Nintendo denies Cube axing

By Robert Purchese Published 23 February, 2007

Global production is still going.

Nintendo UK has confirmed to Eurogamer this morning that it hasn't stopped production of GameCube hardware and software, and that globally it still supports the console.

"I can confirm that globally, Nintendo is still continuing production of GameCube hardware and GameCube software," a spokesperson for Nintendo UK told us.

The game-giant was speaking in the aftermath of recent comments made by Nintendo America boss Perrin Kaplan, who said the company wasn't producing any more GameCube units or first party games for the platform.

It's good news to us, then, but we can't hold off the ominous feeling that the purple box will be outed probably sooner rather than later.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tomo #1 5 years ago

    /confused

  • jonsaan #2 5 years ago

    "I can confirm that globally, Nintendo is still continuing production of GameCube hardware and GameCube software,"

    Even though nobody actually sells the software.

  • Mr_Bogus #3 5 years ago

    Nintendo : 1
    Perrin : 0

  • mkreku #4 5 years ago

    Hmm.. Well, this is the one bit that Sony does right: support their old consoles for years and years after the successor has arrived. I still feel like there's lots of life left in my Playstation 2 at the moment. Okami, God of War 2, Final Fantasy XII, a new Singstar on the way, Mercenaries 2 announced yesterday..

    And it's the chubby Playstation 2 from 2003 too!

  • jonsaan #5 5 years ago

    I agree with you Mkreku. That is why Sony pissed all over Nintendo in that generation.

    Given the current dearth of Wii games it looks like the same old story for Ninty this generation.

  • Blerk #6 5 years ago

    "I can confirm that globally, Nintendo is still continuing production of GameCube hardware and GameCube software," a spokesperson for Nintendo UK told us.

    "Why only last December, we produced and shipped fourteen copies of the Cube version of Zelda across Europe in a cynical attempt to force all the fans to buy our new console!", he didn't add.

  • #7 5 years ago

    They're just meaningless words from Nintendo. They live in in their own delusional world. They are idiots.

  • X201 #8 5 years ago

    I still want Resi 4 re-issuing

  • brokenkey #9 5 years ago

    How the world turns. With Gamecube, it was quite obvious that the EU management team were kept completely in the dark.

    What with this and the "its not region locked" fiasco, it looks like Perrin works for a different company!

  • Aretak #10 5 years ago

    I still want a Ferrari.

  • Artemis_Matsas #11 5 years ago

    mkreku, jonsaan +1

    Sony did a great job supporting the PS2.

    MS completely ditched the Xbox, and the poor Gamecube died without realizing it's true potential.

  • playgen #12 5 years ago

    "Nintendo is still continuing production of GameCube hardware and GameCube software"

    Ok then, what games are coming out for it?
    They couldnt even be bothered to make a decent amount of copies of Zelda Twilight Princess despite the obvious continued demand for it. So if their not interested in producing a game thats already finished and guaranteed to sell, what are the chances of anythig else being released now - not a lot.
    Edited by 1 at 23/02/07 @ 10:00

  • Talha #13 5 years ago

    Continuing production? Well, exciting.

    The question is: for whom?

  • Eighthours #14 5 years ago

    Hmmm... who to believe:

    The Vice-President of Nintendo's Stateside operation.

    Or Nintendo UK. You know, the people who honestly didn't know anything about the DS Lite 2 days before it was announced (remember the interview?). Those guys.

    I WONDER.
    Edited by 1 at 23/02/07 @ 10:05

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #15 5 years ago

    It's Nintendo UK saying this. They've probably just not been told yet.

    I suspect Perrin is a damn sight closer to the cutting edge.



    It's just occurred to me that the two people at the top of Nintendo of America are called Reggie and Perrin. Now's the time to make a joke about them selling 'grot' I suppose.

    link for those too young to know

  • ming #16 5 years ago

    Shouldn't that be:

    Nintendo: 1
    Nintendo: 0

  • brooza #17 5 years ago

    But why?

  • Laserbream #18 5 years ago

    Erm: [link url=http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15301&pa ge=4
    ]http://bi z.gamedaily.com/industry/featur...[/link]

    Nintendo seem to have become as schizo as Microsoft.

  • Weezer #19 5 years ago

    "I can confirm that globally, Nintendo still doesn't know its arse from its elbow. We have arse consultants in the US and elbow specialists in Europe trying to meet up as we speak."

    "Although they forgot to arrange a location."

    "And a date."

  • SBfistfun #20 5 years ago

    Does it matter anyway? The cube has been dead that long who cares?

  • Garulon #21 5 years ago

    Why does anyone listen to anything Perry Kaplin ever says ever? I've never known a senior executive with a hit rate lower than a GAME employee.

  • Killerbee #22 5 years ago

    As nice as it'd be to see support for the Cube continue, I just don't think there's much point. The PS2 still has a massive user base and will shift games in large quantities. The same hasn't been true of the Cube for a while now, so it makes sense for Nintendo and any third party publishers to shift development onto the Wii. And particularly given that there isn't nearly the same level of effort involved going from Cube to Wii as there is from PS2 to PS3 or Xbox to 360, it's surely a no brainer.

