Author Topic: NES Classic and Nintendo's futility trying to meet demand. (Read 14510 times)

Soren · « **on:** November 11, 2016, 12:53:41 PM »

So...how many times does Nintendo have to fail in order to understand that their failure to meet demand for their products at launch is hurting their already fragile business? They keep doing it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

The announcement of the NES Classic was a viral hit and it tapped into a lot of people who either are casual gamers or lapsed gamers. It touched into that nostalgia. Nintendo had to understand that I was going to deliver a hit. And yet here were once again, with hardcore gamers and scalpers being the only people who can buy the system at launch and stores selling out their stock almost instantly. Check one of the links I posted above and you'll see journalists talking about how many pageviews their NES Classic stories got. Most stores got units in the double digits, going from as low as 20 to as many as 80. Some stores even got as few as 5 units! Crazy!

And fine, you want to talk me out of being angry because Limited Editions sell out in 2 minutes, go right ahead. But this was a product aimed at a casual market and the fact that people won't be able to buy it in the near future is a bit frustrating. Specially when I'm thinking of getting one as a gift for several people. It's insane.

For the record, I was able to get an NES Classic at a local Wal-Mart, after I went to my local Best Buy and saw a line of 100+ people wanting to buy 80 systems. Both stores had a 1 system per customer limit.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #1 on:** November 11, 2016, 01:03:51 PM »

dang it.

Oedo · « **Reply #2 on:** November 11, 2016, 01:26:07 PM »

Well, on the slightly brighter side, there's this via Nintendo of America:

Quote

There will be a steady flow of additional systems through the holiday shopping season and into the new year. 2/3

After having the same thing happen with so many of their products over the past couple of years, it is pretty darn inexcusable for them to fall well short of meeting demand at launch again. But if they do manage to deliver a steady supply of additional units in a timely fashion, it'll at least be a marked improvement over the amiibo or GameCube adapter situation.

Kairon · « **Reply #3 on:** November 11, 2016, 01:27:48 PM »

They seem to be having a lot of misses lately about what items will be in demand versus what items won't be in demand. Just look at the overstock of Animal Crossing Amiibo and Wii U, versus the understock of Amiibo Launch Waves and NES Classic.

Whoever predicts consumer demand for Nintendo Corporate these days needs to have their tea table upended.

Luigi Dude · « **Reply #4 on:** November 11, 2016, 01:31:47 PM »

Yeah it's pretty fucking pathetic Nintendo keeps undershipping products that are guaranteed hits. The Wii was at least understandable since they were coming off the Gamecube and the design and appeal of the system was unproven and had no idea it'd be as big as it did, but the NES Classic being this hard to find is pure bullshit. Especially since this isn't even a new system like the Wii that will at least keep having new games coming out in the future. This is a one and done deal which they should have had 10 million plus units ready to ship since something like the NES Classic is going to be much easier to the casual audience to forget about if they can't find the damn thing.

Seriously this type of incompetence is what worries me the most about the Switch. Even if games like Zelda deliver, Nintendo could easily find a way to **** things up with a total lack of systems post launch that just kill the momentum.

Soren · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2016, 02:22:26 PM »

Quote from: Oedo on November 11, 2016, 01:26:07 PM

Well, on the slightly brighter side, there's this via Nintendo of America:

Quote
There will be a steady flow of additional systems through the holiday shopping season and into the new year. 2/3

So Wal-Marts in Puerto Rico have already said they don't expect new shipments until December 1. So goodbye to any potential Black Friday sales. Also, they got a total of 60 units for one store. That's all. Again, ridiculous.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #6 on:** November 11, 2016, 05:27:10 PM »

What, Nintendo failing to learn something? Get out of town!

It isn't surprising though. Any time I think of "this is the logical course of action" Nintendo does nearly the opposite or somehow finds some new way to go about things that I could never guess because I'm not a crazy person. Someday Nintendo will produce a healthy amount of a new product... and it will be the stupidest product that no one wants and they'll suffer big time for overproducing it.

If they didn't think this would be a popular item for Christmas why even make it? The Wii U is toast and the Switch isn't out until next year so they needed something to carry their ass for Christmas and this seems like a product intentionally designed to do so. It's very much a Christmas gift kind of product - the sort of thing that's a popular item during the Christmas shopping season and then fades away after that. By the time the Wii U is out the NES Classic is just not going to have the buzz around it anymore so if Nintendo can't meet the demand and then in January drops a big shipment THOSE are going to be the unsold items eating up shelf space. Now until December 24th is peak market for this and being too conservative is a grand way to completely bugger this all up. The sales potential is based a lot on this being a Christmas gift. They will sell what they can release in time to work as a gift and then I expect sales to drop off a cliff. Timing is what mattered here and now Nintendo is almost certainly going to have the very thing they were trying to avoid happen. They'll stupidly get the units out too late and it won't sell when the same amount of units probably would if they were on shelves before Christmas!

