Says Dean Takahashi, a games writer, when asked how important marketing is in video games (or everything for that matter): “Marketing is very important. It is the reason that Nintendo lost the last round. Nintendo had a nice and powerful system. But it made the box purple and made it seem like a toy. So it was stereotyped as a system for kids. Adults, who were the growing part of the market, stayed away from it. That doomed the GameCube.”
Couldn’t agree more. And yes, Nintendo “lost” in the sense of not having its fourth generation console meet market share expectations, despite its profits. Wii, I hope you’re listening, but I think you have thus far.
But… but… IT LOOKED SO CUTE!! Like it was manufactured by Playskool or something…(I like Playskool).
That sounds about right. Nintendo did a bad job on describing what the GameCube was and could do. Only the hardcore know that it had almost the same speeds as an Xbox. And that perception could have gone a long way in helping the GC do better that it did. Nintendo's loss on that one, I guess.
Wow, this news is so old, its not even funny.-Fank
Let's not make it seem like they didn't fail gamers, too. A bigger marketshare would've meant more games for the Cube that it ended up lacking – more games period – and a happier fanbase. A fanbase who ended up playing way too much Smash Bros Melee and Res Evil 4 past their primes. More games would equal bigger marketshare, marketshare would equal more games. You can't blame marketing for that.Marketing may've helped, but how much?
Rollin,I think you're discounting marketing too much. If Nintendo marketed the thing better, gamers wouldn't have seen so many droughts. Marketing is more than just advertising, hence the lack of it can be directly attributed to the lack of games, which you correclty state, failed gamers.
I think something like GTA 3 really helped solidify the PS2 and Halo obviously sold its fair share of Xboxes. Nintendo never had that buzz game, which would've helped sales more than any marketing strategy.And yes, there were quite a few awesome games for GameCube, but nothing matching the sales-driving caliber of GTA & Halo.
I think it's kind of shortsighted to blame it on the weak marketing. If the N64 worked with CD's instead of cartridges, I bet the piracy and popularity of the N64 would have been much higher. Why buy a console that has games which cost much more than a console that allows you to play pirated games?Same goes for GameCube, why buy a console which hardly allows people to pirate games, when you can buy a console which is out much longer and does allow you to play pirated games, and has more games to pirate.
Cube also launched in Black as well as purple (just as GBA also launched in White and Clear in addition to purple).The other problem with Cube is that it launched in Sept 2001 in Japan whereas PS2 launched in March 2000. ie A full 18 months after the market leading, 100 million selling Playstation and the then DVD-equipped PS2.Admittedly, Nintendo closed this gap somewhat in the USA (where Cube launched in Nov 2001 whereas PS2 launched in Sept 2000) but still more than a year apart and still far too late.So it was a multitude of factors including timing (which I consider to be the most important and most damaging to Nintendo in this case), marketing, lack of DVD playback, lack of online functionality.
Heh, Blake i know you're a marketing guy, but like Mis said there were too many factors that went into how everything played out to place much value in that. Eventually, Microsoft didn't come out ahead of Nin because of their marketing. You could say marketing doomed the Cube, but everything else that went wrong ensured that doom.The games you showcase for your system are marketing, so in a sense marketing is entirely at fault i guess.
Meh, personal opinion, and personal experience:Nintendo did – and at least here in germany – does a shoddy job of hyping their own machine. That it's good, every fan knows – I own one US and one EU 'cube, a phat DS, a Wii, a GBA, a GB, and a GBC and can testify to that. But Ninty needs to spice up it's services – get out the word, motivate developers and store clerks alike.Just as an example, and a morally questionable one at that IMHO, but…MS has a site where clerks can get free games and accesoires once they answer a couple of questions correctly (only shipping has to be paid). Registration is easy, the questions are pretty manageable and… curiously like typical customer questions and/or sale personnel spinwork. They earn points they can spend towards pretty much anything… this makes them quite a bit more versed in the X360 universe out of their own volition. MS doesn't kill itself by giving away product – it's kinda like a drug dealer giving away hits for free. I don't know what Sony does, I guess they have other ways to convince stores that it's a good idea to sell their stuff, but generally store clerks know about and are motivated to sell Sony and MS stuff, whereas they're hard pressed when it comes to Ninty games. Usually – and even at launch – the Nintendo corner is just that, a corner, scarcely advertized, 'off the road'. MS and Sony both sport lower game prices quite openly (In Germany we have 'pyramid' release stations with games that go for ~10 Euro) and are positioned far better. Heck,in one store near me EA occupies more space and does WAY more advertising than Nintendo. EA. It's just sad, really.Personally, I've helped sell 8 DS and 3 Wii, just by playing for myself and letting others play with my consoles. They're that good. I never suggested anything, it's kinda like 'leading by example'. Nintendo has a very solid product portfolio, but it doesn't help that they can't PR themselves out of a wet paperbag. I want the equivalent of Reggie for the EU… -_-
me again, just adding that the EA store-within-a-store consists of some X360's and PS2's with flat screens, surrounded by game displays. the Nintendo offering, by contrast, is a sole wii stand (tiny flat screen, non-interactive, wii behind pexi glass admittedly looking seksay) looping a video ad off the side of the elevator. This store, 'Hertie', sits quite firmly in the heart of munich at the end of _the_ shopping mile, gathering a nice share of walk-thru traffic of casual buyers and assorted shoppers. If I hadn't known that the Wii launched I'd never guessed that this was the newest next-gen console (PS3 comes in ~3 months). Luckily they sold all their Ninty stuff (8 consoles, I was told) in minutes, but still… the store is void of visible Nintendo merchandise besides DS, DS Lite, and their games. And even then it's only a broken down DSL and a scratched-to-h*ll one sporting NSMB. The game selection is nice, but unsorted, in stark contrast to the categorized and alphabetized Sony and MS offerings that frame it. I honestly doubt the gamecube game offering exceeds 10 games. Doesn't matter, they aren't advertised and hidden quite well. In addition to the standard displays Sony and MS have a huge bargain bin directly in front of the Wii 'demo' kiosk. Overshadowed heavily by the EA 'exhibition' directly in front. Customers that come off the elevator won't ever see any Nintendo merch if they aren't actively searching for it.This, in a word, is FAIL on behalf of Nintendo. Dump so many posters and stickers and brochures and sh*t on the stores that they don't know what to do… except display it. Teach the guys behind the counters the correct spelling and advantages of Nintendo products. Advertise, educate, give out boni for exceedingly successful stores, make them WANT to sell Nintendo merch. Help set up promotional 'expos', rent out demo kiosks and staff, godd*mn it NoE should do something, ANYthing more than taking the money and embedding their heads firmly where the sun don't shine…Plus: for the love of god revamp the NoE site to not suck and look like a kid overdosed on sugar and exploded, offer something for these stupid points they see fit to include in first-party titles. I mean, besides ring tones and desktop backgrounds.Which suck.It's really frustrating to be a Nintendo fan, some… no, all the time. They could be so much more.