GameCube on track for FY2003 sales target - Iwata

Nintendo is on target to meet its sales estimate for the GameCube in March 2004 following a strong Christmas period in all major territories, with company president Satoru Iwata restating his confidence in the six million unit figure.

The company has been helped significantly towards its target by recent price cuts, which boosted sales of the console significantly and allowed it to overtake Microsoft's Xbox in the run up to Christmas in Europe and the USA.

Obviously this will have reduced Nintendo's profit margins somewhat - and Iwata himself admitted that "it hasn't been easy, but we're still on target" in an interview with Japanese news provider Jiji Press - but with the company's main profit focus on software, dropping its margins on hardware to boost installed base is a wise move.

Nintendo's target of 6 million units in the year ended March 2004 was originally stated by Iwata at the beginning of August last year, and was considered very optimistic by some analysts at the time. The company has made no indication as yet as to its expectations for the console in the 2004 fiscal year, which runs through to March 2005.