo's blunder in the first place is what got the PS1 going. I'm just saying that Sony was often to strike in press conferences, and say things like "Nintendo is catering to the younger gamers", and that would be when they wanted to be nice about it. If you scan back through GDC and E3 around 2002-2004, you'll see quite a bit of what Im talking about just during the GC era.

 

 



StarcraftManiac on 19 February 2009

I think this is how they should have done it;

Introduce a pearl-white and a faded-black Gamecube simultaneously. At the release of the system, I mean.

Combine the release with a mass-market pricetag of 200$.

Pump in a lot of cash in marketing and do it like this;

-The Gamecube logo consists of a box with a line jumping out of it and surrounding it. They could have used that as a slogan. For example - Nintendo Gamecube, think outside the Box -

-Make 30' second clips that show some gameplay footage that rolls into the Gamecube logo and someone saying that slogan with some slow techno-guitar music under it and show a white and black Gamecube next to eachother.

 

I think it would have been MUCH hotter, the purple colour killed it for the most part... And lack of good marketing for that matter! I honestly think it would've been a much bigger hit if I was in charge of the Nintendo marketing at that time ...



THE NETHERLANDS

haxxiy on 19 February 2009

The GameCube would have sold twice if it had DVD playback and a $299 price tag at launch.



 

 

 

 

 

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Jordahn on 19 February 2009
bardicverse said:
Jordahn said:

I agree with the majority here (and common sense) that developers went with the PS2 over the GC because of established usersbase and target market from the PSOne to the PS2.  The highlighted statement just destroyed your credibility.  And sometimes you also have to blame Nintendo. Core/Eidos wanted to put Tomb Raider on the N64, but Nintendo refused the title because Lara Croft's big breasted sex appeal.

I dont see how that destroyed my credibility. I'd listened in on many a conference when I was a fledgling in the industry, brought along by the team I worked for. If direct experience and discussion with other industry members is tantamount to destruction of credibility, then Im unsure what IS credible.

Of course, Im not saying Nintendo was brilliant back in the day, nor angels. After all, Nintendo's blunder in the first place is what got the PS1 going. I'm just saying that Sony was often to strike in press conferences, and say things like "Nintendo is catering to the younger gamers", and that would be when they wanted to be nice about it. If you scan back through GDC and E3 around 2002-2004, you'll see quite a bit of what Im talking about just during the GC era.

 

Alright, bud.  I take back that "credibility" statement.  Sorry I jumped the gun on that one.  And like I said earlier, SONY isn't innocent on this one as well.  It's just that no one was stopping developers from developing on the N64, and sadly it seem that that mentality carried over to the GC.  The GC is a more powerful system than the PS2, and I don't see why is didn't get similar support (maybe the mini-disc was a deterrent???)  But I cannot see SONY themselves being such a direct huge influence on the general populace when it comes to PS2 perception vs GC perception.  Maybe this is a stretch, but I remember seeing an N64 Toys R Us commercial advertising a small kid picking out a Pokemon N64.  Both the N64 and Pokemon, as you know, are Nintendo franchises.  This commercial had to have been approved by Nintendo.  If not, then you have Toys R Us to blame for part of this as well.



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hatmoza 2.0 on 19 February 2009

Where the Gamecube failed ; the Wii succeeded.



Signalstar on 19 February 2009

Because people obviously hate great consoles. I loved the Cube.



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Johann on 19 February 2009
misteromar mk4 said:
People fell for Sony's marketing hype last gen and they bought it. Then 3rd parties went where the largest user base was.

This and DVD.

 



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senortaco on 19 February 2009
Mr Khan said:

Curious about popular opinion on this issue, i punched "Why the GameCube failed" into Google, and the first hit was, strangely enough, a fairly rational critique of what went wrong on the software and marketing sides of things. A blog post from January 2007

 

It's really a well-written article. Would that bloggers could write such well-founded articles about the Wii

 

thus; http://www.maunderlust.com/why-the-gamecube-failed/

From the blog...

"Bottom Line: The GameCube was a failure not because it failed to deliver revenue, or great games, but because it was a machine that didn’t know what it was. It struggled and stammered trying to find an identity for itself, because when you got right down to it, it didn’t have one. It was “safer” than the N64’s bold defiance of industry trends had been. In following the herd, Nintendo lost their way. And once they lost the vision, they tried to make up for it with cables and bongos.

I love the GameCube. But it failed to live up to what it could have been. And that’s as tragic as anything that could happen to a little purple lunchbox."

...Now replace the Gamecube with PS3 and Nintendo with Sony and the cables(connectivity) and bongos with Home and Sixaxis...You have what IS happening to Sony. It's just striking to think about.



The Interweb is about overreaction, this is what makes it great!

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