Gotta love "feelings"
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Gamestop: Nintendo Switch Selling out in hours not days (Mario Kart Launch info)
- Thread starter Principate
- Start date
Gotta love "feelings"
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
I mean it isn't the main reason why the Switch is hard to find. Doesn't mean Scalpers are helping the situation.
It can be both. People want to give hot takes that it's either or though.
I've been noticing the same thing myself with kids and Zelda. It seems that the open, physics-rich nature of the game is touching a similar part of their brains that Minecraft does, and that's a really huge accomplishment on Nintendo's part. It's great for Nintendo and Videogames in general that kids are getting interested in traditional gaming again.
It will outsell Xbox One's WW LTD in its second year.
I highly doubt scalpers are anywhere near significant enough for us to even need to consider them tbh.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
My kids want one especially my son, but I'm not jumping in at $299.
That being said I already own a console with profiles for us all. So not like they don't have a Switch to play. We just don't all have our own like we do with the 3DS.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe unsurprisingly topped UK retail chart:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Chris_Dring/status/858778392673562624
https://mobile.twitter.com/Chris_Dring/status/858778392673562624
No it won't. The XBO was at 26 million in January. It'll probably be close to 40 million at the end of 2018.
TheFuzz
Member
You think there are 14 million more people who want an XBONE that haven't already bought one when it was at $200? Ain't gonna happen.
A first in 6 years in UK. On the one hand it's obviously good. On the other hand, what happened during these last 6 years?
Not very likely... Scorpio will give a small bump to the hardcore fans but it's already at $200 bottom of the barrel price and still not flying off the shelves... 360 seems like it was a fluke brought on by the PS3's weak start.
Wii U ? :x
I know but I believe Wii U had a bigger userbase when Mario Kart 8 launched. I guess it's because it had more competition the week it released.
What's even more baffling is Mario not toppen the charts since 2008. During that time at least 2 Super Mario Bros (including for Wii) launched, as well as two Mario Karts. How on Earth did none of those top the charts?
Yeah, MK8 launched the same week as Watch Dogs iirc.
Deserves its own thread IMO.
I'm working on it.
Graphics Horse
Member
Please link to the article rather than the tweet, you know what modbot's like
www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-04-30-mario-kart-8-deluxe-is-nintendos-first-uk-no-1-since-2011
It was weird to see the charts posted last bank holiday Monday, this time around we get them on Sunday?!
disappeared
Banned
I forgot how desperate Smithers was in that scene lol
To some degree but you have nonstandard variables here.
First: it isn't in a holiday season specifically, though Christmas isn't a global large gift buying period just a western world one.
Second: it launched with Breath of the Wild, arguably the biggest non-Mario IP to ever launch a system, a much anticipated release since the last one was at the tail end of the Wii's life and had motion based controls, as such it failed to pull in the core Zelda audience, proven by it's ~3.5M sales. Good for most games but a poor finish by Zelda standards, it's basically their equivalent of Gran Turismo 6, except GT6 sold over 5M units.
Third: the Wii U was largely skipped by even Nintendo's core audience, likely because by the time they actually started getting compelling software on it the writing was pretty clearly on the wall for all to see. As such the fact that BotW, MK8, and Splatoon were announced pre-release to hit the Switch makes a very strong argument to the core Nintendo fan that it's worth coming back.
Fourth: per Nintendo this is both the new handheld and the new console. Sure, they say it's replacing Wii U and not ending the 3DS' lifespan but they've also repeatedly said that all future development efforts would be consolidated on the Switch. So a pretty damn strong signal to their rather large handheld audience to get on board too, a handheld audience that move 70M of an only slightly cheaper (for most of it's life) 3DS for vastly inferior hardware.
I could probably go on, but suffice to say that the Switch situation is entirely unique to the Switch. I've personally never thought there was much capacity for true failure. We're talking about a floor in the ~30M unit range, a most likely mid-point in the 50-70M range, and a more likely than floor upper bound of 100M+ units. 2018 and beyond software, pricing, marketing, etc. will determine where it lands but this was never going to be another Wii U short of Nintendo laying an already rotten egg on year one software (i.e. BotW being a flop instead of an all-time classic, Odyssey being at least as bad as Sunshine if not worse, MK8D being a shoddy port, and Splatoon 2 having busted net code).