The Switch does surprise me because the trademark obvious-and-easily-avoidable Nintendo fuckup isn't there. Or has it just not been revealed to us yet? I don't want that to happen but this is the same Nintendo so there is that feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. The NES Classic is a hard idea to screw up but Nintendo didn't make enough supply and the cords are like 2 feet long. They somehow found a way to make some wacky mistakes on an idea that is easy to do right and that they otherwise did get right.

ejamer · « **Reply #7 on:** November 11, 2016, 05:44:39 PM »

I still think Nintendo prefers the buzz from understocking highly desirable items over making their customers happy. Most casuals will probably view this as a prime gift item, so as long as stock keeps rolling in between now and Christmas, they won't get too stressed.

ThePerm · « **Reply #8 on:** November 11, 2016, 06:01:31 PM »

Even worse some people are confusing the NES Classic with the Switch......

Also, on the other hand Nintendo is no longer coming off of a failed system launch. Their last system sold out!

Khushrenada · « **Reply #9 on:** November 11, 2016, 07:38:03 PM »

Quote from: Ian Sane on November 11, 2016, 05:27:10 PM

The Switch does surprise me because the trademark obvious-and-easily-avoidable Nintendo fuckup isn't there. Or has it just not been revealed to us yet? I don't want that to happen but this is the same Nintendo so there is that feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Don't worry. The vitality sensor implementation will soon be revealed to give you the ammo you need to attack the system and Nintendo's penchant for odd hardware choices.

lolmonade · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2016, 08:33:24 PM »

Personally decided I wouldn't be buying this for myself, but a friend on travel asked me to pick one up for him if I could.

I haven't bothered checking stores because my schedule is too busy, but I think it's safe to assume those are all gone.

Amazon's "launch" today was a cluster. I was at my computer 10 mins before they were supposed to go on sale, and the page crashed on and off while it showed available, each time I hit add to cart my cart showed empty. Eventually the page crashed, and by the time it came back up, was unavailable.

Not surprised by the outcome, but you'd think a product like the NES Mini would be a good enough value proposition to where they'd maybe be a bit braver with their supply chain.

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2016, 10:02:00 PM »

60 for one store is a lot. The local Walmart here got 6. GameStop got 6.

Stratos · « **Reply #12 on:** November 12, 2016, 02:18:50 AM »

There is a rumor on reddit that Amazon only had about 34 units available...

I missed out and so did my wife. Turns out she does listen and tried to order me one for Christmas. I refuse to go hunting for one, especially on Black Friday. So I'll wait for the new year, though I might just save the cash to go towards the Switch launch.

Soren · « **Reply #13 on:** November 12, 2016, 07:55:29 AM »

Quote from: Brandogg on November 11, 2016, 10:02:00 PM

60 for one store is a lot. The local Walmart here got 6. GameStop got 6.

We have a total of 19 Wal-Mart stores. Only one store got stock.

Spak-Spang · « **Reply #14 on:** November 12, 2016, 07:34:42 PM »

On the other hand the NES console might have been a desperate product to have SOMETHING out for Christmas, and there was no way to predict if a system only have old emulated games would sell. This was always a stop gap product, created for a very limited run to fill a whole in the holiday schedule to make money. Nintendo has done that...and I am sure they will continue to sell them into next year, but they don't want the NES system to take any hype away from SWITCH when it is out.

Yes, they could have sold more, but they also could have sold much less, and since this product was only created to help Nintendo have a profit and sales during the holiday season it makes sense.

nickmitch · « **Reply #15 on:** November 13, 2016, 12:21:10 PM »

I wonder how much planning went into this launch. Looking at the timing of the release, it makes me think Nintendo needed to fill the gap in the Holiday lineup. They didn't have Zelda, didn't have the Switch, and Paper Mario wasn't gonna cut it. But Nintendo probably wasn't 100% sure about not having the Switch out in time until either late last year or early this year. If that's true, then the NES Classic was probably a last minute design to guarantee some buzz this holiday. So, Nintendo (who still has to make enough Switches for lunch) probably couldn't crank out enough NES Classics.

Alt theory: they're doing shortages on purposes to maintain hype.

Kairon · « **Reply #16 on:** November 13, 2016, 01:03:29 PM »

We're just arguing about degrees of error though. Either Nintendo honestly under-estimated the at-launch demand for this product, or they didn't give themselves enough time to address it, or they are trying to maintain discussion around the brand by generating news stories about a (manufactured) shortage, or something else, or some combination...

