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Nintendo and their fabricated hardware shortages

OsirisBlack

OsirisBlack

Banned
I haven't seen this discussed and was simply wondering if it was acceptable because this is a Nintendo thing. I checked to make sure it wasn't just gamestop and it isn't, several other retailers are reporting the same thing. Nintendo is only allowing an extremely limited number of preorders for the switch system and it doesn't currently look like we will be receiving any additional units outside of preorders. Either they aren't expecting it to do well outside of their hardcore fan base or they are with holding units to manufacture demand. Either way I'm not sure it's a good move on their part.
 
shanafan

shanafan

Member
I think that the fact that most people were able to get a preorder in the first 12 hours after the Switch presentation was a good thing.

But, if Nintendo can fulfill all of those preorders, that's a whole other issue (I hope it's not an issue).
 
P

Peltz

Member
I take issue with your use of the word "fabricated". What videogame hardware/software shortages aren't man-made?

Are you saying that Nintendo is sitting on a stock pile of systems that have been manufactured that they do not want to sell? Because that would make no sense. They'd lose money housing those systems.

Are you saying Nintendo is deliberately not manufacturing enough consoles to meet demand? Well, I take issue with that accusation. It also makes no sense.

Are you saying Nintendo is too conservative with their sales projections? Considering how new of a product Switch is and the time of year it's coming out as well as the price and limited library, I could see where they are coming from. But that's the only sort of accusation that would make sense.
 
K

Krakatoa

Member
I don't think its a fabricated shortage. They are going for a Global launch and can only make a certain number of units available launch day. This happens with any hardware launch. See Apple etc...
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
They are an extremely conservative company that doesn't know how to forecast sales very well. There's no ulterior motive.
 
S

Seik

Banned
I don't think it's fabricated honestly. Nintendo have absolutely no gain by doing this.

I think it's more about Nintendo not having a clue. :lol
 
C

Captain Smoker

Member
d0a7c87f26ba0a0cd6cb7ehjgo.jpg
 
J

JoeM86

Member
Nintendo got burned by the Wii U launch when units just didn't shift, so they're being more conservative.

It's not fabricated hardware shortages, it's them being conservative because it bit them in the ass last time
 
S

Sword Of Doom

Member
shanafan said:
I think that the fact that most people were able to get a preorder in the first 12 hours after the Switch presentation was a good thing.

But, if Nintendo can fulfill all of those preorders, that's a whole other issue (I hope it's not an issue).
Click to expand...

I watched the presentation, went to sleep and when I got up preorders were gone.


I could not get a preorder. I'm sure many couldn't
 
NOLA_Gaffer

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
I just wish I could get a solid idea how how many non pre-order units retailers are expecting for release day so I can decide whether or not it's worth waiting outside a store.

Still rather bummed that I couldn't secure a pre-order for the hardware from anybody.

shanafan said:
I think that the fact that most people were able to get a preorder in the first 12 hours after the Switch presentation was a good thing.

But, if Nintendo can fulfill all of those preorders, that's a whole other issue (I hope it's not an issue).
Click to expand...

That 12-hour timeframe doesn't really mean much when the presentation was at night. I was on my honeymoon at the time and went to sleep early (long day at Disneyland) with the next day being our "flying home" day, the only chance I really got to sit down and look into any Switch news was probably closer to 18 hours after the presentation.
 
C

CeePhour

Banned
You do understand that in order to make money they need product available to buy, right?

Artificial supply constraints are not how you do that.

It takes time to fabricate, test, package, and ship each Switch. Which takes time and money. Balancing how much money you have into production/stock is good business sense.
 
TDLink

TDLink

Member
They don't fabricate shortages. North America is an extremely large region with thousands of towns and cities that need supply. It's extremely difficult to properly supply the entire region when a product is in high demand. Big cities are always going to get more than smaller places and are still likely to run out due to higher population.
 
V

vsbizarro

Banned
Man, I'm brazilian and already buy my pre-order...

Detail: Nintendo is not even more working in Brazil. Of course, if u want to boy, or looking to buy right now... well. u're a bit late .-.
 
P

Peltz

Member
CeePhour said:
You do understand that in order to make money they need product available to buy, right?

Artificial supply constraints are not how you do that.