We're talking about the launch of a new, consolidated, hardware platform in the company's primary business segment.
1. 5M units unsold in the pipeline isn't a problem as that's barely enough to keep most (probably not even all) major market retailers with on-shelf stock. We've seen how little physical presence 3M Switch units have had. We (those of us following the industry long enough anyway) have seen that same phenomenon with the PSV, Wii U, etc. when they were struggling to move units. Or maybe a better analogy for a struggling Switch, the PS3. At one point Sony had nearly eight figures worth of PS3's in the retail pipeline, seemed to have sorted that one out just fine.
2. Everyone, including Nintendo, has managed to release new bundles with units in the pipeline. Everyone deals with older firmware units in the pipeline after literally every firmware update. These re non-issues.
3. Extra units in the pipeline are only waste if they never sell, period. If Nintendo never sells 20M Switches they're getting fucking sold, so why the hell should the CEO, CFO, etc. of Nintendo care? They sure as fuck won't have jobs afterwards, 5M unsold systems in the pipe or no.
4. Lets review your math here. So a $200 per unit production cost, so $4B to push out those 20M units (plus factory startup, etc. costs, but those are simply cost of doing business). Assume at least a 2:1 tie ratio (pretty shit for a Nintendo console mind you) at $35 profit per (about first party industry standard), so $70 per console. Assume another $30 average per unit in accessory profits (also conservative given where Nintendo priced peripherals/accessories). That means every console sold in this format would produce $200 profit. Sell 10M of 20M units and you've broken even on material costs (not R&D and development) with another 10M units already in the pipeline. Sell 15B and you've turn around a profit of rougly $1B, again with 5M in the pipeline to return on the investment.
Nintendo is incredibly risk adverse in hardware production, to the point of actually costing themselves business. This has been proven with the NES Classic most recently but isn't unique to that. For every Wii U where they would have overproduced and taken and hit they've lost at least as many profitable sales early to mid-life on the Wii and DS.
The only validation for constantly shorting their own hardware on the manufacturing end is that it clears the pipe when they roll out revisions and more profitable builds. As the Switch is basically a fucking Tegra tablet with controllers snapped on the side the later of those two depends as much on their contract with Nvidia as real production costs (just go ask MS about that with the OG Xbox).
The first though is a valid reason. The current Switch is the opening move. Where it goes from here is anyone's guess but I'm betting we'll see as much versioning of the Switch as we've seen of the DS and 3DS. After all, Nintendo didn't fire all their hardware engineers despite moving to this one hybrid device future. After a clear two SKU differentiated entirely by color launch window (1-2 years minimum) they'll likely start announcing alternatives, like a smaller, more portable version without removable controllers. I wouldn't be surprised to see one with an X2 in it a la the PS4 Pro/Scorpio either. There's a lot of potential here for reselling the Switch to current owners via hardware modifications, something Nintendo has always monetized well on the handheld side but something also now introduced and validated by their competition on the console side.
But did he want it. Did he really. Look at how he falls behind the girls right at the start when the doors open. He doesn't take advantage of his ability to get ahead of them, push them out of the way which he can easily do or even start utilizing one or two of them as clubs to smash away the competition.
So how desperate was he truly.
sixteen-bit
Member
Congrats to them on the success.
It averaged a little over 8 million a year. Even if it's down slightly even with Scorpio, it's still going to get close approaching 40 million over the next two years. Unless you think it's sales are going to suddenly collapse for no reason.
All bought by scalpers
Well surely switch won't be that high ato the end of 2018
Still looking at how the 3ds just passed the 66 millions ww it appears that if nintendo will actually position it as a true merge of home and portable output it could win in the long run
It debuted number 1, it didn't debuted higher than mk8 wiiu edition (at least they didn't mention a direct comparison in terms of numbers)
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
I think that's a pretty lofty prediction given how much longer Xbone's been on the market. But I can see Switch eventually overtaking Xbone worldwide.
