According to reports in industry trade papers MCV and CTW, and from talks that we've had with some retailers, it would appear that there could be some retailers getting a bit upset by the "low price" of the Gamecube in the UK.
The problem stems from Nintendo Europe giving the launch price in euros, and then it being converted to £149, which is less than the approximate conversion which works out at around £155.
A number of larger retailers are reported to have said they will not stock the machine if they are forced to sell it at £149 - presumably they feel hard done by, having to sell the machine at about £6 less than stores in mainland Europe, and also want to make more of a profit.
Similar problems happened at the launch of the Game Boy Advance, where a number of retailers charged up to £10 more than was expected. However, it isn't known if the 249 Euros includes the equivalent of VAT, in which case gamers in the UK could well see the machine retailing for anything up to £179, which was the high end of what we predicted in our Gamecube May 3rd launch and 249 euros - official! report, last week.
Reports suggest that until some of the larger name retailers announce their price point, that others will hold off, not wanting to either charge too much and be left with stock, or under charge and loose out on a tidy profit. We reported yesterday that Amazon are listing the Purple and Black consoles, at £149.99, which would point to Amazon setting the price at which other retailers will have to achieve.
As soon as we find out more about what's going on, and if retailers are serious about not stocking the console due to it's low price, we'll let you know.
Related articles: UK Gamecube pre orders start
Euro Gamecube - full launch line up and prices
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