Future GC console price drops??

M

maiku

CAGiversary!
Any guesses on what/when the next GC price drop will be?

I've been picking up cheap GC games here and there for the past few months. The problem is I still don't have a GC, and after getting a $15 Dreamcast at EB, I can't bring myself to pay $99 for one. The local Tower has a couple in beat-up boxes for $70. Will black Friday bring better deals?
 
I Doubt you will see price drops until E3 nintendo will be too pushing the DS to worry about dropping the gamecube.


I think u will see

XBOX and PS2 129.99 and GAMECUBE 89.99 in May
 
The GC would have to drop more than $10, I'm thinking it will be $80 after they start giving out info for the N5.

Stop being cheap and buy a system. It's rather dumb you are buying games and don't have a system.
 
[quote name='David85']
Stop being cheap and buy a system. It's rather dumb you are.....[/quote]

yeah.... this site and its forum are no place to be cheap. :roll:
 
[quote name='joystickz'][quote name='David85']
Stop being cheap and buy a system. It's rather dumb you are.....[/quote]

yeah.... this site and its forum are no place to be cheap. :roll:[/quote]

There's a huge difference between being cheap and being dumb.
 
I'm not sure if there really needs to be a price drop. $99 is pretty cheap as it is (remember, it launched at $200). If it does drop, it won't be too drastic; $70 at the lowest, I think.
 
[quote name='David85']The GC would have to drop more than $10, I'm thinking it will be $80 after they start giving out info for the N5.

Stop being cheap and buy a system. It's rather dumb you are buying games and don't have a system.[/quote]

I've got more than enough non-GC games to keep me busy. And we're talking about 4 games, but thanks for the input guys. :roll:
 
There will be deals on black friday sure, but i would expect retailers to start eliminating stock after Xmas. Besides a few titles GC has a weak lineup next year that it cannot support without another major pricedrop.
 
[quote name='Medium_Pimpin']There will be deals on black friday sure, but i would expect retailers to start eliminating stock after Xmas. Besides a few titles GC has a weak lineup next year that it cannot support without another major pricedrop.[/quote]

Don't forget about the new Zelda game that comes out next year. That game alone may drive Cube sales.
 
[quote name='Medium_Pimpin']There will be deals on black friday sure, but i would expect retailers to start eliminating stock after Xmas. Besides a few titles GC has a weak lineup next year that it cannot support without another major pricedrop.[/quote]

That doesn't really follow. The existing installed base has been enough to produce no fewer than six first and second party million+ selling titles. While third party publishing is largely a lost cause on the GC it remains quite capable of generating profits from Nintendo franchises. Unless the cost of manufacturing the GC drops enough to allow a retail price cut at break even for Nintendo, don't expect to see much movement until the system is considered dead and a replacement imminent. Once you've gotten down to $99 there isn't much reason to go lower while the product remain your company's primary console. I'd expect to see more bundle deals like the current Metroid package before a price drop any month soon.
 
It's better to try and find a good sale rather than waiting for a pricce drop. I got mine for $70 at Target when they were doing a nation wide clearance of the Indigo GameCube.

Also, the bundle with Metroid Prime is a pretty good deal that might be your best choice.
 
[quote name='greendj27']Don't forget about the new Zelda game that comes out next year. That game alone may drive Cube sales.[/quote]

IF that game comes out for GCN.

I'd just go pick up the Metroid bundle (assuming you don't have Metroid yet) and start playing now. What's another $10 or $20 for a chance to play all those games you have right now.
 
[quote name='epobirs'][quote name='Medium_Pimpin']There will be deals on black friday sure, but i would expect retailers to start eliminating stock after Xmas. Besides a few titles GC has a weak lineup next year that it cannot support without another major pricedrop.[/quote]

That doesn't really follow. The existing installed base has been enough to produce no fewer than six first and second party million+ selling titles. While third party publishing is largely a lost cause on the GC it remains quite capable of generating profits from Nintendo franchises. Unless the cost of manufacturing the GC drops enough to allow a retail price cut at break even for Nintendo, don't expect to see much movement until the system is considered dead and a replacement imminent. Once you've gotten down to $99 there isn't much reason to go lower while the product remain your company's primary console. I'd expect to see more bundle deals like the current Metroid package before a price drop any month soon.[/quote]

Nintendo may not lower the price of the console, but to stimulate sales i would expect at least a newer AAA title bundle(or choice of title) to be released by E3 or a price drop if manufacturing costs allow. Esentially now the GC is Retailing for $80 + $20 for MP even though it only costs Nintendo a few dollars to manufacture the MP disk, it is still basically a price drop.

