Nintendo of America told Reuters Monday the GameCube is in short supply.
In August of 2003, Nintendo halted GameCube production in order to clear their inventory of unsold consoles. At the end of September, Nintendo of America lowered the price of its GameCube console from $149 to an MSRP of $99.99. Due to the increased demand, production was continued in early October.
Since then, Nintendo has had trouble getting production output to a level that would replenish empty shelves.
"Store shelves are just running very dry," Nintendo spokeswoman Perrin Kaplan told Reuters. "I'd say about 50 percent of our stores are out."
Kaplan said January hardware sales were up 60 percent year-over-year, while January software sales were up 101 percent.
"We're getting as much inventory as we can from other territories and making sure that Japan has production ramped at maximum to feed the need," Kaplan said.
Nintendo of America has several high-profile games scheduled for release in the next few months including: Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution (March 2), Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (March 9), Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (March 16), and Pokemon Colosseum (March 22). These will likely contribute to the continued GameCube console shortage.