Either way, Nintendo made a mistake somewhere by having a marketing hole to plug, mis-estimating demand, not properly planning... no matter where the exact blame lies, or how unintentional the mistake, Nintendo is a billion dollar gaming company who's been doing this for years and HAS to do better if they want to be able to continue contributing in this market and this medium.

Soren · « **Reply #17 on:** November 13, 2016, 01:06:30 PM »

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=224209182&postcount=324

I don't want the believe this and I think it's more hearsay and speculation than anything. But at the same time I think it might be true and if so it's terrible.

Evan_B · « **Reply #18 on:** November 13, 2016, 01:42:09 PM »

Can I be quite honest?

Even with the "pros" of the emulation quality, I also don't understand why anyone would want these things. I could see maybe wanting a SNES Mini, but even then, it would likely be clogged with Nintendo releases that I've- again- already played. The only reason I could see someone wanting this is out of nostalgia and an overwhelming collectors' complex. I don't think Nintendo is in the wrong for having poor distribution, and I'm genuinely shocked at the frenzy to buy.

Stratos · « **Reply #19 on:** November 13, 2016, 04:37:51 PM »

It is a combination of coolness factor, nostalgia, and a lack of any other compelling products from them during their peak sales season. Also, the fact it is a tiny system means it can more easily slip into the corner of a crowded entertainment system shelf.

Luigi Dude · « **Reply #20 on:** November 13, 2016, 04:45:53 PM »

Quote from: Evan_B on November 13, 2016, 01:42:09 PM

The only reason I could see someone wanting this is out of nostalgia and an overwhelming collectors' complex. I don't think Nintendo is in the wrong for having poor distribution, and I'm genuinely shocked at the frenzy to buy.

That's exactly the reason why Nintendo should have known this thing would be huge. It's been over 30 years since the NES was released and this thing allows people who grew up with the system to have 30 of it's most famous games on one device for only $60. The small message board crowd on the internet like yourself can just say, "I can still replay them on my NES or use an emulator" but for 99% of people who had an NES as kids either don't own the system anymore, have one and it doesn't work, or it's buried somewhere in their parents basement or attic.

Plus the already having these games on an emulator doesn't work either since the majority of the gaming community doesn't use emulators or even know how they work in the first place. Same thing with the Virtual Console on the Wii and Wii U having these games as well, since Nintendo did a terrible job of advertising these aspect of their systems to the mass public. To most people, the NES Classic is the first way to replay all these old games from their childhood for such a cheap price and Nintendo is stupid to not realize just how big this was going to be.

nickmitch · « **Reply #21 on:** November 13, 2016, 05:17:39 PM »

I wouldn't know where Nintendo would get the idea that anyone who would want this would already have the games. The Wii U under sold by a lot. Most people do not have Wiis still plugged in. The 3DS isn't as ubiquitous of a product as the NES was.

Evan_B · « **Reply #22 on:** November 14, 2016, 01:22:46 PM »

I highly doubt people are nostalgic for even half of the games in the NES Classic's library. I see how hard you're trying to push nostalgia as a selling factor, but I just find it extremely hard to believe. Maybe I'm still young and foolish.

pokepal148 · « **Reply #23 on:** November 14, 2016, 01:31:02 PM »

Bubble Bobble is the best NES game, what are you talking about?

Soren · « **Reply #24 on:** November 14, 2016, 01:50:57 PM »

Quote from: Evan_B on November 14, 2016, 01:22:46 PM

I highly doubt people are nostalgic for even half of the games in the NES Classic's library. I see how hard you're trying to push nostalgia as a selling factor, but I just find it extremely hard to believe. Maybe I'm still young and foolish.

Of the 30 games offered, I only owned two (Mario 1 and 3). Nostalgia in this case isn't only about the games. It's about the system, the controllers, the overall gameplay and graphical quality. In part it's about a place and time in your life. About remembering.

I have a picture of me from Christmas getting an NES Action Set bundle when I was 4 years old. I want to re-create that picture this holiday but with old-ass me holding the NES Classic Edition box. That's probably a nostalgic feeling many other people have.

ejamer · « **Reply #25 on:** November 14, 2016, 03:53:58 PM »

Quote from: pokepal148 on November 14, 2016, 01:31:02 PM

Bubble Bobble is the best NES game, what are you talking about?

Not the best, but a damn bit better than any lists I've seen posted recently have made it out to be.

But hey, any game that doesn't have immediate nostalgia or give away some of it's best secrets in the first 5 minutes is destined to fail these days. Also, it's not nearly as good solo as it is with a friend... and the experience of couch co-op is rarely enjoyed any longer.

Seriously though, Bubble Bobble is a very good game.

