Nintendo lost the war in Europe

Retr0gamer · 09-12-2002 4:27pm #1

Well it looks like the PS2 will won't be knocked from the top spot for a while but what about the battle for second place.

I have to hand it to microsofts marketing in Europe at the moment. Their adverts (which actually show videos of games!) is very good and the bundle deal is quite tempting. It's amazing how they are managing to pick up the sales of a console that should have failed and has only two truly great games.

Nintendo seem to be doing well in the resyt of the world with the release of Metroid Prime. But it's a different story in Europe. Without the release of Metroid Prime Nintendos only big game out in the Xmas season is Mario Sunshine. There also aren't any decent deals for the console. Without Metroid I believe that Nintendo will find it hard to get GC sales to pick up again. It looks like they lost out this christmas which is a shame since they had great sales momentum the last few months.

Also the 5 month wait for Metroid Prime is up there with the Squaresoft release date ridiculousness. At least there is quite a big likelihood of a great Pal conversion.

Giblet · 09-12-2002 4:42pm

What war, I didn't know there was a war. Surely Nintendo can't finance military action on other countries!
Oh wait......

To be honest, I couldn't care less how a console sells, as long as its good, I'll buy it.

festivala · 09-12-2002 5:42pm

Wasn't that Germany who lost the war?

Look, people maintained all through the last 'generation' that nontendo were the losers of that 'battle' and so on but looking bak the N64 was excellent - with excellent software.

And Nintendo made plenty of money out of it. They are the most profitable games publisher in the world, you know.

Do you honestly believe that the same-old sneakers and shooters and fighters will sell indefinitely? Nintendo have the will to innovate on their side. Microsoft don't, at least as far as software goes. Nintendo will always have a market for their games.

Lex_Diamonds · 10-12-2002 2:13am

Microsoft's Bottomless Pockets(tm) are the sole reason why the X-Box is surviving. Nintendo couldn't afford to put out the package deals that Microsoft are putting out.

BLITZ_Molloy · 10-12-2002 10:26am

Nintendo have already made it clear on several occasions they don't see it as a war. They have their own little market and they are going to stick to that.

Even if they are selling less consoles than Microsoft they are making alot more money.

tHE vAGGABOND · 10-12-2002 10:31am

from the figures I saw last night it seems everyone in europe either bought a PS2 or a handfull of PS2 games last week

so it seems PS2 0wns the other 2

BLITZ_Molloy · 10-12-2002 10:49am

To be honest I don't see the reason to rush out and buy a Cube this Christmas(unless its a US one). I'm going to wait till next year or the next price cut. Then I'll be able to get a ma chine with Zelda and FZero and maybe pick up Monkey Ball on the cheap.

DannyD · 10-12-2002 12:29pm

Based on week-to-week sales since launch, Xbox represents 49% of the next generation console market in the United Kingdom (data from ChartTrack, April 29, 2002), 46% in France and 55% in Germany (data from GfK, May 7, 2002).

theciscokid · 10-12-2002 12:55pm

Originally posted by DannyD
Based on week-to-week sales since launch, Xbox represents 49% of the next generation console market in the United Kingdom (data from ChartTrack, April 29, 2002), 46% in France and 55% in Germany (data from GfK, May 7, 2002).

am i the only reading this? bulls##it

Nintendo have already made it clear on several occasions they don't see it as a war. They have their own little market and they are going to stick to that.

thats exactly their philosophy , they don't compete (well they do ) but in a way they have thier loyal fans and they are quite happy with that , every year more and more gamers realise that nintendo games are the best bar none ~ they just try and keep building up their in house titles

from the figures I saw last night it seems everyone in europe either bought a PS2 or a handfull of PS2 games last week

the thing i can't understand is the amount they sell?

i mean everyone in japan must have two at least, the sales over there each week , they must buy one in case one catches fire or something

festivala · 10-12-2002 10:03pm

Originally posted by DannyD
Based on week-to-week sales since launch, Xbox represents 49% of the next generation console market in the United Kingdom (data from ChartTrack, April 29, 2002), 46% in France and 55% in Germany (data from GfK, May 7, 2002).

Yeah, in a week where they dropped the console price AGAIN and bundled a load of free games with the console, including the two biggest games for it.

That really changed the figures as the stood since March.

Wonder how long it will continue?

Shinji · 10-12-2002 10:20pm

Yeah, those figures are totally misleading.

This weeks figures have the PS2 selling over 100,000 units, Xbox selling about 27,000, GameCube selling around 11,000.

Xbox has a lead of around 50,000 on the Cube in the UK. Cube still leads in Europe as a wholre.

The Cube has flopped this Christmas, and it's Nintendo Europe's fault - they're completely incompetent and utterly unaware of the competition they face, apparently. Whether they see it as a war or not, the fact is that Xbox and PS2 are hurting their sales, even in their traditional fanbase, because they utterly failed to deliver the software they'd promised.

That said, Metroid Prime, Zelda and so on will keep for a while I guess, and the Cube will have its own "mini-Christmas" sales wise in March/April.

Ryo Hazuki · 10-12-2002 10:27pm

When did this war start? Is Iraq Involved?

Doodee · 11-12-2002 3:24pm

Just to point out, you say that there are only 2 great games with the black box, but having played monkey balls, Mario Sunshine at the ects and the majourity of other games that are with It, I think the cube is in the same water.

both conole have smashing games that shall be released next year but when u think about it thats when both consoles will be out for a year, and sure didnt the ps2 have that + more time over the other two to mature (I know i keep saying that to every1)

there is definitly no war, bth microsoft and ninty know they cant catch Sony, and they also know that they wont be able to beat each other, I for one jut want great games from both companies.

Superfurry · 11-12-2002 4:21pm

Microsoft at least seem to care whether they do well in Europe or not, Nintendo on the other hand are shooting themselves in the foot at every given chance. Their Christmas line-up is non-existant, the wait for Metroid (March at the earliest) is hardly going to do them any favours and their reluctance to release such gems as Animal Crossing here doesn't really give me any incentive to buy a Gamecube.

Personally, I hope the Gamecube is a flop and Nintendo follow Sega by going multi-format. At least that way I wouldn't have to buy a new console just so I can play Miyamoto's games.

Shinji · 11-12-2002 6:06pm

Personally, I hope the Gamecube is a flop and Nintendo follow Sega by going multi-format.

This isn't going to happen. Right now, the Cube is doing better than the N64 was at the same point in its life cycle, by a significant margin.

Nintendo's entire business model is focused on making games for their own hardware. They aren't going to ditch that model any time soon - especially not since it's still working very nicely for them.

Corben Dallas · 13-12-2002 6:38pm

"Based on week-to-week sales since launch, Xbox represents 49% of the next generation console market in the United Kingdom (data from ChartTrack, April 29, 2002), 46% in France and 55% in Germany (data from GfK, May 7, 2002)."

this is a pipe dream first off, The xbox putting in equal numbers as PS2 LOL!

Much as i really like the Zedla and Mario series i'm not going to buy a GC to play em. However unlikely i would really like to play Mario on Sony's platfrom (some day). Remember not so long ago ppl would have laughed if u said u could play Sonic on anything other than a Sega machine.

The xbox is doing ok in the US (NTCS) ,scrapping along in Euroland and OZ (PAL) and is Dead and Buried in Japan. But then commercail reality does apply to the box as Bill Gates is bankrollin it with his bottomless pockets
* shakes fist @ Bill gates and Mircoshaft *

Nintendo lost the war in Europe

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