Yeah, I've argued before and I'll continue to argue that I really don't understand the "artificial scarcity is a major marketing stunt that pays off for Nintendo!" analysis. To me, the far more likely scenario is just that they want to err on the side of being conservative. Which situation is worse: having a pent-up demand for your early wave Amiibos that you undershipped, or having warehouses full of unsellable Animal Crossing Amiibos that you have vastly overestimated the demand for?
People want to point at the recently released NES Classic Mini as an obvious sell-out product that Nintendo clearly wanted to create hysteria for. But I don't know if this is really all that clear. Honestly, my thought is that this wasn't really conceived as a major product and as such they didn't necessarily have a lot invested in it. It's a total one-off. There was no plan to sell more games or accessories (outside of maybe another controller). It only costs $60. After distribution costs, retail's cut, and third party licensing costs, how profitable can it possibly be? My suspicion is that they are neither kicking themselves at all the lost profits nor is there a grand plan on how to convert that pent up demand into major sales.
I brought this up before in a different thread, but does anyone here remember that that Wii U GC controller adapter was practically impossible to find for some time? Was that them being marketing geniuses as part of some master plan to promote a niche device with incredibly limited applications? Or is it perhaps more likely that it was conceived as a niche device with no long-term prospects?
There's a breakdown in communication both within Nintendo and it's subsidiaries, to its customers, and to distributers/retailers. It's a cascade effect of assumptions and truths.
The GameCube adapter was a pain to find. I happened to get lucky and call a local GameStop of all places on the launch weekend for Smash Wii U and they had one in stock. Never used the thing outside of the first few weeks the game came out. The demand for the controller and adapter seem to have leveled off long ago and whatever is still in inventory sort of sits on store shelves.
I don't think in this case the GameCube adapter was meant to be a high volume product whereas the game itself was a showcase celebration of Nintendo and partner IP and Nintendo clearly wanted to sell as much of the core product as possible. GameCube support seemed like an unpopular idea within Nintendo but a suitable compromise for passionate players.
Eh, Nintendo has repeatedly undershipped 3DS games in some cases. I remember Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon and some other 2013 and beyond releases having smaller initial shipments, supposedly to bolster digital sales on the eShop.
The NES Classic definitely feels like a GameCube Adapter all over again. It creates a reproduction of a classic controller with a small emulation box pre-loaded with 30 games.
The console and controller do not seem. Very difficult to reproduce. The Allwinner SoC is pretty much off the shelf and the casing is very much a scale of what existed 30 years ago. I believe stories about retailers putting in low orders for them in fear it would be an end-cap retro box like Sega and Atari plug-in-plays. In reality, it was a very focused, well made product.
Amiibo, New Nintendo 3DS XL Majora's Mask Edition, and pretty much every release felt tactical. They'd make enough to sell and not replenish. Keeps inventories empty and retailers with products that are moving off shelves and out of their warehouses at the expense of customer satisfaction. People will continue to want these products based on discussion, hype, and desire to buy them.
I've somehow managed to get the black regular N3DS, Majora's Mask system, NES Classic, various Amiibo, Fire Emblem Dates SE, and that GC controller at retail price but it ain't for lack of trying. I've been very overly proactive on Twitter and SlickDeals.