KeyBilly · « **Reply #26 on:** November 14, 2016, 07:45:58 PM »

I would much prefer to play these games on something like a Retro Pie, but I am one of those bad people that just wants one because it looks like a little NES. In terms of practical use, it would make sense for anyone too young to have grown up with the system. Some games do hold up really well and are worth playing, while others might be considered filler to play for a few minutes out of curiosity.

Those Atari all-in-one joysticks were very popular a few years ago, and the games were much more basic. If the NES version is similar, it will end up flooding every superstore and house goods store before people lose interest.

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #27 on:** November 14, 2016, 08:12:29 PM »

Sad to see some of the games people did not own. From the NES Classic Edition library, I owned:
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Dr. Mario
Excitebike
Ghosts 'n Goblins
The Legend of Zelda
Mario Bros.
Metroid
(Mike Tyson's) Punch-Out!!
Ninja Gaiden
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Tecmo Bowl
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

nickmitch · « **Reply #28 on:** November 14, 2016, 09:02:31 PM »

Quote from: Evan_B on November 14, 2016, 01:22:46 PM

I highly doubt people are nostalgic for even half of the games in the NES Classic's library. I see how hard you're trying to push nostalgia as a selling factor, but I just find it extremely hard to believe. Maybe I'm still young and foolish.

You really only have to be nostalgic for half the games (which is still 15 games, mind you) to want to drop $60 on something that looks and feels like your childhood. ****, you could probably get by on that.

Evan_B · « **Reply #29 on:** November 14, 2016, 10:04:01 PM »

I have once again been overruled.

Curse you, Bubble Bobble!

ejamer · « **Reply #30 on:** November 15, 2016, 01:37:04 PM »

Maybe the unit shortage isn't entirely Nintendo's fault.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-video-games-consoles-other/hamilton/60-nes-classic-systems-available/1216476779?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

When the link inevitably goes down, some joker bought 60 units and is now trying to unload them second-hand (unopened and unused, of course - he's not buying to play) for a mere $250 a pop. Seriously: what's wrong with people? Aimed at both the reseller, and anyone paying $250 for a system from someone who obviously is trying to horde all local stock.

Evan_B · « **Reply #31 on:** November 15, 2016, 06:30:22 PM »

Quote from: ejamer on November 15, 2016, 01:37:04 PM

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-video-games-consoles-other/hamilton/60-nes-classic-systems-available/1216476779?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

When the link inevitably goes down, some joker bought 60 units and is now trying to unload them second-hand (unopened and unused, of course - he's not buying to play) for a mere $250 a pop. Seriously: what's wrong with people? Aimed at both the reseller, and anyone paying $250 for a system from someone who obviously is trying to horde all local stock.

The sad thing is, with the immediacy of demand that the recreational markets possess, people will most certainly be buying these.

Khushrenada · « **Reply #32 on:** November 15, 2016, 07:50:01 PM »

Quote from: Evan_B on November 13, 2016, 01:42:09 PM

Can I be quite honest?

Even with the "pros" of the emulation quality, I also don't understand why anyone would want these things. I could see maybe wanting a SNES Mini, but even then, it would likely be clogged with Nintendo releases that I've- again- already played. The only reason I could see someone wanting this is out of nostalgia and an overwhelming collectors' complex. I don't think Nintendo is in the wrong for having poor distribution, and I'm genuinely shocked at the frenzy to buy.

I'm with you on this one but that's because I'm not a big fan of the NES or its library myself. I don't have a lot of nostalgia or memories of the unit aside from playing Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt when I could at someone's house. I bought an NES at a flea Market 12 years ago mainly because I had pretty much all other Nintendo systems at that point in my life (aside from the Virtual Boy) and it seemed like it might be a fun and neat collectable/curio. The only games I've got for it are a SMB/Duck Hunt combo with zapper, Krusty's Fun House, Rad Racer and Super Mario Bros. 3. I soon realized the limits of the technology on games made for it kept them from being that enjoyable for someone playing them in 2004 and the SMB games had been remade better in Mario All-Stars so I never wanted to buy other games for it and now the system can hardly read games anyways so it's mainly a paperweight.

However, I remember years ago, there were kiosks at malls that would be selling some kind of emulators which had a bunch of NES or Genesis games all in one box with a controller. That was a bigger thing until the Wii came along and had a Virtual Console to allow people to acquire those games again that way and in a more legal manner. Still, there has always been a sort of demand for this type of product.

