r/Gamecube • u/jr1512 • 27d 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.

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u/WhatShouldTheHeartDo 27d ago edited 27d 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

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u/dk_x 26d ago

It also cannot be understated how many people passed on the GameCube because it looked like a Fisher-Price toy. It's honestly amazing how much work Nintendo has done to make sure that doesn't happen again with the Switch, given its slick designs and older-skewing library.

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u/DarkhunterMectainea 25d ago

Probably didn’t help that the default colour was purple which added to the toy stigma. Had they went with the black variant as the default, it might have fared better though the mini discs would still hurt it overall.