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"Nikkei's
article does not comment on the launch day." -
Nikkei Net Representative |
Since the time GameCubicle published early news of Nintendo GameCube
console
numbers, the story has diverged in many directions. Conflicting
reports surrounding the North American allocation of 1,100,000 units
has caused significant confusion in the gaming media.
To our knowledge, the story originated with an article from Japanese
news publication Nikkei Net. It was later confirmed by N-Styles of
Japan and then released on GameCubicle. Famitsu was next to report
with North American sites such as GamerLog repeating the news Monday
morning. In the late afternoon, sites IGN Cube and GameSpot
published their official (contradictory) accounts of this story. An
impressive number of gaming publications followed suit - each
reporting one side or the other of the story.
Citing reliable retail sources, IGN confirmed "Americans will
receive some 1.1 million consoles during the month of
November." The well respected site continued, "Note that
this does not mean 1.1 million GameCubes will be available for
launch, but rather over the course of the entire month of
November." At the same time, GameSpot announced, "
Definitive Clarification
To find some definite clarification, GameCubicle went directly to
the first known source of the numbers - Nikkei Net. According to an
English-speaking representative for the publication, the article in
question intended to convey the message of "1.1 million
units in November." The representative continued,
"[the article] does not mention the launch day
or how many units will be available on the launch day." Further
clarifying that the 1.1 million units is not a launch number.
It was stressed that the issue will not be resolved until Nintendo
releases official comments. Considering the number of sites
reporting 1.1 million GameCubes at North American launch since
Monday... the lack of official comment from NOA may well suggest
that Nintendo has 1.1 up their sleve. At the time of this report,
information requests to Nintendo have gone unanswered.
GameCube Numbers
Nintendo estimates international sales will total 4,000,000 by March
2002. To quote gaming analyst Lisa Spicer, "They can easily
sell a lot more… but it's probably production capacity that led to
that forecast" - commenting on earlier estimates of the same
number. Pending an official
announcement from Nintendo of America, GameCubicle is standing by
the following numbers and dates.
Japan:
500,000: Japanese Launch (September 14)
900,000: Additional Units in 2001 (1.4m Total) |
North America:
1,100,000: North America in November (not 5th)
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Conflicting Reports
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CNET's
GameSpot (7/30)
Nintendo Company Limited has announced that
it will ship 1.1 million units for the November 5 North American
launch of the GameCube. Meanwhile, Japan will receive 500,000
GameCube units for its September 14 launch. Nintendo plans to ship a
total of 900,000 units in the Japanese territory by the end of the
year. Purple will be the only color of choice for the Japanese
launch, though other color schemes will eventually be released.
There has been no word on the color availability in North America,
but industry sources will have us believe that NOA will follow
Japan's lead and ship purple GameCubes at launch. The company plans
to ship 4 million units worldwide by March 2002. read
IGN Cube (7/31 Update)
Nintendo today announced that would deliver an initial
shipment of 500,000 units to retailers in Japan at system launch on
September 14. The company plans to ship 1.4 million GCN units to the
homeland by the end of the year. Nintendo also stated that it would
release 1.1 million GameCube units in the US in time for the holiday
shopping season. The firm did not reveal how many consoles would be
made available at US system launch November 5, but retail sources
have indicated to IGNcube that the number could be as many as
800,000 pieces of hardware. read
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August
01, 2001 |
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Rick - Editor in
Chief, GameCubicle |
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