That said, I also think the demand is increased right now because people are hearing supply seems to be low. I was only interested in this once I started hearing the news last week of how retailers were trying to handle this release since stock would be low. Suddenly, it became a rare item and possible could increase in value over time as a collectors item. However, while the idea of getting one and flipping it for double the price to get my money back and then buy a new Wii U game I'd like for free has a certain appeal, I can't be bothered to go through that hassle. I'm also not interested in denying others who want one from getting it just so that I can charge it at a higher price. I am not a good scalper. I know how frustrating it is like when I wanted to get a special edition copy of FE:Fates but was unable to do so yet there are some who got copies so that they could sell them for $300.00 bucks on the secondhand market. For me, the NES Classic is like Amiibo. I had and have no major interest in most of Amiibo but, once word got out that certain characters were becoming rare and hard to find, then I started becoming curious to see if I might spot one. It's a psychological thing. The fear of missing out on something even if you weren't interested in the thing when you thought it was readily available. Put me in the conspiracy camp that thinks Nintendo is purposely short-shipping to create more hype and demand for a product.

rygar · « **Reply #33 on:** November 15, 2016, 08:17:22 PM »

Quote from: Brandogg on November 14, 2016, 08:12:29 PM

Sad to see some of the games people did not own. From the NES Classic Edition library, I owned:
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Dr. Mario
Excitebike
Ghosts 'n Goblins
The Legend of Zelda
Mario Bros.
Metroid
(Mike Tyson's) Punch-Out!!
Ninja Gaiden
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Tecmo Bowl
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

It's funny, I only owned SMB and Tecmo Bowl that I can remember, but I held friend's copies of another 15 or so long enough that it feels like I owned them too.

I've bought most of these over the last year on the 3DS VC (at a greater collective cost) so I was sitting this one out regardless.

Kairon · « **Reply #34 on:** November 16, 2016, 10:32:16 AM »

Working Dr. Mario anywhere set top box. That alone is why I know I'm buying this . Maybe not now when it's crazy, but I AM getting one of these.

ThePerm · « **Reply #35 on:** November 16, 2016, 03:46:37 PM »

I have all of Nintendo's systems but an snes. We had a genesis and our parents wouldn't let us have both. If a snes classic comes out I'm for sure getting that. I want an NES classic, but you know I have to be able to buy one.

It would be kinda interesting to have classic mini versions of all consoles. I have a little Genesis(but it sucks balls)
It has wireless controllers, bu they are infrared, I'd rather have a short cord.

Mop it up · « **Reply #36 on:** November 16, 2016, 07:11:00 PM »

I'm only missing 6 of the 30 in any form, and I don't particularly care about those 6 games. If I do care then just grabbing a few on VC would be cheaper. So I probably won't be getting one unless it becomes overstocked and put on clearance sales like some people predict.

I'm also not really a fan of NES despite growing up with it. I would be more interested in an SNES Mini as I like that system a lot more. However, even though I own about half as many SNES games as NES, I still probably own most of what they would put into an SNES Mini. Still, those old cartridges won't last forever, and some of them already have fickle save batteries.

Ian Sane · « **Reply #37 on:** November 17, 2016, 01:59:25 AM »

If I didn't have a real NES I probably would pick this up. If as a kid you had these 30 games that would have been a hell of a collection and there isn't really a bad game in the bunch. Ice Climber is probably the worst title.

There are some limitations with NES games that I find a little frustrating and "Nintendo hard" isn't a term for no reason. I find the stuff I have the most fun with are SHMUPS because they're supposed to be hard. When I'm playing Contra or Guardian Legend I expect that sort of game to kick my ass. SHUMPS on the PS2 aren't really any different so something like Jackal or 1943 doesn't feel dated, it just has older graphics. Something like Zelda or Dragon Warrior? No, you couldn't get away with a game that plays like those. Later titles in those genres have polished the mechanics so much that those old games feel primitive.

oohhboy · « **Reply #38 on:** November 28, 2016, 01:10:19 AM »

Judging how much launch stock to have is hard. On the opposite of the spectrum is the Xbox One. How many months, years did those things sit on the shop floor, people making thrones out of them. MS constantly trying to repackage the originals over and over again with game codes and cardboard selves. I think there are still Day One Editions in retail.

Nintendo does have a habit of having a short supply, but I don't think it was ever about marketing purposes as a primary or secondary reason, it is just simply having a short supply is a better problem to have than having too much. Having a short supply means every unit you make is sold and less time something is in retail, less cost it is to Nintendo from storage, management, advertising, kickbacks and excess factory capacity. If you want to make a change or push a new product, it is far easier to do if the channel flushes itself, even if you have to put the older item on discount or re-box it it will apply over a fewer number of units.

While I grew up with the NES, SNES and N64, I am in no rush to go back especially since I still have the hardware on hand. I still have a CRT in storage should I ever want the full experience. But I am likely not the people they are aiming for.

It is for all those people that over the years have sold, lost, damage or otherwise never had access or played these games in it's original state.

Nintendo is in a somewhat unique situation to do this as they do have enough games to package in such a machine even without third parties. This gives them the leverage to bring in the third party games on reasonable terms.

