Support NeoGAF

[scorcho]

 

[cvxfreak]

This is just your district right and not the entire chain of GameStops?

 

[sonycowboy]

Clearly only for one district as those numbers are too small to be the entire chain.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Wow, I would say that's very similar (ratio) to the one I fill in at. It's interesting to actually see what people buy who just play games rather than follow tons of media about them, talk on boards, etc. Things that shocked me (and don't) at GS....

-yes, they really take home those games they tell you are new! I knew it you bastards!

-It's worse than I thought when it comes to PS2 reliability. Yes, your average PS2 owner is rougher on the machine than the collector and there are a ton of them out there...but it's insane how many customers return them or complain about mechanical errors. I knew they were unreliable but it completely blows away the returns we get for xbox/gc.

-The GBA (and whatever handheld comes next) are fast becoming the only relevant Nintendo gaming product. There is virtually no interest in the GC in our store beyond the occasional mom who comes in with a pack of children. Our manager wishes they would just quit so we could use the section for better selling items. It's a huge store (one of the largest in the region money-wise) and our store room for used Cubes is ridiculous. Meanwhile, the GBA (even money grubbing collector edition games) sell very briskly and N64 console sales are rising, haha.

 

[thorns]

Assuming deviation between different stores and chains (eb, best buy etc.) is low I would expect the overall sales to have a similar ratio..

Going by the 260,000 Ps2 s sold in may estimate:
xbox would be 160,000 and gc would be around 50,000.. I would expect xbox & gc to do better than that though..

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Our Xbox sales would be higher if they had more HaloBoxen. They even have ads up everywhere for it, but no LE boxes. People constantly ask for them.

 

[Baron Aloha]

-The GBA (and whatever handheld comes next) are fast becoming the only relevant Nintendo gaming product. There is virtually no interest in the GC in our store beyond the occasional mom who comes in with a pack of children. Our manager wishes they would just quit so we could use the section for better selling items. It's a huge store (one of the largest in the region money-wise) and our store room for used Cubes is ridiculous. Meanwhile, the GBA (even money grubbing collector edition games) sell very briskly and N64 console sales are rising, haha.

Given the fact that every Gamestop/EB type store I've ever been in has had a piss poor Gamecube section since it's launch it doesn't surprise me that it doesn't sell. It's kinda hard to sell a product that's tucked away in a small corner towards the back of the store. The Gamecube was relagated to 'red headed-step child' status almost from day one and when people ask for opinions it's always been PS2 this or Xbox that. I've even seen employees recommend the Xbox as a better system for kids games over the Gamecube.

Your manager's comment is funny. I'm not the least bit surprised to hear it. Someone should tell him that wishing for something to go away isn't going to help it sell better. He should try to actually push the product.

I could go into my local GS or EB and I'd be lucky to see a selection of say, 10-15 titles (new). The pre-owned stuff is basically more of the same with some crap thrown in. If I walk into any Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Toys R Us, etc the Gamecube selection is always better. Heck, I just found a store recently that has something like 100+ GC games for sale (new/sealed) including some Player's Choice games in the non-PC boxes (picked up the 007 games) and the difference between that store and the EB a few stores down was freaking night and day!!

 

[Musashi Wins!]

He stocks plenty of new GC material, even harder to find titles like Cubivore for some reason. You seem to believe that the GC's continuing failure is due more to store's having some bias against it rather than a lack of demand and competitive software. It's just not that popular a platform right now in the US outside of some children sales.

I asked my manager about his personal feelings about the system and his outrage has a lot more to do with him having to meet certain sales quotas, etc. and wasting shelf space on a diminishing product. He seemed to have played a fair number of the larger titles, we talked about Metroid (positively) for a little bit.

When it comes to console sales and the huge crowds the store draws right now, Nintendo has no one to blame but themselves. Their GBA is proudly displayed and sells quite easily on it's own. And frankly, it's easier to recommend it over the GC because it's a more interesting product.