Nintendo UK launches £10 million voucher promotion

The latest retail promotion from Nintendo will see purchasers of a new GameCube or Game Boy Advance console during April being handed a £250 book of vouchers redeemable against a variety of Nintendo and third party products.

Included in the vouchers is a £20 discount against another Nintendo console, along with individual discount vouchers for key Nintendo software products and reduced price ticket offers for UK attractions like Alton Towers and Thorpe Park.

The promotion, which runs from April 2nd through to April 25th - covering the entire Easter holiday period - will be supported by a major advertising campaign throughout the month, covering national press, online and radio outlets as well as a wide range of new in-store POS material.

"This £10 million giveaway offers consumers incredible discounts redeemable against a variety of products and activities," explained Nintendo's UK head of marketing, Dawn Paine. "With hardware, software and reduced ticket offers for popular attractions like Alton Towers and Thorpe Park, Nintendo fans will have plenty to keep them occupied this Easter."

Nintendo will be hoping that the promotion will help them to retain the momentum that the GameCube built up over the Christmas period, which has seen the console performing significantly better in the past couple of quarters than in the same period a year ago.

However, there's legitimate concern over the future software line-up for the console, which is looking relatively sparse despite promised software support from the likes of Namco (Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos) and Konami (Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes). It's expected that Nintendo will unveil a new range of first-party GameCube titles at E3 this year to address this concern.