Topic: Nintendo Working on Xenoblade Chronicles Stock

[NWR_Karlie]

More copies of the game are on the way this fall to resolve unexpected shortages.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/27745

Nintendo UK are working on resolving the Xenoblade Chronicles stock shortage situation and will have more copies in stores this season.

Following reports online and from our readers that it is difficult to get hold of the game, and online stores including Amazon, Asda, GAME, and others listing the game as unavailable, it is thought that the shortages are caused by unexpected high demand.

Nintendo UK confirmed to us, "We are doing everything we can to get more stock of Xenoblade Chronicles into UK shops this autumn. We know how frustrating stock shortages can be for people, and we are disappointed when even one customer cannot get hold of one of our products."

[Ceric]

And thus we can imply that Xenoblade exceeded there Sales expectation.

From what I heard in the impressions thread this game sounds rock solid.  Wonder when we'll get a review here...

[xcwarrior]

Wow, amazing how it's sold out both in Europe and here in America. I can't find a copy anywhere.

...oh wait, that's because Nintendo of America is run by Reggie who doesn't have a clue what games will sell and what ones won't.

I hope next week we get an announcement at TGS that NOA is stupid and they are going to in fact release this game in the US.

[ejamer]

Good thing NoA didn't bring the game out here. Stock shortages aren't an issue at all in North America.


Edit: Meant as sarcasm more than bitterness... could pass for either though.

[Crimm]

Indeed, they really dodged that bullet.

[Chocobo_Rider]

Now, I heard initial sales in Europe were terrible.

Is that simply because they never made enough copies to sell better than terrible???

... I feel like that happens with third party Wii games rather consistently.

That's why most people don't even know about quality 3rd party Wii games - they're never on the shelves!

[Bman87301]

Wow, amazing how it's sold out both in Europe and here in America. I can't find a copy anywhere.

...oh wait, that's because Nintendo of America is run by Reggie who doesn't have a clue what games will sell and what ones won't.

I hope next week we get an announcement at TGS that NOA is stupid and they are going to in fact release this game in the US.

To be fair, NOA never said they weren't going to release it. Everyone seems to have automatically assumed that "we have no plans at this time" was their politically correct way of saying 'no'. While I certainly don't blame people for preparing for the worst, I think it's more likely that what it really meant was "we're teetering on the idea, we just aren't ready to commit to setting an official release date until we see Europe's sales first".

I believe they were always heavily considering releasing it, and probably even had a finalized box design, manual, etc. already completed and ready months ago and were just waiting on the numbers from Europe.

I have a very strong feeling now that it apparently is a hit in Europe, that we'll get a release date in the upcoming weeks and it might even make it out in time for the holiday season.

[Bman87301]

Now, I heard initial sales in Europe were terrible.

Is that simply because they never made enough copies to sell better than terrible???

... I feel like that happens with third party Wii games rather consistently.

That's why most people don't even know about quality 3rd party Wii games - they're never on the shelves!

Um, Xenoblade Chronicles is a 1st party game... Since you already got one fact wrong, you might want to double-check where you heard initial sales were terrible.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Now, I heard initial sales in Europe were terrible.

Is that simply because they never made enough copies to sell better than terrible???

... I feel like that happens with third party Wii games rather consistently.

That's why most people don't even know about quality 3rd party Wii games - they're never on the shelves!

Um, Xenoblade Chronicles is a 1st party game... Since you already got one fact wrong, you might want to double-check where you heard initial sales were terrible.

Maybe I missed something, but where did NinSage say that it wasn't a 1st party title?

I see him making a comparison to 3rd party titles, but never saying Xeno was not a 1st party title.

[Bman87301]

Maybe I missed something, but where did NinSage say that it wasn't a 1st party title?

I see him making a comparison to 3rd party titles, but never saying Xeno was not a 1st party title.

Maybe not, but he certainly seemed to be implying it to me.

[broodwars]

I'm suddenly reminded of the tagline from Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come."

[Mop it up]

Interesting how they specifically mention online retailers being sold out... I wonder if that's indicative of the number of people who imported the game.

[MegaByte]

Nobody specifically mentioned online retailers. As the article states, it's both physical and online.

[Mop it up]

The article mentioned three online retailers, though I don't know if those latter two have physical stores.

[Chocobo_Rider]

@Bman87301 / BlackNMild2k1yea, sorry that was a bit confusing.  I was sort of using one point to make another.

however, the fact remains, companies cannot be disappointed in poor sales when they don't even make high sales possible.

as for my source, does anyone have any concrete information on current Xenoblade sales?

