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Nintendo: Switch shortages are definitely not intentional
- Thread starter Spirited
- Start date
*sigh* The point being that at the time it was a discussion point, Neogaf back in 2011 is a time capsule that if looked at paints an image of what people were thinking at that specific time, the internet was ripe with confusion when it came to the name, I only mentioned GAF specifically by name because it's easier to sift through talking points that took place 6 years ago. So bizarre to act like this wasn't a thing. It was no way as bad as the Wii U but it was still an issue during the first year or so that was rectified with heavy marketing and phasing out the DS, clearly that worked.
Man, so my nephew really wanted the Neon version, and i found it FRYs, next to my wife work so i she went to go pick it up before anyone else could. Now I know why it was still there, FRYs forces their bullshit 2 year warranty on you for 60 bucks, what a load of horseshit.
Its one thing to be gouged by some scalping piece of shit, but an actual store? and its not even forcing you to buy a game or some shit, its some useless warranty that doest even cover physical damage, man fuck that store.
Its one thing to be gouged by some scalping piece of shit, but an actual store? and its not even forcing you to buy a game or some shit, its some useless warranty that doest even cover physical damage, man fuck that store.
Yep. GameStop is doing it too with their "bundle."
So you can't decline their warranty offer? Aren't there any consumer laws against being forced that in the US?
eighty(one)
Member
I don't think it was any more than a brand awareness item. The timing of Pokémon Go, Mario Run and then NES are all designed to drive the name recognition of Nintendo. The NES mini mostly, was more of a cheap item available for a few months to bring Nintendos name into the mindshare of most civic nsumers. The WiiU was a brick in the sea and they needed visibility again.
It worked.
levyjl1988
Banned
Does not make sense for amiibo shortages and limited print run on NES Classic.
HamsterExAstris
Member
By definition the mini-console's shortages are intentional - it's not that they can't produce more, they chose not to produce more.
you should peruse the pre-launch Switch threads for context on my comment
it being a discussion point on GAF isn't really indicative of anything other than it being a discussion point on GAF
and like I said before I think the launch price and lack of system selling software were far more responsible for the early 3DS woes than the name. really reaching with that. look what happened when they dropped the price and released Mario Kart 7 and 3D Land.
Louis Cyphre
Banned
Does anyone really know how many they are making each month and how long it takes to ramp up production?
MegaManTrigger
Banned
Because it's easier to think about it as a conspiracy, rather than apply critical thinking to explain why stock is so short.
Bronetta
Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
I'm not saying the shortages are intentional but theres shortages directly due to Nintendo's actions.
I said from the very start, before the Switch blew up that 2 million for a worldwide launch was way too little. Yeah the WiiU flopped with a surplus of inventory but guess what, that was bad forecasting and the Switch being undershipped is also bad forecasting. If Nintendo had locked in a bigger contract in advance they wouldnt be stuck crying about Apple now.
I got my Switch back in March but it sucks for people who cant find one now and by all means, it looks like it'll be hard to find for the rest of the year. Thats not just a testament to how popular the Switch is but also to how incompetent Nintendo's supply chain and forecasting are.
I said from the very start, before the Switch blew up that 2 million for a worldwide launch was way too little. Yeah the WiiU flopped with a surplus of inventory but guess what, that was bad forecasting and the Switch being undershipped is also bad forecasting. If Nintendo had locked in a bigger contract in advance they wouldnt be stuck crying about Apple now.
I got my Switch back in March but it sucks for people who cant find one now and by all means, it looks like it'll be hard to find for the rest of the year. Thats not just a testament to how popular the Switch is but also to how incompetent Nintendo's supply chain and forecasting are.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
holy shit at some of the posts here
so now the story is "they knew the Switch would be a success they should have prepared it, they're so incompetent"? man this hindsight makes the Monado look like a fucking 8 ball!
so now the story is "they knew the Switch would be a success they should have prepared it, they're so incompetent"? man this hindsight makes the Monado look like a fucking 8 ball!
