REDMOND, Wash. – Nintendo announced a global price drop for its best-selling, hand-held video game wonder Game Boy Advance, effective February 1, 2002. In the U.S., the new suggested retail price is $79.95, representing a 20-percent decrease.
The U.S. video game industry generated a record-breaking $9.4 billion in 2001, and Game Boy Advance was responsible for more than 20 percent of total hardware units sold.
Since its release in June 2001, Game Boy Advance has sold nearly 5 million hardware units in North America. To stay ahead of the game, Nintendo will ship 23.5 million Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color units to retail outlets worldwide during its current fiscal year, ending March 2002.
“The new price point truly positions Game Boy Advance as a video game system for the mass market,” says Peter Main, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Nintendo of America Inc. “Coupled with an explosive amount of incredible software scheduled for the year, Game Boy Advance is positioned to become the best-selling video game hardware system of all time.”
This year will see the release of more than 200 games for Game Boy Advance, including Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2, launching on February 11th. Nintendo will also introduce innovative new game play formats to take advantage of the new
“The enormous success of Game Boy Advance has made publishing games for the system a clear triumph for us,” says Brian Farrell, President and CEO, THQ Inc. “With this price drop our products will now reach even more consumers.”
As the worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co. Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems. The systems include Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance and NINTENDO GAMECUBE.
Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 1.4 billion video games worldwide, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario and Donkey Kong and launching such franchises as Zelda and Pokémon.
As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere.