[that Baby guy]

The problem here is that Nintendo's publishing facilities have been so over-burdened as of late. They just can't handle producing enough of their catalog of new games this year. Give them some time. They'll manage it right after they finish their runs of all those games they've released as of late.

[Bman87301]

@Bman87301 / BlackNMild2k1yea, sorry that was a bit confusing.  I was sort of using one point to make another.

however, the fact remains, companies cannot be disappointed in poor sales when they don't even make high sales possible.

as for my source, does anyone have any concrete information on current Xenoblade sales?

Um, how about this very article? The fact that all stock is sold out seems pretty concrete. Even if we were to assume the initial supply was extremely limited, getting sold out still means it exceeded expectations.

In contrast, we have an entirely unsourced claim that initials sales were terrible... which is pretty much an impossible claim in the first place, since how well an item sells is entirely relative to total amount of units shipped in the first place.

[Ceric]

Go go percentages for equalization.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I think that's kinda his point though.

The game may have sold past expectation, but since they likely shipped much less than Nintendo would hope a game like this would sell, then it is of course going to be disappointing regardless.

Lots of 3rd parties do the exact same thing. Make a game with a big budget, lower expectations at the last minute, severely undership a product, don't even bother to advertise it and then act surprised when it didn't make the Top 10 sales and not even come close to meeting the revised expectations.

[broodwars]

The problem here is that Nintendo's publishing facilities have been so over-burdened as of late. They just can't handle producing enough of their catalog of new games this year. Give them some time. They'll manage it right after they finish their runs of all those games they've released as of late.

Ah, that's some finely-aged sarcasm there.

[Ceric]

I also love when companies think Demand is something that exist uniformly.   I mean if we all got are Nintendo game direct from Nintendo then yeah it all come from one source but the distribution channel we receive the games from is really more diverse then that and it is rarely taken into account.  Thats why to this day you can luck out on Super Princess Peach in a B&M TRU for the regular price when its been sold out online forever.

[Chocobo_Rider]

@Bman87301

The source I used was VGChartz.  I didn't want to mention that because I know as soon as someone says they sought information from vgchartz then every other gamer throws up their arms and goes "oh geez, not that fairy tale?!"

But, yes, I use VGChartz, ya know why? Because they are the best source of sales information we have access to!!  Are they entirely accurate? No.  Is NPD entirely accurate? No... they don't even count online retailers like Amazon.  However, as a readily available guesstimation? I am very willing to use them as some kind of benchmark.

With that out of the way, please don't think I'm trying to make the case that Xenoblade is a failure because I'm one of THOSE people.  Trust me, I want Xenoblade to be a wild success and I want it to come to the states so that I don't have to go through the trouble of importing it!

But, that was the info I saw.

And yea, exceeding expectations is great, but IF they set the bar on the ground it's still not saying much when you clear it, right?

@BlackNMild2k1

Precisely.  It is a vicious cycle of suckitude.

[Ymeegod]

Saleswise the numbers isn't all impressive, sold out yes but that's mainly because they only shipped 38K units and that's not just supply the EU market but all those that imported the game like myself.

Need more copies .  I had to reorder myself since my copy went MIA.  Now I have to wait an month+ just to get it shipped and than another week on top of that for Royal Mail.  Good news is I got a 5 pound coupon for bitching which I used to get the Hotel Dusk sequel that was never released stateside too.

[broodwars]

I know it's annoying dealing with shortages like this, but really this is probably the best way these games could be released.  It's the Atlus strategy: take a niche product, market hard at your core base, and sell your product in limited quantities out of the gate.  If sales prove favorable, you can boast about how it sold out and then make/ship more copies until the sales stop increasing.  You take a niche product, and you sell what you know you can sell without wasting money on what you can't.  Months ago, many of us were saying that's exactly how Nintendo of America could have sold these games in North America.  NoE could have shipped more units at launch, but I'd rather they make too few and have to make more than make too many and then complain about how it didn't move units.

[that Baby guy]

I know it's annoying dealing with shortages like this, but really this is probably the best way these games could be released.  It's the Atlus strategy: take a niche product, market hard at your core base, and sell your product in limited quantities out of the gate.  If sales prove favorable, you can boast about how it sold out and then make/ship more copies until the sales stop increasing.  You take a niche product, and you sell what you know you can sell without wasting money on what you can't.  Months ago, many of us were saying that's exactly how Nintendo of America could have sold these games in North America.

As sarcastic as I was before, this is my actual opinion. I have no objection to game companies less copies than they perceive there is demand if the alternative is no retail release for said game.