Topic: Xenoblade for 400 dollars?! WHY is Nintendo allowing this to happen?!

[UncleBob]

Nintendo produces to meet retailer demand.  Generally.

You make a good point that Nintendo's customer is typically the retail outlet that sells the game to the end-user, but in Xenoblade's case, they offered it only through Gamestop or Nintendo's website.

Just a guess, but considering Xenoblade was a virtually unknown JRPG on a dying system owned by casual Wii Fit players, what are the odds that GameStop was the only major retailer that expressed any interest in carrying it?

Perhaps Nintendo only sold it via GameStop because no one else really cared to carry it.

[pokepal148]

but what about amazon and other online retailers

[Ian Sane]

Nintendo produces to meet retailer demand.  Generally.

You make a good point that Nintendo's customer is typically the retail outlet that sells the game to the end-user, but in Xenoblade's case, they offered it only through Gamestop or Nintendo's website.

Just a guess, but considering Xenoblade was a virtually unknown JRPG on a dying system owned by casual Wii Fit players, what are the odds that GameStop was the only major retailer that expressed any interest in carrying it?

Perhaps Nintendo only sold it via GameStop because no one else really cared to carry it.

I always assumed that GameStop came to Nintendo and offered to help publish the game in exchage for exclusivity.  NOA sat on this game for over a year during a time when the Wii was going months without any games and ANY title would have been welcome.  It was probably less of an issue of Nintendo finding a store that would carry it as much as GameStop convincing NOA to release the game at all.  If NOA wanted to release it they probably would have in 2011.  GameStop observed Operation Rainfall and figured there was some demand for Xenoblade and made a deal with Nintendo.

And what is so impressive about this is that GameStop's deal with Nintendo is precisely WHY the game is rare and can now be sold for $90.  It's like the whole thing was carefully orchestrated like some bank heist in a movie.

[Khushrenada]

One thing I found odd was that here in Canada, other outlets besides EB Games (owned by Gamestop) carried Xenoblade. I saw it for sale at Future Shop and Best Buy on their shelves. It may even been at Superstore and Wal-mart but my memory is fuzzy on those two and I may just be associating seeing Last Story and Pandora's Tower on their shelves with also including Xenoblade. But for sure, FS and BB had it.

In fact, it was during a visit to a Best Buy to kill a bit of time and see what might be for sale that I realized they didn't have any copies of Xenoblade in stock. Worried I might have missed my chance, I then went to other locations of BB and FS and couldn't find any. The website said they had no stock to order online. Went to EBGames but they were out of stock also. EBay prices were already getting to $70 and higher for copies.

I checked out one other video game store called Play N' Trade and they still had 3 new copies so I bought one at $63.00 which I was kicking myself for because I could have bought it for fifty-some dollars on release so waiting on the purchase backfired. However, considering the situation in purchasing a copy now, I guess I still didn't do too bad. Since I hadn't planned on playing it anytime soon, I never bothered to unwrap it. I still have it sealed and untouched. Right now, it's probably the most valuable game I own.

The point of this reminiscing however is that in Canada, EBGames didn't seem to have an exclusive deal on this title. Same thing with Chibi-Robo. I think Wal-Mart was supposed to be the exclusive retailer for that game in the states but here in Canada, EBGames was selling brand new copies of the game also. Who knows how this stuff gets figured out?

[Ian Sane]

The only place in Canada I saw with Xenoblade besides GameStop was Willow Video Games, a local chain in the Vancouver area I frequent.  But this was a few months after the game came out and I figured they got new copies through GameStop clearing them out or something like that, as the store has had new copies of out-of-print games through methods like that before (ie: liquidation).  I assumed it was an exceptional circumstance.  But then I was never one to casually browse the Wii section of major stores like Best Buy (like I want to stare at a shelf full of Petz and Carnival Games) so if they were there I wouldn't have noticed them.

But it's a different country so different deals are made.  I assume Canadian stores get their stock from Nintendo of Canada.

[UncleBob]

I always assumed that GameStop came to Nintendo and offered to help publish the game in exchage for exclusivity.  NOA sat on this game for over a year during a time when the Wii was going months without any games and ANY title would have been welcome.  It was probably less of an issue of Nintendo finding a store that would carry it as much as GameStop convincing NOA to release the game at all.  If NOA wanted to release it they probably would have in 2011.  GameStop observed Operation Rainfall and figured there was some demand for Xenoblade and made a deal with Nintendo.

Retailers took a pretty big hit with Sin and Punishment.  I think they were reluctant to bite on Xenoblade.  Even if a few big online retailers were interested, there's a chance that the order quantity just wasn't enough to interest Nintendo until GameStop came along and said "Hey, make it exclusive and we'll order X amount."

But this is all meaningless speculation at this point.

[Shaymin]

I saw one copy of Xenoblade at a Canadian Best Buy, and it was a preowned.

Then again, I day 1'd the game so it's not like I was looking too hard.