It takes time to fabricate, test, package, and ship each Switch. Which takes time and money. Balancing how much money you have into production/stock is good business sense.
Click to expand...

Again, I don't understand the use of the word "artificial" here. Could someone explain?
 
Toadthemushroom

Toadthemushroom

Member
Huh, this gets discussed a lot, both where it's absolutely valid (NES Classic) and yet to be determined (Switch).

I'm not sure why this thread if Nintendo-specific really, I see an equal amount of lamentation over the fabricated hardware shortages for the PlayStation VR. For instance, the device is "sold out" on both Amazon UK and GAME right now.

And pre-orders for the device were highly limited - rather than have the initial launch day allocation available to retailers from day one, only chunks of it were released at a time in order to create the illusion of a sold-out, high-demand product.
 
OsirisBlack

OsirisBlack

Banned
Peltz said:
I take issue with your use of the word "fabricated". What videogame hardware/software shortages aren't man-made?

Are you saying that Nintendo is sitting on a stock pile of systems that have been manufactured that they do not want to sell? Because that would make no sense. They'd lose money housing those systems.

Are you saying Nintendo is deliberately not manufacturing enough consoles to meet demand? Well, I take issue with that accusation. It also makes no sense.

Are you saying Nintendo is too conservative with their sales projections? Considering how new of a product Switch is and the time of year it's coming out as well as the price and limited library, I could see where they are coming from.
Click to expand...
I doubt they are withholding units but they may be playing it too safely / conservative
 
G

Ghost Lynx

Member
It's not a fabricated shortage. After how the Wii U performed, can you really be surprised by the number of units they are shipping to stores? They'd rather be somewhat on the conservative side, and who can blame them?

Store shelves cost money. Stock rooms in the back of stores cost money. They want to distribute the number of consoles they can sell realistically, and that is still somewhat TBD.

And also, I honestly feel like this is discussed to death, so I'm surprised that you're saying you haven't seen it being talked about.
 
V

VariantX

Member
alr1ght said:
They are an extremely conservative company that doesn't know how to forecast sales very well. There's no ulterior motive.
Click to expand...

Probably this. They made a bad call with NES Classic and allocated too many units to the eastern markets. I guess they made the wrong assumption about the demand for the little thing in the west.
 
B

bomblord1

Banned
giphy.gif


How much is "extremely limited" some stores had up to 60 pre-orders and Nintendo has apparently ordered 3mil screens for the first wave and up to 10mil by the end of the year.

If it's outselling that then they have a bona-fide hit on their hands not a fake shortage.
 
J

Jakoo

Member
If the shortages for the NES Classic were "fabricated", they certainly did a bad job of it since they "manufactured" all that hype for it to be the hot Christmas toy....and was then ultimately unable to adequately resupply it before the holiday.

I don't think the shortages are manufactured--I think it's incompetence and a lack of an ability to read the market.
 
T

thechristoph

Sir!
The world is yuuuge. They can only make X number of units leading up to launch. When Z is the number of people who want to buy a Switch and Z > X, there is a shortage. Nothing artificial about that.

The Omega Man said:
It's this a meme at this point? or are we expect to see this on each Switch thread from now on?
Click to expand...

I use the "GAF is one person" ironic meme all the time. But I don't think most people are ironic about it.
 
M

muteki

Member
shanafan said:
I think that the fact that most people were able to get a preorder in the first 12 hours after the Switch presentation was a good thing.

But, if Nintendo can fulfill all of those preorders, that's a whole other issue (I hope it's not an issue).
Click to expand...

Shouldn't be acceptable, or the standard. Nowhere near "good".

I mean, it is entirely possible that there are legitimate shortages, tons of things can go wrong on the manufacturing side to cause it. You would never be able to prove anything though.
 
N

NSESN

Member
alr1ght said:
They are an extremely conservative company that doesn't know how to forecast sales very well. There's no ulterior motive.
Click to expand...
Exactly, just read Nintendo exec's interviews, it's like Nintendo has a whole strange view of the market that no one else has.
 
S

Symbiotx

Member
shanafan said:
I think that the fact that most people were able to get a preorder in the first 12 hours after the Switch presentation was a good thing.

