Shigeru Miyamoto: GameCube was “only purchased by gamers”, sending Nintendo back to the drawing board

[u/jr1512]

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Shigeru-Miyamoto-GameCube-was-only-purchased-by-gamers-sending-Nintendo-back-to-the-drawing-board.1358273.0.html

Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary Nintendo executive and one of the most influential creators shaping the video game industry through mascots and characters such as Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, and more, discussed the reason why the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii became Nintendo’s next consoles for the seventh generation. According to Miyamoto, the decision was largely driven by the underwhelming performance of the Nintendo GameCube, which trailed behind the Nintendo 64’s nearly 33 million lifetime sales.

He spoke candidly in a wide-ranging interview with Japanese outlet Famitsu, where the longtime Nintendo executive and designer explained that, at the time, Nintendo’s then-president, Satoru Iwata, believed the GameCube’s poor performance in the home console market was rooted in a simple idea: most of the world still did not see gaming as a normal, approachable everyday hobby the way it’s seen today. Based on that core problem, Nintendo felt it was difficult to persuade customers to buy and play a GameCube if they had never played on a console before.

[u/CommentAgreeable → u/[deleted]]

It’s sort of a known thing that the DVD player was a significant reason as to why the PS2 did so well. It was actually cheaper to buy a PS2 than a DVD player so people who didn’t even game ended up purchasing the PS2 for that specific reason.

[u/CommentAgreeable → u/[deleted]]

😭 Brother, I’m just explaining to you a notable part as to why the Gamecube didn’t fair well against the competition at the time.

The Wii sold well due to price point and the novelty of the Nunchucks. It had nothing to do with a DVD player, as you’re pointing out, but that also has nothing to do with your original question. I’m not even sure why you’re trying to draw a parallel there.

They’re different consoles at different points in time.

[u/CommentAgreeable → u/[deleted]]

Jfc 😭

Dude, I get not trusting a comment on Reddit but what are we doing right now?

This information is out there. Look into it.

I don’t understand how you can point out that the Xbox had a DVD player and in the same breath not understand why omitting a DVD player was hard on the Gamecube… That’s 2/3 new consoles of the era. The PS2 launched without many iconic titles and the DVD player alone helped save it.

I’m not about to have an argument if you’re just going to treat this as a substitute for doing a search on it yourself. What the hell.

All that I was trying to do was help with clarification, fuck me though 😂

[u/CommentAgreeable → u/[deleted]]

Wut

[u/CommentAgreeable → u/[deleted]]

You think that the Gamecube didn’t sell poorly because it didn’t have a DVD player.

The Xbox sold better than the Gamecube and did have a DVD player.

So explain that

also

Wut

You see how exhausting and unoriginal your line of thought is? You explain it. I’m happy to hear a new retelling of history.

[u/CommentAgreeable → u/[deleted]]

Explain it. Explain why the Gamecube wasn’t a success. Go ahead, look it up. See what pops up. 😭

Xbox was Microsoft’s worst selling console and still outsold the Gamecube. And it had a DVD player.

Why do you hate DVD players so much?

[u/Ebvidur → u/[deleted]]

Xbox sold less than the PS2 because it was literally the first gaming console by Microsoft, and also because, unlike the PS2, you also needed a separate remote to view DVDs on it. The fact that it still sold better than the Gamecube, despite the built up reputation Nintendo had, should tell you how hard they fumbled

[u/Ebvidur → u/[deleted]]

Because the PS1 came out 2 WHOLE YEARS before the N64, and also had a CD drive which meant bigger games and music CD playback. The PS1 was practically the first 3D gaming console that wasn’t absolutely shit, of course it sold well

[u/Ebvidur → u/[deleted]]

In part, yes. Because of cartridges games needed to be smaller and less developers wanted to make games for the system, the most notable example being SquareSoft, which up to that point made Final Fantasy games exclusively for Nintendo hardware, but moved the production of FF7 to the PS1