Imagine trying to do this with PS1 games where you would have to fight to get every single game you tried to get on the system. Don't forget the number of games that are now attached to defunct owners or have different version and re-releases, publishers, lapsed tech licenses etc. They could do it, but I can't imagine how much of a mess it would be.

ThePerm · « **Reply #39 on:** November 28, 2016, 03:57:46 AM »

Quote from: Ian Sane on November 17, 2016, 01:59:25 AM

If I didn't have a real NES I probably would pick this up. If as a kid you had these 30 games that would have been a hell of a collection and there isn't really a bad game in the bunch. Ice Climber is probably the worst title.

There are some limitations with NES games that I find a little frustrating and "Nintendo hard" isn't a term for no reason. I find the stuff I have the most fun with are SHMUPS because they're supposed to be hard. When I'm playing Contra or Guardian Legend I expect that sort of game to kick my ass. SHUMPS on the PS2 aren't really any different so something like Jackal or 1943 doesn't feel dated, it just has older graphics. Something like Zelda or Dragon Warrior? No, you couldn't get away with a game that plays like those. Later titles in those genres have polished the mechanics so much that those old games feel primitive.

Mop_it_up is a hell of a collector

A Titan among us.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=28357.0

nickmitch · « **Reply #40 on:** November 28, 2016, 01:39:07 PM »

Quote from: oohhboy on November 28, 2016, 01:10:19 AM

Judging how much launch stock to have is hard. On the opposite of the spectrum is the Xbox One. How many months, years did those things sit on the shop floor, people making thrones out of them. MS constantly trying to repackage the originals over and over again with game codes and cardboard selves. I think there are still Day One Editions in retail.

Nintendo does have a habit of having a short supply, but I don't think it was ever about marketing purposes as a primary or secondary reason, it is just simply having a short supply is a better problem to have than having too much. Having a short supply means every unit you make is sold and less time something is in retail, less cost it is to Nintendo from storage, management, advertising, kickbacks and excess factory capacity. If you want to make a change or push a new product, it is far easier to do if the channel flushes itself, even if you have to put the older item on discount or re-box it it will apply over a fewer number of units.

A safe, conservative approach works for the reasons you described, but at what point can one fault Nintendo for not knowing when they have a hit? It seems like they did some insufficient market research.

oohhboy · « **Reply #41 on:** November 28, 2016, 10:00:41 PM »

You don't notice all the times they do get it right. The GC, N64, GBA, DS, 3DSXL, N3DS and 3DS were all pretty orderly affairs. I can't remember any game launches that didn't have a good supply. Pokemon GO did surprise them somewhat with higher than expected server demands.

These days hype machines go rampant all the time and are doing so at an increasing rate producing unexpected results. The biggest examples this year is the Brexit and the Presidential elections. If such large and well funded companies with decades of experience can get it so wrong you bet smaller marketing departments everywhere are having trouble and there is a lot of soul searching going on.

The internet has made marketing harder to control as the marketer no longer has control over the message like they did pre-facebook etc. You have fake news, over enthused fans, closed off communities feeding off each other, levels of cognitive dissonance that is just incredible to the point reality has no say on the subject.

This still shows up once in a while with people thinking it is still going to happen:

It wasn't made by MS, it was done by fans who have no idea what reality is. You try controlling that.

Spak-Spang · « **Reply #42 on:** November 28, 2016, 10:07:49 PM »

Dang I wish the above was true. That would make gaming so simple for single player experiences. But obviously, that isn't real.

Soren · « **Reply #43 on:** November 29, 2016, 10:04:14 AM »

Black Friday/Cyber Monday went by with not much of NES Classic restock news to show. I saw this Jim Sterling video yesterday that I agree with in terms that Nintendo treats its hardware availability like toymakers treat the availability of toys, which sets them apart from Sony/Microsoft.

WARNING: There's a ton of swearing.

lolmonade · « **Reply #44 on:** November 29, 2016, 10:55:54 AM »

Quote from: Soren on November 29, 2016, 10:04:14 AM

Black Friday/Cyber Monday went by with not much of NES Classic restock news to show. I saw this Jim Sterling video yesterday that I agree with in terms that Nintendo treats its hardware availability like toymakers treat the availability of toys, which sets them apart from Sony/Microsoft.

WARNING: There's a ton of swearing.

"That was a great episode"

Can't disagree more, Jim.

I can't help but laugh and feel a bit of disgust about an adult getting that level of disgust about Nintendo's forecasting and supply strategy. His title for the video may as well have been "Nintendo's Distribution is Garbage Because I Don't Like the Way They Supply Their Products".