Until chart track release their pr we don't have much to go on. That probably won't happen until Tuesday now.
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Even if it were true that would mean demand is still strong enough that scalpers are still clamoring for them. Scalpers aren't going to buy products that they can't make money on, and unsold systems would've been returned to stores.
SuperCambot
Banned
Well, based on my market analysis of talking to one Best Buy employee in suburban Chicagoland, the Switch and Mario Kart are selling like mad.
Wait so now Wii and 360 are flukes? God damn that generation was strange.
AlexFlame116
Member
I just ordered a copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe today and it won't ship until June since it's out of stock! This thing is popular! But I don't wanna wait that long...
Resistance100
Member
360 a fluke? So it's cheaper price, by far the best online at the time and Gears of war had nothing to do with it?
Jaded Alyx
Member
I see you have come around to the truth.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Hahahahaha genuis.
Ship 10k copies scalpers buy 5k.
Hey look it's sold out!,
3rd parties get on board
???????
Profit!
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
GameStop has it in stock. I just checked and my local stores all have copies. It's popular, but you don't have to wait until June for the game.
Jaded Alyx
Member
EShop.
AlexFlame116
Member
Yeah...but I paid with a gift card...and it's still on Prime Discount...
So I'm kinda tied up there haha!
Dang.
boiled goose
good with gravy
This is the funniest artificial demand post so far.
You know what would convince third parties for support more than selling out?
SELLING MORE. guess how you sell more?
You need to SHIP MORE.
it's confusing, I know.
Nintendo should have just shipped less Wiius and they would have gotten more third party support. Man. Those third party publishers are just so easy to manipulate with headlines. They can't even count total sales.
Splatoon 2 is a core game (even with its aesthetic), which is fine for the people who have Switch now, however Nintendo really need to get those casual games out there to keep sales pumping, otherwise it will definitely taper off.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
If you've got the spare scratch just call them up and cancel the order. Apply the credit to Splatoon 2 or Arms.
Then grab Mario Kart at your local GameStop.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Did you order from Amazon? Their "Ships in 1 to 2 months" estimate is usually bogus. You'll probably have it in a week or so.
AlexFlame116
Member
I want to buy Bomberman since it's on discount today on both Amazon and Best Buy, but the only way I can even afford a game is through the gift card. Tied on money so I'm using it to buy Mario Kart. I wish I could buy Mario Kart at GameStop right now and then use the gift card to buy Bomberman or Puyo Puyo Tetris.
But thanks for the advice! I appreciate it.
I hope so! I want it now!
Charles Brandon
Member
My four year old is becoming very interested in Zelda. We played some Mario Kart this weekend (me, him and his six year old sister) but he was more interested in watching us play Zelda. Later, at the pool, he was pretending to be Link, asking my wife to "press" certain imaginary buttons and then performing the corresponding action. He's a fucking weirdo! But very cute
This is like saying Smash or Mario Kart games are core games.
contact Amazon and see if you can switch your purchase to digital?
Was at the local store today, a line of people waiting to buy Switches. Started interviewing them for an article, they all turned out to be scalpers and sold their Switches right outside the gameshop. There was an actual line of guys getting switches from these scalpers who were in line to get switches from the gamestore. I interviewed these people who were in line as well. They said they were scalpers, trying to buy switches from scalpers to scalp more profit.
The world has gone mad brehs
The world has gone mad brehs
Splatoon 2 is unquestionably friendly towards casuals even if you acknowledge it appeals to core gamers more than something like Mario Kart, which I don't necessarily agree with. I know friends who couldn't care less about most shooters who loved Splatoon.
CrAzY FiNgErS
Member
Lttp for this thread, but anectdotal evidence at local Target show's this problem. A few displays filled full of MK8D and zero Switches.
I've had Switch since launch and went all digital so a physical copy of MK8D won't mean much to me.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Mario Kart is serious business though.