titiklabingapat
Member
It can't be that demand is far outstripping the sizeable supply. No sirree.
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Nintendo: Switch shortages are definitely not intentional
- Thread starter Spirited
- Start date
They ain't gonna benefit if those shortages are still going when /Splat2/Mario/Xeno release.
People playing with others is a far better multiplayer in the case of the Switch.
Khaos Kontrol
Banned
You mean to tell me a company doesn't want to intentionally give up potential revenue in lost sales caused by shortages? No way....
Nitpicker_Red
Member
If you decrease supply to artificially increase demand ratio, the only way to make more money is to increase the price (because you cannot increase the supply without dropping the demand ratio). This is what Apple/special editions does, by putting out products that are priced above the competition but making them "rare".
I don't see the parallel. "Artificial" scarcity doesn't work if your product is just a normal product with a normal price. Most of the problems are likely plain scarcity (either due to too conservative predictions or production limitations). Unless the scarcity is not only artificial, but also a lie, but in this modern age I'm not sure you can just fake an item being sold out and still sell tons of it without being found out.
I don't see the parallel. "Artificial" scarcity doesn't work if your product is just a normal product with a normal price. Most of the problems are likely plain scarcity (either due to too conservative predictions or production limitations). Unless the scarcity is not only artificial, but also a lie, but in this modern age I'm not sure you can just fake an item being sold out and still sell tons of it without being found out.
Mass_Pincup
Banned
The 3DS had a shitty named, looked like the DS and even faced software competition.
The Switch had none of that.
Calm Mind
Member
Nintendo can't "fix" something that's out of their control.
the 3DS had a shitty name? it was a dual screen handheld successor to the DS with glasses free 3D
it was a perfect name
People on here were saying the Switch would fail right out of the gate because it was weaker than a PS4, costs $300 and was launching in the middle of a console generation.
What would have you told those people that the Switch would be a huge success at launch?
Golgo 13
The Man With The Golden Dong
I personally doubt it's going to be easy to find a Switch for a good year or two, great software coming out only increases the demand, and as we all know it's not like Nintendo games drop in price quickly. And soon we'll be seeing bundles with games -- probably around Christmas, and those will fly off the shelves as well. It's interesting to see how long it keeps up.
OkayRene
Member
They're just mad they can't get one and want one really bad.
I don't know why people here acted surprised when Nintendo was very transparent about their plans. The numbers show they were doing all they could to get what they could out there. You also have to remember everything is allocated worldwide, unlike the other two systems. The PS4 wouldn't be out in Japan until this month going by the same timeline. Nintendo said 2 million systems for launch with a small contingency if demand was high. We see that shipped 2.74 in March. Based on sales data, Japan+US makes up about 53-55% if the world wide shipments. In April there was about 500k systems between Japan and US alone, which means they probably shipped 800k-1 million world wide in April. Seeing how Japan only did about 150k systems for May, there was probably 180-200k in the US, meaning 500-700k worldwide.
Adding that all up they have shipped 4.5-5.5 million systems in the first three months. Demands is just stupid insane. They probably should read allocate the market numbers based on demands a little more, since apparently some markets are just sitting on them.
Adding that all up they have shipped 4.5-5.5 million systems in the first three months. Demands is just stupid insane. They probably should read allocate the market numbers based on demands a little more, since apparently some markets are just sitting on them.
OrbitalBeard
Member
I don't think we'll see any Switch bundles this holiday. There's absolutely no need for them, as bundles will only increase demand further.
If it might sound dumb, it's probably because it is and as such, should be avoided.
Surely you missed many of the tinfoil hat posts here.
Yeah. It's a valid and widely used tactic across business, but for many reasons it makes very little sense in the videogame industry (e.g. Attach rates)
Mass_Pincup
Banned
It was a play on the gimmick that they pushed, yeah it's a clever pun but as far as having a clear distinctive name compared to its predecessor the 3DS failed in my opinion.
The same think I said when they announced their 2M forecast.
It was bound to sell all of that quickly worldwide. They have the Japanese market on lock as well as a big diehard fanbase worldwide. Now that they had a competent lead up to launch with a flagship game (which has most of its appeal in the West) releasing with years of hype behind it, 2 millions seemed low to me for launch.
I think with NES Classic, my guess is they realized after releasing it that they left the price dramatically lower than they could have gotten away with, and they were leaving money on the table selling it at $60. I wouldn't be surprised to see an NES Classic 2 at some point at double the MSRP, maybe after the SNES Classic.
Would you have said the same about the 3DS and Wii U launches?
why would a continuation of the DS line have a name that didn't express that? that seems silly to me. it was the next generation of the DS line. it had a dual screen setup with the bottom screen being a touch screen.
your opinion and all that but it just doesn't make any sense to me for the reasons I've listed
the 3DS is honestly one of the most "no shit" hardware names out there
If the shortage was for a month or something then yes, valid point. But when it extends for multiple months and knee-caps the sales of their new, 1st party titles (which have a higher profit margin than hardware), that benefit is lost.
ARMS just hit in Japan. Big title. Nintendo pushing it hard. But the hardware is still so supply constrained that many potential customers for ARMS could not get the hardware to play it on. By the time they can it will be available used.
The psychological benefits of demand will not overcome the financial realities of lost sales.