My Prediction: $80 Gamecube a few months after Metroid Prime 2.[/u]
 
Why is it dumb to buy games on sale for a system you intend to buy soon?
It seems dumb to wait till you get the system and then buy the games at their full price.
 
[quote name='Noodle Pirate!']Why is it dumb to buy games on sale for a system you intend to buy soon?
It seems dumb to wait till you get the system and then buy the games at their full price.[/quote]
I agree completely because I did the same thing with my Xbox, bought a shitload of games at the CC five dollar sale and a couple weeks later I got my Xbox, and had a ton of games to play on it, and it was a very smart choice, not dumb.
 
[quote name='Medium_Pimpin'][quote name='epobirs'][quote name='Medium_Pimpin']There will be deals on black friday sure, but i would expect retailers to start eliminating stock after Xmas. Besides a few titles GC has a weak lineup next year that it cannot support without another major pricedrop.[/quote]

That doesn't really follow. The existing installed base has been enough to produce no fewer than six first and second party million+ selling titles. While third party publishing is largely a lost cause on the GC it remains quite capable of generating profits from Nintendo franchises. Unless the cost of manufacturing the GC drops enough to allow a retail price cut at break even for Nintendo, don't expect to see much movement until the system is considered dead and a replacement imminent. Once you've gotten down to $99 there isn't much reason to go lower while the product remain your company's primary console. I'd expect to see more bundle deals like the current Metroid package before a price drop any month soon.[/quote]

Nintendo may not lower the price of the console, but to stimulate sales i would expect at least a newer AAA title bundle(or choice of title) to be released by E3 or a price drop if manufacturing costs allow. Esentially now the GC is Retailing for $80 + $20 for MP even though it only costs Nintendo a few dollars to manufacture the MP disk, it is still basically a price drop.

My Prediction: $80 Gamecube a few months after Metroid Prime 2.[/u][/quote]

No, the Metroid bundle is not an $80 GC plus $20 game. not from the perspective of Nintendo's accountants. There is a major difference between a price cut on hardware alone and bundling a piece of software whose actual debit effect is extremely low.

The cost of those Metroid games, manufactured in quantity, is less than a dollar per unit. While there is a hypothetical loss of a $20 retail sale, only a portion of which would have gone to Nintendo anyway (remember, the retailer needs a reason to sell this stuff), the actual entry to the debit column is mere nickels and dimes. This is a worthy sacrifice if it leads to significant growth in the potential market for all other GC software.

A price cut on hardware already sold at break-even pricing is a different story. For a $20 price drop Nintendo would be taking on a very real $20 debit on each unit that would require several pieces of software sold before that hardware start generating profits. A much more painful situation. If you have a strong first party software lineup, as Nintendo does, it makes more sense to sacrifice revenue from one member of that lineup to drive overall sales than it does to take a big negative revenue hit on the hardware.

Microsoft would have done the same thing with Halo if it weren't for the rating and their lack of equally strong first and second party titles for this generation. It wasn't for lack of trying but it just hasn't worked out as they'd have liked, with several highly anticipated title proving to be disappointments.
 
They will not be dropping the price of the GC until the new nintendo is on the shelves. If you can't spend a measly $99 for a GC that comes with a game then I guess you won't be playing games. I mean the NES cost that much! And that was about 20 years ago! $99 with Metroid is a bargain.

Now if they would just drop the price of the PS2 to $99 I might actually buy one.
 
[quote name='epobirs'][quote name='Medium_Pimpin'][quote name='epobirs'][quote name='Medium_Pimpin']There will be deals on black friday sure, but i would expect retailers to start eliminating stock after Xmas. Besides a few titles GC has a weak lineup next year that it cannot support without another major pricedrop.[/quote]

That doesn't really follow. The existing installed base has been enough to produce no fewer than six first and second party million+ selling titles. While third party publishing is largely a lost cause on the GC it remains quite capable of generating profits from Nintendo franchises. Unless the cost of manufacturing the GC drops enough to allow a retail price cut at break even for Nintendo, don't expect to see much movement until the system is considered dead and a replacement imminent. Once you've gotten down to $99 there isn't much reason to go lower while the product remain your company's primary console. I'd expect to see more bundle deals like the current Metroid package before a price drop any month soon.[/quote]

Nintendo may not lower the price of the console, but to stimulate sales i would expect at least a newer AAA title bundle(or choice of title) to be released by E3 or a price drop if manufacturing costs allow. Esentially now the GC is Retailing for $80 + $20 for MP even though it only costs Nintendo a few dollars to manufacture the MP disk, it is still basically a price drop.