But, if Nintendo can fulfill all of those preorders, that's a whole other issue (I hope it's not an issue).
Click to expand...

Were they? I wasn't able to get one.
 
Toadthemushroom

Toadthemushroom

Member
NSESN said:
Exactly, just read Nintendo exec's interviews, it's like Nintendo has a whole strange view of the market that no one else has.
Click to expand...

They either undership or overship leading to really cheap games. Last/this generation they overshipped Dead or Alive Dimensions, Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise, Rhythm Paradise, Another Code R, Code Name STEAM and Picross 3D.

Hardware's harder to tell because launches are so rare. I'd say they were unaware of the effect Pokémon Go would have on lifting 3DS hardware sales in North America though, apparently it was hard to find over the winter period?
 
ArtHands

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
When the Switch didn't sell out, its 'RIP Nintendo, Switch is DOA, nobody is buying it!'
When the Switch is sold out, its 'fabricated hardware shortages'
 
A

AcademicSaucer

Member
OsirisBlack said:
I haven't seen this discussed and was simply wondering if it was acceptable because this is a Nintendo thing. I checked to make sure it wasn't just gamestop and it isn't, several other retailers are reporting the same thing. Nintendo is only allowing an extremely limited number of preorders for the switch system and it doesn't currently look like we will be receiving any additional units outside of preorders. Either they aren't expecting it to do well outside of their hardcore fan base or they are with holding units to manufacture demand. Either way I'm not sure it's a good move on their part.
Click to expand...

They have a shit launch lineup outside Zelda , a game thats also available on Wii U, and is coming out in March. I bet they dont want to end up with dead stock and losing money .
 
M

maxcriden

Member
Toadthemushroom said:
Huh, this gets discussed a lot, both where it's absolutely valid (NES Classic) and yet to be determined (Switch).

I'm not sure why this thread if Nintendo-specific really, I see an equal amount of lamentation over the fabricated hardware shortages for the PlayStation VR. For instance, the device is "sold out" on both Amazon UK and GAME right now.
Click to expand...

Is there proof in either case that the HW shortages are intentional or fabricated? I've never seen it proven that NES Classic for example can validly be said to have intentionally/fabricated shortages in order to drive demand. My understanding is that it's equally possible that the situation is as Joe writes below:

JoeM86 said:
Nintendo got burned by the Wii U launch when units just didn't shift, so they're being more conservative.

It's not fabricated hardware shortages, it's them being conservative because it bit them in the ass last time
Click to expand...

That is not to say that Nintendo is good at estimating demand, certainly for NES Classic we saw they were not.

There are also tales of Nintendo of America intentionally selling fewer copies of a product in order to hit milestones and get better bonuses, but I don't know whether that has been proven.

(I expect based on our previous (unrelated) convos that you probably don't disagree with anything I wrote, your post just seemed like a good one to use as a springboard for reply ^^)
 
W

wrowa

Member
I mean, they already told us they'll ship 2 million units in March, which seems to be a reasonable enough number.
 
A

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
I think it easy to say, in hindsight, that something would have sold well. But stuff like the tons of Wii U consoles and the Animal Crossing amiibos show that its quite complex.
 
S

Skittzo0413

Member
Can you provide some sort of source for these numbers OP? I've seen people here say that their Gamestop is getting upwards of 50 or 60 consoles at launch, which doesn't seem all that limited to me...
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Nintendo and product shortages are like gaming's original conspiracy theory. I don't know how true any particular instance is, but lots of people just accept it unquestioningly.
 
S

Saganator

Member
People are forgetting the N64. That thing was damn near impossible to get from launch to after its first holiday season. Artificial or not, they're notorious for supply shortages, they need to get their shit together.
 
A

aBarreras

Member
Peltz said:
Again, I don't understand the use of the word "artificial" here. Could someone explain?
Click to expand...

when you are manufacturing 1000 switchs an hour, but people are buying 1500 switch an hour, thats a natural shortage.

when people are buying 1000 switch an hour, and you can make 1000 switchs an hour but decide to just make 500 an hours just to "create" the illution that all people want this product
 
S

Skronk

Banned
There's no benefit to Nintendo as a company creating sales scarcity. They want to sell as much as possible but they are playing it safe so the numbers look good for investors.
 
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