I can't give much info on this, its just the response i always hear back from people on the higher side of the food chain. Needless to say, sunday is usually going to be the best time to grab a switch [in store]. Because, i guess part of the agreement is to redirect all sales to the physical stores and keep it offline. Switches havent been available for store pickup since launch as well.
Weltall Zero
Member
The general opinion seems to be that they didn't expected it to sell that well and they panicked that it would eat virtual console sales. If this is true, then I guess we should expect the SNES mini to either not exist or be far less generous in terms of included games.
Yep, would not sell it to her if she didn't get the warranty, i read online the same shit. I dunno about it being illegal, but yeh they're not gonna get too much of my business anymore.
At least the gamestop bundles offer some tangible value even if you don't want the shit games they force on you, this warranty is a total sham and has no value. I'm willing to bet the electronic warranty on my AMEX is better than theirs.
Hellraizah
Member
Exactly. Funny how many people don't seem to get this. There is a reason why companies come out with limited collector editions and the like.
Zambayoshi
Member
There was a time very recently *cough* Amiibo shortage *cough* where anyone would be forgiven for believing that Nintendo had constrained supply.
In fact, at least in the past, Nintendo had a policy of constraining supply to maintain the hype. Check out the book Console Wars.
In the case of the Switch, it appears that the shortage is due to factors outside Nintendo's control, although arguably the initial manufacturing order could have been increased. Easy to believe that Nintendo was just being cautious after the Wii U debacle.
newtypepilot
Member
I think videogamedunkey nailed it on the mark. Nintendo knows neither marketing nor how to run a business, but they sure know how to make great games.
This hardware shortages is a result of once again, Nintendo failing to understand the demands of its own market. For better or for worse, they have always done defy industry standards by doing their own thing. Some people think this is intentional. I believe it's because they are incompetent.
This hardware shortages is a result of once again, Nintendo failing to understand the demands of its own market. For better or for worse, they have always done defy industry standards by doing their own thing. Some people think this is intentional. I believe it's because they are incompetent.
metalslimer
Member
Apple consistently faces shortages of almost every one of their products. Sometimes there is just a limit to what a company can do. Apple knows they will have a shortage. Doesn't mean they can make 100 million iPhones to prepare, and Nintendo is a vastly smaller company
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
why does this post sounds like "Nintendo should go third party"
Looooool
NipplesAndToes23
Member
I don't understand how Nintendo goes through this, Sony and Microsoft don't.
boiled goose
good with gravy
Nintendo is much more conservative with production.
Nintendo is worse at understanding the market consistently.
Sony and Microsoft are not in a bidding war with apple with components that are in a worldwide shortage...
PS4 was supply constrained for a bit there, though not to the degree that the Switch is but the PS4 also didn't launch in as many countries as the Switch did allowing Sony to better stock the markets that they launched in. punting on Japan for a few months wasn't really an option for Nintendo.
also PSVR wasn't well stocked for a bit
Less than 100k/month in Japan or less than 250k in the US is not "so much demand" that it cant be kept up with. Nintendo has produced more units per month for other platforms before. MS and Sony have done the same. What's ignorant is claiming its demand is the primary factor that has put them in this situation and not a combination of continually reported factors that could have been overcome had they started production earlier instead of trying to keep the Switch hardware secret. Stop trying to convince people that Nintendo had no ability to know others would be interested in the same resources months ago.
CharminUltra
Member
Nintendo's just trying to pull a fast one on us, but they can't fool me!
They're facing competition from apple for components. They're limited in what they can do at the moment.
GoldenEye 007
Member
I'm pretty confident a Walmart near me in Dallas has like 5 in and has for the last few days. I stopped by the electronics section a couple times and they're just sitting there. All gray, though. iStockNow seems to match the number I saw, except it does indicate one neon. It could have been buried in the back of the other boxes.