    I've noticed a lot of game stores seem to be marking up Cube games as "Wii compatible" so maybe we could see dual-labelled boxes "Wii/Gamecube" with a Gamecube disk inside - how hard would it be to build Wii Classic Controller compatibility into a Cube title? Presumably it's just a matter of button mapping?

  • dominalien #23 5 years ago

    "I can confirm that globally, Nintendo still doesn't know its arse from its elbow. We have arse consultants in the US and elbow specialists in Europe trying to meet up as we speak."

    "Although they forgot to arrange a location."

    "And a date."

    Apart from which, try to touch your arse with your elbow.

  • in5ane #24 5 years ago

    They still have an official GCN page: http://www.ninten do.com/channel/gcn so someone somewhere within the vast Nintendo corporation remembers their old dead console.

    But Nintendo USA this, Nintendo UK that... they're both going to be bitch slapped by the real Nintendo, based in Japan, and the only people who really know what's going on, but nobody understands because they speak Japanese. If you tap 'cube' into an online Japanese-English translator and back again, it outputs 'sugar'. Someone in a transatlantic meeting obviously asked what how many sugars the Nintendo boss wanted, and he replied none.

  • chupachups #25 5 years ago

    "this is the one bit that Sony does right: support their old consoles for years and years after the successor has arrived"

    Not any more...

    [link url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=23003
    ]    http://ww w.gamesindustry.biz/content_pag...[/link]

    ""Rather than concentrate on PS2 backwards compatibility, in the future, company resources will be increasingly focused on developing new games and entertainment features exclusively for PS3," said David Reeves, president of SCEE."

  • kangarootoo #26 5 years ago

    @chupachups

    The point is that PS2 games will still be getting released for a fair while yet. The PS3 bc issue is not really the same thing.

  • Royal Fool #27 5 years ago

    Kaplan keeps making seriously bad PR mistakes during interviews. Nintendo should consider keeping her out of the spotlight...

  • pretence #28 5 years ago

    "I can confirm that globally, Nintendo is still continuing production of GameCube hardware and GameCube software,"

    He added "We are just putting all finished product in boxes marked Wii instead..."

  • HonestJoe #29 5 years ago

    The Cube isn't dead, it's just become the Wii.

  • Penguinzoot #30 5 years ago

    It's just occurred to me that the two people at the top of Nintendo of America are called Reggie and Perrin.

    Excellent Mentalist(air) - LMAO at that one!

  • Nippledoctor #31 5 years ago

    Wiicube games?

    I guess there is still a market for third-world countries, Africa, some part of Asia, some remote and obscure locations still inhabited by giant dinosaurs and Indigenous creatures!

    Still trying to get Legend of Zelda for my cube though, Any hint?
    Edited by 1 at 23/02/07 @ 13:30

  • chupachups #32 5 years ago

    "The point is that PS2 games will still be getting released for a fair while yet. The PS3 bc issue is not really the same thing."

    True, but that's not really Sony choosing to do that. Anyone can support a console if it has had over 60% market share for many years because it's bound to have people buying games for it for years after its been replaced. The GameCube sold so badly that many shops simply refused to sell it any more even before its replacement was announced, whereas they all still sell PS2s and probably will do years after the PS3 launches.

    If the PS3 sells as badly as the GameCube, you can expect it to die a similarly early death. It's not that Sony would choose to dump it, it's simply not possible to keep a console alive when shops won't stock it or its games any more.
    Edited by 1 at 23/02/07 @ 13:33

  • Horse #33 5 years ago

    "the purple box will be outed probably sooner rather than later"

    O_o

    Outed as what? As liking other boy consoles?

  • Freek #34 5 years ago

    Hmm.. Well, this is the one bit that Sony does right: support their old consoles for years and years after the successor has arrived. I still feel like there's lots of life left in my Playstation 2 at the moment. Okami, God of War 2, Final Fantasy XII, a new Singstar on the way, Mercenaries 2 announced yesterday..

    And it's the chubby Playstation 2 from 2003 too!

    Left over titles released last year in the rest of the world. Just GoW2 is a big new release for the PS2, after that there's barely anything.
    Unless you're happy playing the lesser version of Merc 2.
    After a new console is released the old one gets rebranded as a kids/non gamer machine. We saw it with the PSone and the PStwo is going the same way.
    Good for Sony, and it fits with their 10 year plan for their consoles. But for gamers looking for big titles and serious releases, they're going to have to switch to Next Gen sooner rather then later.
    Which is a shame because there really is still allot of life left in the NCG/PS2/Xbox.
    The industry always switches over just at the moment the developers can really produce some kick ass titles for the machines on the market, never do we get a really nice run out of them.

  • Genji #35 5 years ago

    "Why? For what possible reason could they still be doing this? The Gamecube seems to be turning into the DC, as it simply won't die."

    Well, it's not turning into the DC in that games still get released for the DC. They're mostly Japan-only schmups and dating games, but it's a whole lot more than the GC.