My Prediction: $80 Gamecube a few months after Metroid Prime 2.[/u][/quote]

No, the Metroid bundle is not an $80 GC plus $20 game. not from the perspective of Nintendo's accountants. There is a major difference between a price cut on hardware alone and bundling a piece of software whose actual debit effect is extremely low.

The cost of those Metroid games, manufactured in quantity, is less than a dollar per unit. While there is a hypothetical loss of a $20 retail sale, only a portion of which would have gone to Nintendo anyway (remember, the retailer needs a reason to sell this stuff), the actual entry to the debit column is mere nickels and dimes. This is a worthy sacrifice if it leads to significant growth in the potential market for all other GC software.

A price cut on hardware already sold at break-even pricing is a different story. For a $20 price drop Nintendo would be taking on a very real $20 debit on each unit that would require several pieces of software sold before that hardware start generating profits. A much more painful situation. If you have a strong first party software lineup, as Nintendo does, it makes more sense to sacrifice revenue from one member of that lineup to drive overall sales than it does to take a big negative revenue hit on the hardware.

Microsoft would have done the same thing with Halo if it weren't for the rating and their lack of equally strong first and second party titles for this generation. It wasn't for lack of trying but it just hasn't worked out as they'd have liked, with several highly anticipated title proving to be disappointments.[/quote]

Would you agree that the GC will not be bundled without a game for the rest of it's console life? They must retain the level of consumer confidence and not offer less value late in the consoles life.
 
[quote name='projecteightysix'][quote name='Slimeyface']sorry for my incompetence...whats black friday?[/quote]

i think it might be a racial slur[/quote]

Um, it's the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year.
 
[quote name='projecteightysix'][quote name='Slimeyface']sorry for my incompetence...whats black friday?[/quote]

i think it might be a racial slur[/quote]

lol

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when pretty much all retailers have the best sale of the year. It's the first or second busiest shopping day of the year for retailers (can't remember if a week before Christmas is busier or not). People, including me, line up well before stores open. Bestbuy often has a line circling the building by its special opening time of 6 or 7 am. Last year, the zelda collection bundle gamecube was 79.99 at wal-mart on Black Friday, Max Payne 2 PC was 19.99 at EB (like 2 weeks after release). It's my favorite shopping day of the year. It's like a zoo out there that day- no parking, sweaty fat men running for hard drives, women fighting each other over Christmas toys, and me buying a boatload of games and dvds.

The black in black friday comes from accounting terms- accountants write profit in black ink and losses in red ink, so they mean a very profitable friday when they say black friday.
 
[quote name='Medium_Pimpin'][quote name='epobirs'][quote name='Medium_Pimpin'][quote name='epobirs'][quote name='Medium_Pimpin']There will be deals on black friday sure, but i would expect retailers to start eliminating stock after Xmas. Besides a few titles GC has a weak lineup next year that it cannot support without another major pricedrop.[/quote]

That doesn't really follow. The existing installed base has been enough to produce no fewer than six first and second party million+ selling titles. While third party publishing is largely a lost cause on the GC it remains quite capable of generating profits from Nintendo franchises. Unless the cost of manufacturing the GC drops enough to allow a retail price cut at break even for Nintendo, don't expect to see much movement until the system is considered dead and a replacement imminent. Once you've gotten down to $99 there isn't much reason to go lower while the product remain your company's primary console. I'd expect to see more bundle deals like the current Metroid package before a price drop any month soon.[/quote]

Nintendo may not lower the price of the console, but to stimulate sales i would expect at least a newer AAA title bundle(or choice of title) to be released by E3 or a price drop if manufacturing costs allow. Esentially now the GC is Retailing for $80 + $20 for MP even though it only costs Nintendo a few dollars to manufacture the MP disk, it is still basically a price drop.

My Prediction: $80 Gamecube a few months after Metroid Prime 2.[/u][/quote]

No, the Metroid bundle is not an $80 GC plus $20 game. not from the perspective of Nintendo's accountants. There is a major difference between a price cut on hardware alone and bundling a piece of software whose actual debit effect is extremely low.

The cost of those Metroid games, manufactured in quantity, is less than a dollar per unit. While there is a hypothetical loss of a $20 retail sale, only a portion of which would have gone to Nintendo anyway (remember, the retailer needs a reason to sell this stuff), the actual entry to the debit column is mere nickels and dimes. This is a worthy sacrifice if it leads to significant growth in the potential market for all other GC software.

