Table of Contents
History of Nintendo in China - iQue company
Part 4. iQue Micro, AGS-101, iDSL
All articles in the series about iQue company:
Which consoles did iQue company release?
History of Nintendo in China - iQue company
History of Nintendo in China - iQue company. Part 2. iQue SP
History of Nintendo in China - iQue company. Part 3. iQue DS
History of Nintendo in China - iQue company. Part 4. iQue Micro, AGS-101, iDSL
History of Nintendo in China – iQue company. Part 5. Company problems and iQue Wii
The end of 2004 and the whole of 2005 are remarkable because the first seventh-generation consoles began to appear: Nintendo DS, PSP, XBOX 360.
If we talk about Nintendo, in 2005, the Game Boy Micro and Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101 were released. In the history of these consoles, there is one interesting fact – Nintendo practically did not conduct any advertising campaigns to promote them. Moreover, journalists around the world wrote: "Nintendo quietly releases an updated version of the Game Boy Advance SP." This behavior of Nintendo resembles the early years of the iQue company when they released outdated equipment and did not conduct any advertising campaigns.
But let's return to iQue. On July 23, 2005, advertising events for the launch of the iQue DS took place all over China. And on August 18, 2005, a note appeared on the iQue website that in October they would release a new console, the iQue Micro.
iQue Micro
As with the iQue DS, the first note did not contain any details, except for the fact that the console would be released in October.
However, journalists noted the fact that for the first time, a device from iQue company appears within the framework of the global launch of the console, and not six months to a year after it. For example, an article from the magazine 游戏机实用技术 №135 from September 2005.
Typically, Nintendo does not have a global launch of console sales on the same day. Usually, it happens over a period of time.
If we talk about the Nintendo DS, the console first appeared on the market in the USA (November 21, 2004), then in Japan (December 2, 2004), then in Australia (February 24, 2005), and finally in Europe (March 11, 2005). Even in Russia, the Nintendo DS appeared two months earlier (May 21, 2005) than in China (July 23, 2005).
And if we talk about the iQue Micro, sales started in America and Japan in September, and from October 1, 2005, in China. As a result, sales of the Game Boy Micro in Australia and Europe started later (November 3 and 4, 2005, respectively) than in China.
On September 1, 2005, the iQue website was updated. On the main page, the iQue Micro appeared in the list of consoles. There was a flash animation where you could rotate the Game Boy Micro and compare its size with different objects.
From September 15 to October 15, pre-orders for the console opened on the iQue website.
You could win GBA games and a wristwatch.
iQue also sent one console to three different gaming magazines so they could review it. Here, for example, is part of the review that appeared in the magazine «电子游戏软件» № 167.
And iQue decided to stop there. No more advertising events dedicated to the release of this console were held!
It turned out that the release of the iQue Game Boy Micro did not cause much of a sensation.
On June 7, 2006, at an event dedicated to Nintendo shareholders, Satoru Iwata was asked: how does he evaluate the total sales of the Game Boy Micro at 1.8 million units? It turns out that in 10 months of sales, 1.8 million Game Boy Micro consoles were sold! For comparison, the Game Boy Advance sold 500,000 units on its first day of sales!
Satoru directly referred to poor marketing in his response: "Micro sales did not meet our expectations.
…
However, by the end of 2005, Nintendo had to focus almost all our efforts on marketing the DS, which should have deprived the Micro of its momentum.
…
In the end, we failed to explain to consumers its unique value, and they concluded that the Micro was not worth the price they had to invest."
Overall, Game Boy Micro sales failed worldwide, and China was no exception. Moreover, iQue quickly realized that the console did not appeal to players, so they decided to release the Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101.
iQue Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101
But iQue wouldn't be themselves if they didn't do it quietly.
At the end of 2005, without any announcement, Nintendo started producing the Game Boy Advance SP version AGS-101 (with a bright screen).
In issue 168 of the magazine «电子游戏软件» on page 111 (!), a tiny note was published that a Game Boy Advance SP with a bright screen would be released, but it was unclear by whom and when.