Is it normal to have the empty box out on the shelf then I assume you take to the cashier to get the real thing?
Is it normal to have the empty box out on the shelf then I assume you take to the cashier to get the real thing?
Just to make certain so people don't keep repeating this like a buzzword.
It's not just Apple or other Smartphone makers but also data centres for companies like Amazon that use NAND flash in their servers.
There has been a recent surge in NAND flash being manufactured for servers because of companies getting into IoT.
Some observers think this surge will cause a bubble to burst so they are cautious about the growth occurring.
Things will slow down once Apple launches their next iPhone this year but who knows if demand for NAND flash for servers will keep increasing.
Why I point out that is NAND flash manufacturers prioritise those server users because they are buying up the latest generational NAND flash tech aside from Apple.
the what?
I mean, you could at least read the first page. Everyone actually knows what's going on and how there is currently a world wide crisis for NAND chips, which is allowing some companies to bully for their share. There's not enough suppliers to actually support the intense demand for NAND chips, that the company that most rely on is waiting for government approval to build another factory. There's also stuff with Samsung and others, I can't remember the whole ordeal and wanting more manufacturers of NAND chips. It's a real mess.
Artificial scarcity to drum up demand only makes sense if the company later supplies enough to fulfill demand (as much as that silly artificial scarcity theory makes sense). The NES Classic is a clear case where they didn't plan on it being as in-demand as it was, and continued production not aligning with their desire to focus on making Switches.
To be fair Microsoft & Sony are bigger companies with more money and resources than Nintendo.
If the average gaffer is confused, people whom are in the know and up to date with games you think that the average consumer is more informed? I hate to be one of "those people" but I knew from the word go that the Wii U was a new system but when even gaffers were confused it didn't paint a good picture as to how the general audience would take it. DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi Xl, 3DS just read as a 3D DS, the increase in power and such wasn't readily apparent to the average person straight away. People figured out in the end like I said, but it took a huge marketing push and wiping away the DS to get there. All you have to do is type in "3ds ds confusion" in order to see the articles and threads made at the time that were prevalent, again there's a reason the slogan in a widely broadcasted advert in the UK stated "This is not Nintendo DS, this is Nintendo 3DS", that's not paraphrasing by the way. Like you said, price and software was key but confusion played a part during the first year or so.
If anybody is illuminati it's apple.
That is not true... Nintendo has at least 10 billions in cash and zero debt, more than enough to get anything done that is possible by others if they actually tried. Its still typical Nintendo answer for everything to me.
Their poor supply borders on negligence at this point. You'd think they'd have their shit together after learning this lesson with their last console.
If you're not making them fast enough, then get to a point where you can make them fast enough. "We're at capacity" is not good enough when you have the means to increase capacity.
If you're not making them fast enough, then get to a point where you can make them fast enough. "We're at capacity" is not good enough when you have the means to increase capacity.
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/06/21/iphone-8-smartphone-makers-scramble/
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN19B39S
Huawei and LG are affected, you looking at the wrong place
It is tablet/smartphone industry problem at this point.
CaviarMeths
Member
Anyone can go and look up the 100+ page thread from January where GAF collectively declared that the Switch was dead on arrival. It's documented history.
But nah half a year later we gotta pretend that it was so obvious that Switch would be a hit and they should have spent 2016 stockpiling components to avoid these shortages.
But nah half a year later we gotta pretend that it was so obvious that Switch would be a hit and they should have spent 2016 stockpiling components to avoid these shortages.
Nintendo could have released a lean and affordable home console, but chose to once again do a goofy and substandard device that requires expensive, low perf and hard-to-source parts in exchange for flexibility that's irrelevant for a lot of users, just like the Wii U. The awful price was the first symptom, the shortage is another. They dug this hole all by themselves.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Yeah it's pretty hilarious. They'd make a perfect replacement for Shulk.