Bethesda: Our Factories Simply Cannot Make Any More Pip-Boys

[Scow2]

So Bethesda wants to get in on the whole Amiibo shenanigans then.

I don't have any patience for a large company saying it can't keep producing an item that they know many people would pay over the odds for. Are they allergic to money?

Not want to - got forced into. BGS is not a manufacturing company. The factories its contracted cannot produce more, and no more factories are available in the timeframe.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Had i known there was manufactured scarcity, i would have ordered one and hawk'd it at launch for some serious bank!

Damn!

 

[Dr.Awkward]

Does anyone else think the Pip-Boy case selling out is a message that people would like a smartphone they can wrap around their arm and not a watch like Apple thought?

 

[EHKOS]

As someone who bought it, I'm surprised this is causing more of a scene than the Borderlands 2 Ultimate Loot Chest. There were only about 5,000 of those.

They really should look into making a toy Pip-Boy if the demand is this high. I don't know why they haven't already actually. $100, every Walmart toy aisle. They'd make enough money for them to build a decent game engine!

 

[Bat Vader]

I'm one of those people that plans on selling one for $500.00+ I ordered two one for myself and one to sell. Had to do it through different online retailers though. Some of my friends think I am scum for doing it but I don't really care.

You're scum with $5000 : )

Makes me wonder how much I could fetch for me P.T. Copy of the PS4.

I heard some were going for $2,000.00 which seems like a good insane price.

 

[Product Placement]

Since the app to run it is unlimited stock, and 3D printers exist its not like you can't make your own and put your phone inside that.

Sure printers probably cost more than the collector's edition, but you can then also make ANYTHING.

3d printers can't make the pcb, 3D printers can't solder the components onto the pcb, 3D printers can't make the lcd screen, 3D printers can't assemble the pcb with the screen and 3D printers can't put the completed pcb and screen into the case. In fact the only thing that 3D printers can do is make the plastic case but slower and more expensively than using an injection mold.

You do realize that the collectors edition pip boy is nothing more than a plastic case, meant to house a smart phone, right? The thing that KoudelkaMorgan is suggesting is quite doable with a 3D printer.

 

[babinro]

So Bethesda wants to get in on the whole Amiibo shenanigans then.

I don't have any patience for a large company saying it can't keep producing an item that they know many people would pay over the odds for. Are they allergic to money?

This isn't the same situation.

This is a one time deal with Bethesda where Amibo's are an ongoing production. It might be easy for people to say Bethesda undershot projections now but for a one time deal you'd much rather undershoot projections than overshoot and throw tons of money down the drain. This pip boy situation feels more like Bethesda was being risk averse in their decision making. Amibo scarcity on the other hand is 100% deliberate especially since many of them will continue to provide benefits for games that have not even been released yet.

 

[NiPah]

I'm one of those people that plans on selling one for $500.00+ I ordered two one for myself and one to sell. Had to do it through different online retailers though. Some of my friends think I am scum for doing it but I don't really care.

Oh you care, if you really didn't care you would have just kept silent about your whole plan. No you actually care because it fits the persona you're trying to make for yourself, and what good is a persona if no one knows about it.
Also if you were really a scalper you'd have already bought 10 to 20.

 

[Bat Vader]

I'm one of those people that plans on selling one for $500.00+ I ordered two one for myself and one to sell. Had to do it through different online retailers though. Some of my friends think I am scum for doing it but I don't really care.

Oh you care, if you really didn't care you would have just kept silent about your whole plan. No you actually care because it fits the persona you're trying to make for yourself, and what good is a persona if no one knows about it.
Also if you were really a scalper you'd have already bought 10 to 20.

What persona would that be? I'm not a scalper. I saw on E-Bay how much they were going for and ordered another. An hour later the pre-orders closed and come launch day I will list the extra one.

 

[EternallyBored]

As someone who bought it, I'm surprised this is causing more of a scene than the Borderlands 2 Ultimate Loot Chest. There were only about 5,000 of those.

They really should look into making a toy Pip-Boy if the demand is this high. I don't know why they haven't already actually. $100, every Walmart toy aisle. They'd make enough money for them to build a decent game engine!

They might in the future, or at least get another run of the things to sell separately out of their online store or something. I'd imagine the reason they didn't do it to begin with is that it is a niche product, and Bethesda isn't Hasbro, they don't own their own manufacturing centers. So for them to gamble on these things being popular enough to sell on their own isn't a risk Bethesda would want to take right at the start as purchasing runs from third party manufacturers isn't cheap and if they don't sell you're out a lot of money.

OT: eh, I'm getting the game digitally, so the pipboy doesn't appeal to me, but I can see why its popular as it is pretty slick looking. Me, I just want the game, I'm optimistic, and looking forward to a lot of the announced features, Fallout 4 could definitely be a good contender for a lot of GOTY awards this year, right now Bloodborne and Witcher 3 are sitting in my top spots.

 

[Quellist]

*Cough* Artifical Scarcity *Cough*

Glad i didn't bother with this thing in the first place. If i was a cosplayer i'd have gone for it otherwise it's just another piece of overpriced junk to clutter the house with

 

[FloodOne]

*Cough* Artifical Scarcity *Cough*

Glad i didn't bother with this thing in the first place. If i was a cosplayer i'd have gone for it otherwise it's just another piece of overpriced junk to clutter the house with

I see this sentiment posted a lot with regards to this particular product, and I wonder how many of you actually work in the manufacturing business?

Very few of you, I would wager.