Mass_Pincup
Banned
Not at all. For the 3DS the reason I outlined early as well as the price were factors. For the WiiU, the launch lineup was underwhelming and the arguably biggest game had a similar entry the same year on 3DS. Most 3rd party games available at launch were released first on the other consoles so if you were interested in that you would've a system which can play them already. And as for the lineup after release it was just barebones, big amount of times between release and not much 3rd party support either. It didn't provide confidence in the console.
Now compare it with the Switch where you basically have a game a month coming from Nintendo in the first year as well as some support from 3rd party and most notably indies.
The name is confusing to me, especially when the DSi was a thing.
There's Splatoon 2 over the summer. Wouldn't be surprised if a Mario Kart bundle is announced if they can get supply to a more steady level. Mario Kart seems like the perfect game to bundle for a holiday period.
The price was a factor for a lot of people here too for the Switch since it was a home console weaker than the PS4 with a $300 price tag and $60 games.
You're talking from the benefit of hindsight though for a few of those things like barebones lineup for the Wii U after launch, we didn't even know most of Nintendo's 2017 lineup for Switch and when they would release until April at the earliest.
This is going to go nowhere so I'll just ask one last thing.
How many hardware units do you think the Switch will sell over 5 years including what has already happened at launch?
can't say I understand that sentiment but :shrug:
Shadoron
Member
AGITΩ;241574904 said:
Nintendo has nothing to do with that. At least here in the States, federal law requires that if a store advertises an item for sale on a certain date, that item must be in stock and for sale, on that date. Otherwise, you would have stores advertising items, even when they didn't have any as a ploy to get customers into the store to buy something else. It's why you see items listed for insanely low prices on Black Friday, yet in small print they always say limited amount. And why there's only like 1 or 2 of those items at each store. It's the retail outlets way of cheating the law: they technically have the item for that price, but it's literally only 1 or 2 per store. If you see an ad at Target that says they will have Switches in stock for a Sunday ad, that's all Target's doing. They hold them back so they comply with the law, and they get a ton customers stopping in to see if they still have them available. Chances are, even if they sell out, they still got you in their store, and you will buy other items you needed from them versus a competitor.
DeuceGamer
Member
Yea, if they had it to do over again I wonder if they wouldn't have charged a bit more, say $80 for it and produced more of them.
SomeRandomWeirdGuy
Member
As a well informed video games enthusiast, it was a name that made perfect sense. But to casuals, it was confusing. I know this because I talked to a bunch of them. After DS light, DSi, and DSi XL, normal ass people just thought it was yet another revision of the DS, and not a full on successor. I heard "Well I don't care about 3D so why would I bother getting a 3DS?" all too often.
Both 3DS and Wii U fell in the same trap, because they both wanted to capitalize on the success of the previous consoles, but neither had good enough marketing to show the public that they were brand new systems early on (or in the Wii U's case, ever).
The Switch managed to avoid that, thankfully.
I see what youre saying, but then the response i hear back from higher ups is that it is an agreement between Nintendo and them. We used to do minimum ad holds, im used to that, the switch is the first "hold all shipments" system almost every shipment.
SolicitorPirate
Member
I mean, the most powerful man on earth was elected largely on the backs of conspiracy theories (and racism). Stupid fantasy thinking is in season right now
The 3DS name is about as straightforward as you can get. The WiiU on the other hand...
Shadoron
Member
AGITΩ;241577644 said:
This is actually really interesting info. Can you give some further details on this? Does Nintendo actually mandate holding all of their Switch shipments for specific release dates across the board, like they are trying to coordinate stock between major retailers?
I see your anecdotal evidence and counter it with my own anecdotal evidence!
I'm kidding obviously but we can't really extrapolate much from individual anecdotes. I'd say more data points to the price and lack of system selling software as the reason why the 3DS struggled early.
also the 3DS actually clearly conveyed what the system was. it was the next generation of hardware in the DS line with 3D.
the Wii U was something else entirely despite being the name of the predecessor with an added letter/number just like the 3DS. the difference is that the 3 added to DS combines to perfectly convey what the system was whereas the U added to Wii did absolutely nothing.
so yeah still not seeing it
Jaded Alyx
Member
Thread didn't disappoint.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
None of these shortages have ever been intentional. It was always a dumbass conspiracy theory that immediately broke down once logic was applied.
Reptars Revenge
Member
What about the classic nes?
IronicSonic
Member
I guess people are quick to forget, the name was very confusing to the general public, this is documented, just take a gander at Neogaf back in 2011. Hell Nintendo in the UK had a narrator in adverts literally say "This is not DS this is Nintendo 3DS", a vast majority of the public thought that it was just another DS which made people including gaffers scratch their head when they did it all over again that same year with the announcement of the Wii U which shared the same fate.
heh, perhaps not the best barometer ;p
psychowave
Member
I don't understand how artificial scarcity is even supposed to work. Yeah, if I have difficulty getting something, I might desire it more for like a couple of weeks. But if I'm unable to buy a console for months I'm likely to just forget about it and move on to other games.
OrangeGrayBlue
Member
I'd imagine they'll be easy-ish to find starting around March or April of next year once holiday hype & Mario stops pushing the system, but depending on their 2018 holiday titles they'll probably be hard to find again starting around late October 2018. And I don't believe they're selling at a loss, so they're well positioned for a price drop more or less when ever they please. It's like the opposite of the Wii U.
Ailike
Member
While artificial scarcity is a doofy conspiracy theory, I'm shocked at the people still sticking up for Nintendo just being bad at business. They've been doing this for 30+ years. They should know better. Is it Japanese corporate culture? Is it the videogame medium in general? I dunno.