In issue 175 of the magazine «电子游戏软件», the editors noted: "we were surprised to learn that since the new year, iQue company has launched the iQue Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101 on the market." This phrase alone speaks of the oddities of iQue's marketing strategy.
Do you know how the magazine editors found out about this? In February 2006, iQue ordered an advertisement for the console in their magazine (in that very issue 175 of the magazine «电子游戏软件», page 4), which had already gone on sale and about which the gaming magazine editors had no idea.
From the release of the Game Boy Micro to the appearance of this note in the magazine, two (!) more limited editions of the console were released, which almost no one heard about. In issue 32 of the magazine «掌机王SP», it was mentioned that an iQue Game Boy Advance SP AGS-001 in the style of «Metroid» would be released:
On the iQue website, there was a banner celebrating Mario's 20th anniversary.
Accordingly, in honor of Mario's 20th anniversary, an iQue Game Boy Advance SP AGS-001 console was also released, but there was no additional advertising.:
After the release of the iQue Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101 in April 2006, the first limited edition of this console appeared:
We've heard all sorts of things about this console: that it has a horse drawn on it, that it's something from Chinese fairy tales, but it's just a dog.
This console was released in honor of the Lunar New Year, which is literally called the "Spring Festival." 2006 was the Year of the Dog, and it was depicted on the console. The dog is made up of the numbers 6 and 9, which symbolize Yin and Yang. Apparently, the whole drawing is a reference to Chinese mythology and traditions.
And iQue even ordered an advertisement for this limited edition Game Boy Advance SP!
As can be seen from the advertisement, this console was sold for 880 yuan (2640 rubles at the exchange rate at that time).
In 2006, nothing more interesting happened from the point of view of the iQue GBA SP. However, sales of the iQue DS Lite began in parallel.
iQue DS Lite
As I already wrote in the article: «History of Nintendo DS Lite», there were many prerequisites for the creation of the NDSL console. The Nintendo DS had poor screen backlighting and a large size. These shortcomings also affected the iQue DS, so the logical step for iQue was to release the iQue DS Lite.
On May 1, 2006, a banner appeared on the iQue website saying that the iDSL console would soon be released, and on June 25, 2006, a festive event was held on the 6th floor of the Zhongguancun Hailong Computer City in the ONEPLAY store, where you could buy the console.
The consoles were laid out in the shape of the letter "L".
At the same event, the price of the console was announced. Yu Jinglun (president of the ONEPLAY game store chain) came out with a Chinese woman holding a sign.
And then he wrote the price of the console on it.
According to journalists, this performance caused simply thunderous applause.
Perhaps the most interesting thing at this event was that the first buyer was given AAAAAA car, a beautiful toy car model.
And here is the lucky one who got the model.
And those who purchased the console from June 29 to July 3 received a set of gifts: a towel and a bottle (apparently a sports set).
If we talk about the iQue DS Lite, there was another significant event – on January 26, 2008, the limited edition iQue DS Lite China Dragon Limited Edition was released.
At 10:30 am, a solemn event was held at the Dinghao Electronic Mall in Beijing to celebrate the release of the console.
Then the event itself began, where they talked a little about the history of iQue and presented the new limited edition console.
And then they brought out a poster showing all the limited series of iQue consoles.
And journalists were invited to sign the poster.
But the most interesting thing here is something else: this poster proves that these consoles are custom versions (someone applied the image to the console themselves), and not made industrially by iQue.
Oddly enough, a large queue of people wanting to buy the console formed.
Especially since it was sold in a very nice box.
And everyone who bought the console received a special certificate.
Epilogue
All versions of the iQue consoles made it to Russia, but now it's easiest to find only two: the iQue Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101 and the iQue DS Lite. This indicates that they were the most popular among all the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS family of consoles. However, this trend was worldwide. According to one of the iQue employees, the combined sales of these two consoles brought iQue hundreds of millions of yuan per month!
2006 and 2007 will be the triumph of iQue, and the company's turnover will exceed 100 million dollars. This moment is the peak of the company's development: parallel imports are defeated, the price of consoles is lower than that of Nintendo versions, iQue has already figured out how to do business in China, it seemed, what could go wrong?