[lolmonade]

Because this isn't a big deal to them or Gamestop.

This is sadly the truth.  It probably comes down to a few factors:

1)  Nintendo doesn't think the investment to gather pre-orders and print new copies is worth the time & resources, especially since:
2)  Nintendo seems to be strapped resource-wise anyway.  We've all read the articles about how Nintendo has found HD games harder to produce than they've anticipated, and it's caused the Wii U games to come out at a trickle.  With the limited resources they have, they have to focus on the projects that'll provide the best possible return on investment.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure Xenoblade is on that list.

[lolmonade]

Nintendo produces to meet retailer demand.  Generally.

You make a good point that Nintendo's customer is typically the retail outlet that sells the game to the end-user, but in Xenoblade's case, they offered it only through Gamestop or Nintendo's website.

Just a guess, but considering Xenoblade was a virtually unknown JRPG on a dying system owned by casual Wii Fit players, what are the odds that GameStop was the only major retailer that expressed any interest in carrying it?

Perhaps Nintendo only sold it via GameStop because no one else really cared to carry it.

That's a fair enough point.  I'm noticing the larger chains' (Target, Best Buy) game selections are being scaled-back in my area, so it's quite possible that they didn't want to take what was considered a niche title and then end up having to put it in a discount bin a few months later if they didn't sell.

My initial point was that from a consumer standpoint, you would hope that Nintendo would offer copies through their website again if there was potential demand enough that Gamestop can get away with selling copies at $90.

[UncleBob]

That would, of course, all depend on what their initial agreement with GameStop was.  They may not be able to do it at this point.

[pokepal148]

perhaps gamestop was the only physical retailer who would take it but that doesn't explain amazon or the like.

[nickmitch]

Well, it looks like they're at it again!

[UncleBob]

Amazon has to place orders like everyone else.  Determine how much they think they'll be able to sell, order them, and store them until someone places an order for them.

And, remember, Amazon isn't exactly on the best of terms with Nintendo right now.  They're sure not going to go out of their way to sell some niche game for Nintendo.

We have no reason to believe Amazon expressed *any* interest in ordering a large enough quantity of Xenoblade to make it worth Nintendo's time to release it.

[pokepal148]

so I can possibly go for a b1g1 free sale on the two or I can go for a b2g1 free sale and wind up paying 180 for the whole thing.

[Retro Deckades]

Considered ordering a copy of MPT through GameStop's website, but they want $20 to ship the game to Canada. F*** that noise!

[Khushrenada]

Retailers took a pretty big hit with Sin and Punishment. 

True. I picked up a brand new copy for $10 bucks at a local Best Buy as they were clearly trying to get rid of the stock.

[toddra]

I got out of Wii in '08 or so, did the drought really get so severe by the end that it was this bad or is this just a case of one game going unnoticed? One thing that has kept me from getting into Wii U is the shortage of games and not wanting to go through such long dry spells again. 

[nickmitch]

I accidentally ordered two copies (never got the first confirmation page) from Newegg and they sent me both and refunded my money. I think it was $20 at the time.

[Sundoulos]

Amazon has to place orders like everyone else.  Determine how much they think they'll be able to sell, order them, and store them until someone places an order for them.

And, remember, Amazon isn't exactly on the best of terms with Nintendo right now.  They're sure not going to go out of their way to sell some niche game for Nintendo.

We have no reason to believe Amazon expressed *any* interest in ordering a large enough quantity of Xenoblade to make it worth Nintendo's time to release it.

If I recall correctly, at the apex of the Operation Rainfall efforts, there was enough push to (briefly) put preorders for "Monado" at the top of the Amazon pre-orders list.   I don't know what happened of course, or what that would have meant in terms of overall sales, but I can't believe that Amazon was happy about losing those sales once the exclusivity deal with Gamestop was announced.   

[nickmitch]

That's because they got a bunch of people to pre-order it at once, specifically on Amazon.com, to get attention. Those pre-orders can't be taken seriously.

[UncleBob]

What Nick said.  And I don't think it really takes a lot to get to #1 on Amazon.  The $150 Zelda Strategy Guide box set hit #1 - and while it's super neat, I don't see it being a *huge* seller.

[Oblivion]

That's because they got a bunch of people to pre-order it at once, specifically on Amazon.com, to get attention. Those pre-orders can't be taken seriously.

Microsoft did with the Xbox One preorders.

[nickmitch]

Did what? Ask a bunch of people to pre-order it on Amazon?

[Oblivion]

No, you said no one can take Amazon pre-orders seriously. Microsoft did.

[nickmitch]

Oh. Well, I think Xbox One pre-orders are a bit more genuine. The Op. Rain Fall thing was people telling Amazon that they were going to buy a game from them that they knew Amazon probably wasn't going to sell, and in some cases they probably wouldn't even have bought it from them. That kind of statement can't be taken as serious commitments to buy.