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GameSpy Grudge

GameCube Timeline
A look at the history from inception to creation of the 'Cube.
By Steven L. Kent | Feb. 17, 2004

Despite being the wrong product at the wrong time, Nintendo's durable GameCube game console has demonstrated lasting power in a market for which it was not well targeted. In the years between the release of the original Nintendo Entertainment System and GameCube's debut, the market shifted toward older audiences with less toy-like tastes. When, in 2001, Nintendo unveiled the indigo box with the big black handle, Nintendo executives looked a bit like a well-meaning uncle presenting a Barbie doll to his 15-year-old niece.

GameCube seemed doomed from the start. Shortly before its release, NOA Chairman, Howard Lincoln, one-third of the legendary team that launched the NES, retired from the company. Less than two months after its release, Nintendo President, Minoru Arakawa, and Senior Vice President of marketing, Peter Main -- the other two-thirds of the team, announced plans to retire as well.

And then there was the competition. Microsoft's Xbox, with its built-in hard drive and Ethernet card, was generally acknowledged as the most powerful system. PlayStation 2, which had backwards compatibility with original PlayStation games and a huge list of exclusive titles, was viewed as the system with the best library and the most chic.

"I think it was a matter of form factor. I think it was the lack of third-party support. I think it was the way the market shifted toward an older audience," says video-games analyst, John Taylor, of Arcadia Investment Corp. "All of those things combined to hold GameCube back."

Like PlayStation 2 the year before, GameCube virtually sold out when it was released in the United States. So did Xbox. Over the next 18 months, however, PlayStation 2 and Xbox outsold GameCube in the U.S. market so that even after lowering the price of its system hardware to $99 and outselling Microsoft in 2003, GameCube did not catch up to Xbox.

"The numbers I get from NPD [The NPD Group] show Microsoft with a larger cumulative user base. Nintendo GameCube is at 6.9 million and Xbox is at 7.8," says Taylor. "Nintendo's lowering the price of GameCube to $99 spoke to the consumer, and the response surprised retailers; but most retailers are predicting a bigger year for Xbox in 2004."

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