I work in auto manufacturing, and there is such a thing as running at over capacity. The company I work for is currently running at over capacity on nearly every welder in the facility, and it causes a lot of fines for missed shipments, increased labor costs in the form of over time, and customer rejections due to an increased focus/pressure on production quantity over production quality. A lot of that is due to mismanagement, but it sounds like the factory that has the Pipboy contract is either A) managed well by reasonable people (lol, I highly doubt it) or B) at over capacity themselves and can't risk putting all of their contracts at risk for Bethesda's product.

 

[KayeFaye]

What irks me is the fact that this game isn't even out yet. How are we expected to ever improve industry standards and how they treat us customers, when we repeatedly prove all they need to do is dangle some shiny toys in our face and then our wallets open up and they can have all our money, no questions asked. I guess I also find it odd because.... is Fallout 4, Beth style, really worth freaking out over THIS much? Fallout 3 was a decent enough Action game with RPG elements. What it lacked in character, depth, ability to role play, and so on it made up for lengthy content, a vast and haunting world and it was at least a step above the trainwreck of good intentions but but bad design that was Oblivion. And while I am sure Bethesda has learned some lessons over the years from Skyrim, it seems they aren't taking to heart the things Obsidian did to actually make Fallout 3 a true RPG experience and that's a real damn shame. I'm sure FO4 will be a good game, but peopl are acting like it i the second coming of Jesus.

 

[Quellist]

*Cough* Artifical Scarcity *Cough*

Glad i didn't bother with this thing in the first place. If i was a cosplayer i'd have gone for it otherwise it's just another piece of overpriced junk to clutter the house with

I see this sentiment posted a lot with regards to this particular product, and I wonder how many of you actually work in the manufacturing business?

Very few of you, I would wager.

I work in auto manufacturing, and there is such a thing as running at over capacity. The company I work for is currently running at over capacity on nearly every welder in the facility, and it causes a lot of fines for missed shipments, increased labor costs in the form of over time, and customer rejections due to an increased focus/pressure on production quantity over production quality. A lot of that is due to mismanagement, but it sounds like the factory that has the Pipboy contract is either A) managed well by reasonable people (lol, I highly doubt it) or B) at over capacity themselves and can't risk putting all of their contracts at risk for Bethesda's product.

No, I don't blame the factory, I blame Bethesda for not ordering a larger production run in the first place.

 

[w00tage]

Wouldn't it make more sense to just sell them as a regular merch item instead of making it exclusive to the pre-order? I mean, if the demand is there, why not take advantage of it?

There is a finite demand, its greater than expected but it's not huge. Fallout 3 sold 4.7 million units worldwide and that is not huge number. Setting up permanent production lines for a comparative limted market isn't worth it.

Since the app to run it is unlimited stock, and 3D printers exist its not like you can't make your own and put your phone inside that.

Sure printers probably cost more than the collector's edition, but you can then also make ANYTHING.

3d printers can't make the pcb, 3D printers can't solder the components onto the pcb, 3D printers can't make the lcd screen, 3D printers can't assemble the pcb with the screen and 3D printers can't put the completed pcb and screen into the case. In fact the only thing that 3D printers can do is make the plastic case but slower and more expensively than using an injection mold.

I think his point was to put your phone inside it and probably run an app to simulate the display. Also, injection molding is cheaper than 3D printing AFTER you pay the 20-30k for having the molds made and then run enough of them to offset that cost. (Of course then you have to replace them after they wear down out of tolerances.)

 

[EternallyBored]

*Cough* Artifical Scarcity *Cough*

Glad i didn't bother with this thing in the first place. If i was a cosplayer i'd have gone for it otherwise it's just another piece of overpriced junk to clutter the house with

I see this sentiment posted a lot with regards to this particular product, and I wonder how many of you actually work in the manufacturing business?

Very few of you, I would wager.

I work in auto manufacturing, and there is such a thing as running at over capacity. The company I work for is currently running at over capacity on nearly every welder in the facility, and it causes a lot of fines for missed shipments, increased labor costs in the form of over time, and customer rejections due to an increased focus/pressure on production quantity over production quality. A lot of that is due to mismanagement, but it sounds like the factory that has the Pipboy contract is either A) managed well by reasonable people (lol, I highly doubt it) or B) at over capacity themselves and can't risk putting all of their contracts at risk for Bethesda's product.

No, I don't blame the factory, I blame Bethesda for not ordering a larger production run in the first place.

Bethesda already said this is their best selling collector's edition by far out of any game they've ever made, exactly how were they supposed to predict an increase that large? They definitely predicted an increase, they made a lot more collector's editions than they did for fallout 3, but we can't expect them to throw away money to save up production runs for a niche item that isn't even the main selling point of the product, not to mention doesn't actually effect the performance of the main product in any way. It's basically a cheap plastic smartphone holder, I doubt they even had an inkling that what amounts to a plastic phone case that probably won't even fit on quite a few peoples arms would be as popular as it turned out to be.

They did have enough leeway to schedule a second run and produce more, which also sold out, but they likely didn't have the contract set up to take more of their manufacturer's time, and the increased cost of retooling a different factory for another run would make no sense financially.

It's technically Bethesda's fault, but it seems like Bethesda set reasonable expectations for an increase in sales over Fallout 3 and Skyrim due to their popularity, even set up a second production run. It seems unfair to expect them to predict that apparently people would collectively cream their pants over the collector's edition in such a way, given the costs involved for what amounts to a plastic trinket for collectors, it makes far more sense for them to not spend the money on a gamble that might not have paid off.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Managing stocks is something I have to do every day and it really isn't an easy thing to do at all. So I can't fault them for this.

That said, it's still a decision you make to only sell these items for a limited time only. If they decided to offer these things for a longer period of time, they could easily have the factories continue production, or even turn it up a notch to meet the demand.

 

[OverEZ]

What? Are they made out of some kind of rare materials? No, it's plastic. This is to generate more hype for when they do come out with more. How obnoxious.