The surprise survivor of the console war has to be Nintendo's GameCube, although most who knew Nintendo and their past achievements, did expect this to happen. Now GameCube recieved its European launch amidst excitement but without the flamboyance associated with similar Microsoft events. With a considerable marketing budget of US$90.7 million, and with 500,000 units already shipped, Nintendo's European launch seems to have gone well. The Japanese console veterans announced a surprise European price cut 2 weeks before the launch, 199 euros in Europe and 129 UK pounds (US$188.60) in Britain, can now say that their console is 100 euros cheaper than its main rivals Sony's PS2 and Microsoft's XBox.
According to Nintendo in the UK alone the company had received 50,000 confirmed pre-orders and in the same country 10,000 units were sold during the first two hours following Gamecube's launch. However well sales may go Nintendo is really fighting for second place and its main rival is Microsoft's XBox rather than the PS2 simply because Sony's headstartmeans it has already sold, worldwide, 25 million units while Nintendo only 3 million. Sony released their DVD playing console at the right time capitalizing on the DVD craze which was at its peak then. Nintendo expect to sell 1 million GameCube's during the first 2 months of its release in Europe. GameCube launched in Europe with 20 game titles immediately available and a total of 50 expected by the summer.
It is extremely risky to attempt to estimate who will come out on top. Microsoft are having problems with their console but have reacted by reducing its European price and it is certain that they have the resources to withstand the economic loss of such a reduction. On the other hand the XBox is more powerful hardware wise and does offer a myriad of extra features not carried by GameCube. However, it is important to consider that Nintendo has a large, trusting fan base among gamers and most will settle for the less hardware - better price - better games promise that Nintendo are offering. The hardware is somewhat irrelevant, said, rather conveniently, David Gosen, managing director of Nintendo Europe. It's not what goes into the box that's important, it's the gaming experience that comes out of it.
Europe is a very important market for Nintendo and we are committed to making it a success, added Gosen. With European hardware and software sales accounting for 31 percent (US$7.5 billion )of global sales it is certain that the European front of the console war will be every bit as interesting as those in Japan and the US.
