Nintendo Exec Explains NES Classic Scarcity

[Sheo_Dagana]

Jim did a good episode on this issue a few weeks back, pointing to stories of how some stores only received up to 3 of the damn things...and when the "second wave" came out, they only got one more.

No one's buying your bullshit, Reggie. We all know that this is Nintendo's new marketing scheme even if it's completely moronic in the first place. It's the same shit you pulled with the Amiibo's.

Step 1: Introduce shiny new thing that everyone is definitely going to want.
Step 2: Make 10 of the shiny new thing that everyone is going to want.
Step 3: Enjoy all the headlines of "Shiny New Thing Sells Out Literally In Seconds!" since you only made 10 of them.

Or they could...you know...make a reasonable amount of them in the first place and still sell like hotcakes. All they're doing is limiting their own profits while making money for the scalpers.

If what Reggie says is true - that Nintendo "just didn't realize that there was going to be a marketing demographic of young people" - then they are grotesquely incompetent as a company and deserve to fail for horrible understanding of the market they're in. Yeah, a lot of the older generation is going to want to take a nostalgic trip with your NES classic...but if you didn't realize that anyone with kids is going to want to get them one of these so they can be like "These were the games that I grew up with" then you're a god damn moron.

Now to be fair, I understand why Reggie was trotted out to give this lame-ass excuse. They have to say something about it, and they can't just come out and say "Yeah, we like ginning up as much hype as possible around our product to ensure that every single one we make sells, that's why we limit the quantity of our products so it seems like each one is a "I must get this IMMEDIATELY because they're selling out so fast!" kind of thing." From a PR standpoint: it's better to piss in our faces and tell us it's raining...even though everyone still knows they're pissing in our faces.

It goes back even farther. The Wii had this issue. Someone died trying to win one and she didn't even win it. From what I've heard they also did this with Mario 2 and Zelda 2. I remember when Earthbound came out, it was all I wanted because it came out right before my birthday. No one could find it. I lived 20 min outside of Baltimore, MD at the time. Family or relatives that lived in places like CA, NV and AZ couldn't find it. People were always saying how "it's not a big deal" or "Nintendo can do no wrong" but who's laughing now?

It's not just with their consoles or a few key games either - I've worked for two different retailers that sell video games over the last 7 years and Nintendo always drip-feeds physical copies of games. Remember Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon? Sold out for months. Same with basically any Nintendo brand 3DS or Wii U game, no matter how major the title. I remember hurting for copies of Skyward Sword back on the Wii; a game you'd think we would have gotten as many copies as Skyrim for all it's hype, but nuuuuuuupe.

And yet every single time a Pokemon game comes out, the shelves and backrooms are overflowing. Somehow Nintendo never 'underestimates' how popular those titles will be, but when Breath of the Wild comes out, I'm sure copies will be limited once again.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

You know I might have believed Nintendo if this was a one-off event but they pull this stunt far too often for it to be mere coincidence it's just creating artificial demand and making re-sellers rich and we already have reports that there are a limited supply of switch consoles.

I'm just waiting for the "Nintendo didn't expect switch demand" headlines.

my exact thoughts, this happens so fucking much for nintendo, between their consoles and games I don't believe this bullshit anymore, it's harder than hell to find even used copies of some games of theirs due to the artificial supply the always create.