A price cut on hardware already sold at break-even pricing is a different story. For a $20 price drop Nintendo would be taking on a very real $20 debit on each unit that would require several pieces of software sold before that hardware start generating profits. A much more painful situation. If you have a strong first party software lineup, as Nintendo does, it makes more sense to sacrifice revenue from one member of that lineup to drive overall sales than it does to take a big negative revenue hit on the hardware.

Microsoft would have done the same thing with Halo if it weren't for the rating and their lack of equally strong first and second party titles for this generation. It wasn't for lack of trying but it just hasn't worked out as they'd have liked, with several highly anticipated title proving to be disappointments.[/quote]

Would you agree that the GC will not be bundled without a game for the rest of it's console life? They must retain the level of consumer confidence and not offer less value late in the consoles life.[/quote]

Seeing as the GC has been through several bundles and periods with no bundle since the $99 price started, I'd say we'll likely see it unbundled again before a price drop. It has been continuously available without bundles all along. There are some customers, especially overbearing parents who think a game like Metroid Prime will be a bad influence on the kiddies who will request the standalone version instead. I saw such a thing happen at the local TRU a couple weeks ago. The clerk tried to suggest the bundle version would still be preferable since the game could be traded for something regarded as suitable for the child but the customer wouldn't hear of it. The clerk was nearly drooling blood from biting his tongue in attempting to restrain himself from telling the customer what he really thought.
 
[quote name='Medium_Pimpin']There will be deals on black friday sure, but i would expect retailers to start eliminating stock after Xmas. Besides a few titles GC has a weak lineup next year that it cannot support without another major pricedrop.[/quote]

The funny thing is almost all the AAA titles that were supposed to come out this year got pushed to next year. What a dumb post.
 
Did walmart have the Zelda packs for 79.99 the day after thanksgiving last year. I remember cause i was pissed that i got a new gamecube in Aug 2003


bad thing about day after thanksgiving sales is once the items gone they are gone most stores Will not price match
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ'][quote name='greendj27']Don't forget about the new Zelda game that comes out next year. That game alone may drive Cube sales.[/quote]

IF that game comes out for GCN.[/quote]

There's no 'if' about it, it was announced for the cube, and will be released next year.
 
[quote name='alongx'][quote name='SteveMcQ'][quote name='greendj27']Don't forget about the new Zelda game that comes out next year. That game alone may drive Cube sales.[/quote]

IF that game comes out for GCN.[/quote]

There's no 'if' about it, it was announced for the cube, and will be released next year.[/quote]

They can say all they want, but I'm not believing it until I see it on store shelves.

It just seems like the perfect launch game for their next console.
 
[quote name='Snake2715'][quote name='Medium_Pimpin']There will be deals on black friday sure, but i would expect retailers to start eliminating stock after Xmas. Besides a few titles GC has a weak lineup next year that it cannot support without another major pricedrop.[/quote]

The funny thing is almost all the AAA titles that were supposed to come out this year got pushed to next year. What a dumb post.[/quote]

It's not a dumb post, but an educated one. Sure resident evil and Starfox come out in the first few months of the year, but the rest of the year looks dismal for AAA titles until Zelda is released. What are the titles that you see selling well and driving in console sales?
 
Being bundled with metroid prime makes it significantly less valuable than alone.

and the new zelda will suck. just stick with wind wakr and 4swords on gcn
 
I wouldn't expect an official drop until the next Nintendo console comes out. Your best bet IMO is either

A) A store has some holidy sale where they knock $10 or so off

or

B) Some "buy console receive #### free" deal. So if it gets bundled with a game that you wanted anyway, that sort of lowers the system price. The "buy Xbox receive KOTOR free" deal is a recent example.


But I agree with most of the other people here, don't expect it to go under $100 retail until the next generation is upon us. BTW, I bought 5 cheap xbox games before I actually had the console, so I can see where you're coming from.
 
The problem is people he is being dumb. Buy games for a system he doesn't have and doesn't want for $100. It will be at least a year before another price drop and that would only be like $20. Just wait until CC or BB has a deal and buy the damn thing.
 
[quote name='David85']The problem is people he is being dumb. Buy games for a system he doesn't have and doesn't want for $100. It will be at least a year before another price drop and that would only be like $20. Just wait until CC or BB has a deal and buy the damn thing.[/quote]

A number of people have said they also buy games to play in the future. If I see Pikmin or Eternal Darkness for $5, I get it. I'm in no hurry here, I have more than enough games to play in the meantime.

