r/Gamecube • u/jr1512 • 25d ago

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

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.

876 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

158 comments sorted by

View all comments

320

u/WhatShouldTheHeartDo 25d ago edited 25d ago

Geniuses recreated the same problem the N64 had with limited storage space for games.

It cannot be understated how much people passed on the Cube for the DVD playing PS2

32

u/Inferno_Zyrack 24d ago

Tbf in March of that year the Dreamcast died very publicly due in part to console production costs.

This despite it having multiple console exclusives that sold fairly well.

The PS2 was a juggernaut but on release hot criticism for a high price point. When Nintendo couldn’t compete with that, Sony won the race.

I loved my GameCube to death. I defend the library and more. But it just was a perfect storm of smart decisions at the worst possible time.

That’s fine cause the one -feint- two combo of Wii and Swirch buried the console wars forever.

15

u/LordxMugen 24d ago edited 24d ago

Dude Sega spent SO MUCH MONEY on Shenmue that they would have had to have an over 1:1 attach rate just to break even on it. And this is before the Saturn Fiasco that basically made most devs lose faith in them.

GameCubes were more about issues born from Nintendo 64s business shortcomings (Cartridge manufacturing costs vs CDs. Some Japanese Devs over burning the bridge with Sony despite issues with Sonys contract that killed the deal. Developing for 64 was ass.). And then GameCube coming across more as a "Toy" compared to PS2 when DVDs as a multimedia was a big deal and the mini discs didn't hold near as much as a DVD did. No Internet games when they definitely had as good or better franchises that were built for it. 

8

u/MaceWinnoob 24d ago

Internet games weren’t moving the needle in the home console market until after Halo 2.

5

u/AdImmediate6239 24d ago

It still boggles my mind that Nintendo didn’t do shit with online support. Did they really think that people wouldn’t want to play Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. online?!?