I get he's speaking from the frustrated consumer standpoint, but I really don't care for these kinds of crybaby youtuber rants.

nickmitch · « **Reply #45 on:** November 29, 2016, 05:39:43 PM »

Quote from: oohhboy on November 28, 2016, 10:00:41 PM

You don't notice all the times they do get it right. The GC, N64, GBA, DS, 3DSXL, N3DS and 3DS were all pretty orderly affairs. I can't remember any game launches that didn't have a good supply. Pokemon GO did surprise them somewhat with higher than expected server demands.

These days hype machines go rampant all the time and are doing so at an increasing rate producing unexpected results. The biggest examples this year is the Brexit and the Presidential elections. If such large and well funded companies with decades of experience can get it so wrong you bet smaller marketing departments everywhere are having trouble and there is a lot of soul searching going on.

The internet has made marketing harder to control as the marketer no longer has control over the message like they did pre-facebook etc. You have fake news, over enthused fans, closed off communities feeding off each other, levels of cognitive dissonance that is just incredible to the point reality has no say on the subject.

This still shows up once in a while with people thinking it is still going to happen:

It wasn't made by MS, it was done by fans who have no idea what reality is. You try controlling that.

They almost got lucky with 3DS non-shortages because it under-performed initially. I also wouldn't really consider GC and back because they've been trending in the wrong direction since then. But you bring up some really good points. It's gotta be near impossible to filter out the noise from the reliable indicators.

ejamer · « **Reply #46 on:** November 29, 2016, 07:55:53 PM »

I don't believe that it's impossible. They could have taken pre-orders to gauge interest levels and secure sales. They could have looked at what other Nintendo items were being made available over the holidays and realized there was a huge gap.

The internet does create noise that can be hard to parse, for sure... but that's hardly an excuse for the horrible short stocking that Nintendo has become known for.

oohhboy · « **Reply #47 on:** November 29, 2016, 10:44:49 PM »

I never said it was impossible, just really really hard. Then you have to define what would be considered a shortage and what is excessive. Is is -1? -100? +100? How is the inventory distributed? How would you quantify the relationship between products? How does more pikachu plushes sold and no ekans mean for mainline pokemon games?

I don't think pre-orders is accurate(At physical stores) as from the mouth of multiple game employees I have spoken to is that they juice the numbers of all games regardless of quality, the company for obvious reasons don't like excess inventory. Pre-order numbers can be pretty BS depending on the game and where you are and who is running that shop. The employees do it for a number of reasons like reaching KPI's is the big one, making sure there is stock beyond pre-orders+1, console wars.

If you can't trust those numbers what can you trust? You just have to settle for the fact Nintendo is a cautious company in an ever unpredictable industry.

Remember, there are lots and lots of items that don't make the news. It is always those outliers that everyone remembers. If every company followed the hype train you we would have a lot more E.Ts.

Who would have thought packaging a 100 old games like those Chinese knock off "Consoles" would sell that well?

Kairon · « **Reply #48 on:** November 29, 2016, 11:24:44 PM »

I agree that it's definitely not easy. I'd just like to think that a multi-billion dollar company could afford to do BETTER.

oohhboy · « **Reply #49 on:** November 29, 2016, 11:37:26 PM »

I don't think it is a matter of money. It is as they say, garbage in, garbage out.

ThePerm · « **Reply #50 on:** November 30, 2016, 03:09:51 AM »

I wonder how the Famicom classic went down compared to the NES classic?

Maybe Nintendo underestimated Nostalgia in the west?

oohhboy · « **Reply #51 on:** November 30, 2016, 03:50:40 AM »

Japan has a pretty healthy "second hand" retail market where anything can be found fairly easily for a high enough price in near mint/mint condition with a lot of people willing to pay up. In the west? No? Given the size of online there should be more activity so I guess the west is under served.

Maybe they just want the games at a more reasonable price that is packaged in the same authentic technology from 30 years ago.

ThePerm · « **Reply #52 on:** November 30, 2016, 04:32:27 AM »

That is interesting. I was looking online for Castlevania 64. I have to check out to see if I actually own it or not. I definitely have Legacy of Darkness. But Castlevania 64 was a decent price at $14.00. In no way was it mint though. It was just the game, no box.

As a collector myself, I only keep the boxes on certain things. I still have the Ocarina of Time box, but it is missing the cart insert. The biggest problem with n64 carts in my finger acid ate many of the labels. My Ocarina of Time cart was well used. I should have bought 2.

NES stuff, I've been collecting for years. When the GBA nes edition came out I got the display from the store. I never did get that Gameboy though. I was going to ask wal-mart if they could give me the nes classic display insert, but it had a rip.

I want the NES classic, for several reasons. Mostly as a collector. A big factor is I no longer have my original NES box. The box it comes in is pretty sweet. I only have the boxes from n64 up. I'd open it and play it of course. It has a good selection, but I did buy all the NES Mario Games on virtual console right before this was announced. Some of the games I have on animal crossing. But isn't this a nice package?

