UK retail giant drops ailing Gamecube from its shelves

GCN News | The shelves at Dixons have contracted! There's now not enough room for the little brightly-coloured cube. Full details within.

Electronics giant Dixons - a company which encompasses the well-known high street chains Currys and PC World have announced that they will not be stocking Nintendo's current console any more, due to a combination of poor sales and lack of space.

A leaked memo from PC World, stated: "Due to the continued poor sales on GameCube we are beginning to take our first steps to clear out the format. The decision has been made at group level and our activity will also be replicated in Currys and Dixons."

And, this afternoon, a rather jolly salesman (hiding, we don't doubt, a large 'anti-Nintendo' t-shirt underneath his shirt and tie) confirmed the decision: "GameCube hasn't sold well, so for now we're concentrating on just Xbox and PS2. It's purely about shelf space. Three consoles take up quite a lot of that."

However, it's not completely bad news if you don't happen to own a little cubic bundle of fun. See, they need to clear their stocks and are doing this in the only way they know how: across the board price reductions! And we all love those! So, if you're currently Gamecube-less, now is a good time to pop over to your nearest branch of the Dixons retail group and pick up your Gamecube-plus-game pack for the bargain price of £99. It's almost like Christmas.

On the negative side, Dixons is thought to account for nearly 20 per cent of GameCube's sales but Nintendo played down the decision earlier, saying: "Dixons represents a small share of Nintendo's business. Gamecube is available in 4,500 other stockists." However, industry insiders aren't as perky as the gaming giant - most think that this will not only directly affect Gamecube sales, but could also lead to a crushing industry-wide loss of confidence in the system.

Related Content

Metal Gear Solid on its way to Gamecube!
27 Feb, 2003 Miyamoto snipes at terrorists while standing on scaffolding! Or, alternatively, just reveals that you will soon be able to do just that. It's almost the same.

Nintendo Australia also offer free game with every new GameCube purchase.
10 Feb, 2003 Thankfully, Nintendo Australia have decided to follow in suit and give one free game out with a new purchase of a Nintendo GameCube.

Datel's Freeloader ships!
05 Feb, 2003 The oft-delayed, much doubted import-playing Freeloader disc has finally been shipped by Datel.

7 Comments

sonicwired

8 years ago

How much do Dixons sales of video games account for in the grand scheme of things? Not that much I'll bet.

I do think Nintendo should do something to combat this, like provide incentives to dixons' competiters to keep the cube or my personal favourite, withdraw all rights for Dixons to sell the GBA.

inquisitor

8 years ago

sonicwired wrote

How much do Dixons sales of video games account for in the grand scheme of things? Not that much I'll bet.

I don't think that's the issue...Reports like this only harm consumer confidence in the Nintendo brand, and in Europe they need all the help they can get...

sonicwired wrote

I do think Nintendo should do something to combat this, like provide incentives to dixons' competiters to keep the cube or my personal favourite, withdraw all rights for Dixons to sell the GBA.

European sales of the GBA itself are good but software sales are non existant (except on Nintendo first party titles)...Surely Nintendo wouldn't be so stupid as to threaten a withdrawal of a product that promotes its brand name (then again it is Nintendo we are talking about)...

mito

8 years ago

Meh, this doesn't affect me. I use Game, and my independant local gaming shop, I've never even considered buying from Dixons.

red_war_machine

8 years ago

sonicwired wrote

How much do Dixons sales of video games account for in the grand scheme of things? Not that much I'll bet.

20% of Gamecube sales.

sonicwired

8 years ago

zdnet.co.uk wrote

The high-street retailer is to cut the price of Nintendo's console - and offer a free game with every purchase - to try and boost sales
In a blow to ailing Nintendo, UK retailer Dixons on Tuesday slashed the price of the video game maker's GameCube consoles as part of a last-ditch promotion that will determine whether the product is stocked in its stores again.

Beginning this week, GameCube consoles will sell for £99 in Dixons, Currys and PC World stores, reflecting a 25 percent discount, said Hamish Thompson, a spokesman for the Dixons chain.

Thompson said the outcome of the promotion would help the retailer determine whether to continue selling the GameCube in the future. "It really depends on customer demand," he said.

The GameCube, which is battling with Microsoft's Xbox for second place in the hotly contested video game console market, has experienced a sales decline since the Christmas period ended, analysts and retailers have said.

Sony's PlayStation 2 is the overwhelming console leader in Europe, accounting for roughly 80 percent of installed base, according to various market surveys.

Nintendo can ill afford to lose a retail client such as Dixons, one of the UK's biggest sellers of video game consoles. The loss of such a high-profile UK account, the third largest video games market worldwide, would have an impact on its European console business.

In January, Nintendo said it sold 1.5 million GameCubes in Europe last year after launching in Europe last May. Market research firm ScreenDigest has forecasted Xbox would outsell GameCube in Europe by a margin of 1.9 million units to GameCube's 1.4 million units this year.

To sweeten the offer, Dixons will throw in a free game, worth about £40, and in addition will slash prices of GameCube video games.

"We think this should stimulate interest in the GameCube," Thompson said. "With three game consoles competing, all sold well in the beginning, but recently sales have favored the other two formats."

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Nintendo said the promotion was a retailer-driven initiative. "Nintendo is continuing to actively trade with Dixons," the statement read.

This paints a slightly different picture over the whole thing. They will only drop the cube if sales don't pick up, at £99 with a game the sales will pick up.