Nintendo optimistic about Cube sales
Aiming to shift about 50m Cubes over the next three years
It's generally acknowledged that Nintendo don't need to win the console wars to make a profit on the GameCube, as strong first party game sales and cheap hardware components help them make their money back quicker than rivals like Microsoft, who lose a small fortune on every Xbox that is sold. That hasn't stopped the Japanese company from setting their sights high though, with their latest forecasts announced today suggesting that they will sell some twelve million Cubes worldwide in their current financial year. That's on top of the four million or so they sold last year. By March 2005 Nintendo expects that figure to reach somewhere in the region of fifty million, or about where the PlayStation 2 is scheduled to be at the end of this year. Whether they can reach these targets remains to be seen though. The console got off to a flying start here in Europe and has been selling quite consistently in America, but in its native Japan it's being completely obliterated by the PS2. So far this year only half a million GameCubes have been sold in Japan, despite the much anticipated release of Biohazard (or Resident Evil, to you and me). In the same period Sony have chalked up nearly two million sales, and the latest figures we've seen from Japan show the PS2 outselling the GameCube by around ten to one. No doubt the arrival of flagship titles like Mario, Zelda and Starfox will help pick things up later in the year, but it's still going to be a steep mountain to climb. Related Feature - Cube cut in Japan