The other factor is the jackasses buying 30 consoles and selling them for as much as xbox ones. I don't know if they have anything like that in Japan, but it's made a short supply even shorter. Hopefully, in December they will be available and I can get one. Also, as something made by Nintendo and as a Wii U owner, it's shocking to see something selling out. I'm used to being the weird guy who likes Nintendo. It makes me wonder about Switch. I had no problem getting Gamecube, but when Wii came out I was surprised of the popularity. With Wii U I waited a few months. I wonder how many gamers were exactly like me, and how this affected third party game sales projections. You never know with Nintendo what is going to be popular.

supermario2k · « **Reply #53 on:** December 05, 2016, 05:15:51 PM »

Quote from: oohhboy on November 30, 2016, 03:50:40 AM

Japan has a pretty healthy "second hand" retail market where anything can be found fairly easily for a high enough price in near mint/mint condition with a lot of people willing to pay up. In the west? No? Given the size of online there should be more activity so I guess the west is under served.

Maybe they just want the games at a more reasonable price that is packaged in the same authentic technology from 30 years ago.

See I am not sure if this is true any more. I was watching a certain podcast on Youtube where they described how the Japanese used gaming market was drying up.

Stratos · « **Reply #54 on:** December 06, 2016, 07:27:32 PM »

I would imagine any dry-up would be related to the slow migration to digital games. The desire and market demand has not gone away, but there are less and less titles to release into said market, forcing it to dry up.

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #55 on:** December 08, 2016, 08:52:18 PM »

Stumbled across one at Wal-Mart this morning, bought it.

ThePerm · « **Reply #56 on:** December 10, 2016, 06:37:13 PM »

It's beautiful.

Soren · « **Reply #57 on:** December 21, 2016, 02:46:50 PM »

Just stopping by to leave this here...

http://kotaku.com/why-is-the-3ds-so-hard-to-find-right-now-1790365066

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #58 on:** January 07, 2017, 05:35:46 PM »

https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/07/nintendo-nes-classic-edition-cracked/

fuckyeah.png

ThePerm · « **Reply #59 on:** January 08, 2017, 09:15:11 PM »

Because Scalping Systems and Games should be illegal.

I would be in favor of releasing legislation that prevents people from selling systems at more that 20% MSRP for 3 months after its release. After that have a ball.

The value of an NES classic is that it is a low price system with 30 games. It's a deal for people on a budget. But scalpers came and bought all the systems up and have been upselling them without budging on the price. Scalping is illegal for game, concert, and theatre tickets. It should be illegal here. I think it has gone too far and contributes to holiday violence. It is fucking terrible that you don't see a product in the store, and then it's only impossible for all but the rich to buy.

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #60 on:** January 09, 2017, 10:48:46 AM »

Agreed.

Soren · « **Reply #61 on:** January 09, 2017, 06:24:26 PM »

I'm now almost certain that we'll be adding the Switch to this thread on Friday...

https://twitter.com/DonaldMick/status/818598044505673729

ejamer · « **Reply #62 on:** January 09, 2017, 07:23:08 PM »

Quote from: Soren on January 09, 2017, 06:24:26 PM

I'm now almost certain that we'll be adding the Switch to this thread on Friday...

https://twitter.com/DonaldMick/status/818598044505673729

As disappointing and ugly as this would be, it's hard to act surprised given how Nintendo has handled supply for big ticket items over the past... what is it now, decade? Stop the train, I'd like to get off please.

nickmitch · « **Reply #63 on:** January 09, 2017, 10:51:28 PM »

Quote from: ThePerm on January 08, 2017, 09:15:11 PM

Because Scalping Systems and Games should be illegal.

I would be in favor of releasing legislation that prevents people from selling systems at more that 20% MSRP for 3 months after its release. After that have a ball.

The value of an NES classic is that it is a low price system with 30 games. It's a deal for people on a budget. But scalpers came and bought all the systems up and have been upselling them without budging on the price. Scalping is illegal for game, concert, and theatre tickets. It should be illegal here. I think it has gone too far and contributes to holiday violence. It is fucking terrible that you don't see a product in the store, and then it's only impossible for all but the rich to buy.

Places like Stub Hub and the league-sponsored resale sites pretty much legalize scalping though. If you were to make a law, you should make it unanimous. Those sites really irk me because the resell tickets are more expensive because the event is sold out, but the event is sold out because people buy tickets to resell them! The supply/demand curve is all outta whack. AND I'll be those people don't pay taxes on that transaction.

News:

Author Topic: NES Classic and Nintendo's futility trying to meet demand. (Read 14510 times)