And stop calling people "dumb". A lot of people have contributed intelligent opinions here without name calling. Justify your existence. Say something constructive or stay the hell off the thread.
 
If you don't want to wait/gamble at a price drop, find a way to get a discount. Usually people sell amazon gc's at 90% of value, so hypothetically that's a cube for $90 if you bought $100 worth of amazon codes. I finally caved and got the metroid bundle for $85 ater best Buy sent a 15 off 100 coupon to me, and it was one of the best purchases I've ever made.

Dave Olson
 
Analyst P.C. McNealy of American Technology Research anticipates a new GameCube bundle with "a game such as a Mario Kart and an extra controller." to be released soon. The report expects the bundle's price point to be kept at $99 "unless the PStwo comes out at $129."

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/10/05/news_6109740.html

Ok, not a price drop but GC is not worth $99 dollars anymore, which is clearly obvious. A $50 game and an extra controller puts the gamecube at a value of $30 or less retail.
 
I thought I'd already made it clear that bundled games, especially on extremely inexpensive optical media, cannot be factored at SRP of the game at release.

So, a month after the bundle is released Mario Kart:DD becomes a $30 Player's Choice title. Does the GC miraculously regain $20 of value?

Nor should you neglect that Nintendo sells the extra controllers at a good profit. A bundled unit cannot be measured at SRP in terms of its cost to Nintendo. That cost is greater than a bundled game but nothing like the retail SRP which also includes a profit margin for the retailer.

The analyst's name is P.J. McNealy. GameSpot should know this. He's been covering the console sector longer than most GameSpot employees have had pubic hair.
http://www.gartnerg2.com/bios/bio_pmcnealy.asp

Bundles are not the same thing as price drops. In fact, they are specifically a manuever to avoid a price drop. The losses associated with a bundle are temporary and can easily be rolled into tax time considerations. The important part of this is that bundles have end dates at which point the freebies stop but the price remains the same. This gives the poducts manufacturer more options than a straight price cut that is unavoidably permanent. A company could lower and raise the price of their product if they chose but it would be suicidal. It is far simpler to temporarily give away something with a perceived high value for end users but minimal cost to the company.

Of course, that high perceived value is a fleeting quality. If a bundle is successful the market tends to become flooded with the game and loses most or all of its retail value. This is one reason to keep bundles relatively brief rather than creating a 1:1 attach rate as seen in the days when new systems shipped with a bundled game.
 
[quote name='MightySlacker']If you don't want to wait/gamble at a price drop, find a way to get a discount. Usually people sell amazon gc's at 90% of value, so hypothetically that's a cube for $90 if you bought $100 worth of amazon codes. I finally caved and got the metroid bundle for $85 ater best Buy sent a 15 off 100 coupon to me, and it was one of the best purchases I've ever made.

Dave Olson[/quote]

Surprising. Most BB coupons disallowed their being applied to video game hardware purchases. They must have slipped or just weren't paying attention.
 
[quote name='epobirs']I thought I'd already made it clear that bundled games, especially on extremely inexpensive optical media, cannot be factored at SRP of the game at release.

So, a month after the bundle is released Mario Kart:DD becomes a $30 Player's Choice title. Does the GC miraculously regain $20 of value?

Nor should you neglect that Nintendo sells the extra controllers at a good profit. A bundled unit cannot be measured at SRP in terms of its cost to Nintendo. That cost is greater than a bundled game but nothing like the retail SRP which also includes a profit margin for the retailer.

The analyst's name is P.J. McNealy. GameSpot should know this. He's been covering the console sector longer than most GameSpot employees have had pubic hair.
http://www.gartnerg2.com/bios/bio_pmcnealy.asp

Bundles are not the same thing as price drops. In fact, they are specifically a manuever to avoid a price drop. The losses associated with a bundle are temporary and can easily be rolled into tax time considerations. The important part of this is that bundles have end dates at which point the freebies stop but the price remains the same. This gives the poducts manufacturer more options than a straight price cut that is unavoidably permanent. A company could lower and raise the price of their product if they chose but it would be suicidal. It is far simpler to temporarily give away something with a perceived high value for end users but minimal cost to the company.

Of course, that high perceived value is a fleeting quality. If a bundle is successful the market tends to become flooded with the game and loses most or all of its retail value. This is one reason to keep bundles relatively brief rather than creating a 1:1 attach rate as seen in the days when new systems shipped with a bundled game.[/quote]



What if the new PS2 model drops to $129? Then the gamecube is facing a price drop as indicated, with the possible bundle also.
 
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