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Asda (Major UK Supermarket) to stop selling 3DS/Wii U

mr-paul

Member
For a while last gen Asda were really good for games, I remember picking up quite a few Wii and 3DS games from there for prices comparable to online. Now their gaming section is pretty much a waste of space, especially for Nintendo products.

Sad news, but not too unexpected.
 

mclem

Member
Not hugely surprised - I'd noticed that the local ASDA Living store (i.e. more homewares than groceries) was selling a ton of Skylanders and Disney Infinity, yet never stocked Amiibo. Given how Amiibo is doing pretty well, I thought there was probably some other reason for it than lack of demand. Stopping Nintendo product as a blanket move would make sense.
 

amardilo

Member
Might have to pop into my local ASDA to see if there are any Wii U games on sale.

Maybe they should think about cutting the price of their games every once in a while, so that we don't have to pay £35-40 for a game that came out two years ago. Then they might fare better.

I have that problem with the Wii U. The games hardly ever seem to go on sale or be part of deals (buy 2 get 1 free or whatever) and hold their price for a long time.

If there were more games on sale for under £30 I'd buy a lot of them.
 

Percy

Banned
Any Tesco or Asda near me dropped their Nintendo sections in early 2014. It's a minor annoyance as they never bothered maintaining these sections when they actually had them in the first place, but at least I was able to get a ton of cheap games when they were offloading their stock at the time.

So thank/fuck you in equal measure UK supermarkets I guess.
 

Omikaru

Member
No ASDA near me, or I'd be there in a flash looking for some 3DS game deals. I've been eyeing up a few games and haven't pulled the trigger due to Nintendo's insane pricing policy.
 

Facism

Member
For a while last gen Asda were really good for games, I remember picking up quite a few Wii and 3DS games from there for prices comparable to online. Now their gaming section is pretty much a waste of space, especially for Nintendo products.

Sad news, but not too unexpected.

yup, you used to be able to get some good gaming deals at ASDA. Now they're like Tesco and don't even bother competing. Bloodborne is £49 at my local. Hilarious fucking pricing. They shouldn't bother.
 
Supermarket game prices are shitty anyway—they're all trying to reposition themselves and streamline their offerings so as to focus on food-based products and cut prices. Especially due to increased competition from Aldi, Lidle and Amazon.
 
I hate ASDA. Somehow they manage to make every single one of their stores in to the most unpleasant shopping experience possible
I think the store layout is part of that. The aisles feel a bit narrower than the other supermarkets...or perhaps the customers are a bit wider (sorry Asda shoppers :( ).

I also thought ASDA had stopped stocking Nintendo games a few years back, no ASDA close to me so i never go into one.

Slightly off topic i know, but maybe relivent, my local HMV has in the last few weeks put a tiny Nintendo games shelf up, just a couple of WiiU games, more 3DS games though, next time i am in i take a photo.

I wonder with the PS4/X1 sales taking off the WiiU is being considered as last gen with the PS3 & X360? (I know the WiiU isn't but i think it maybe being bundeled in like that in the corprate meetings).
I remember about a year ago HMV doing the same. Here was the joke. They had no stock. They were literally wasting shelf space on nothing.

So is there any news on a price cut for the actual SKUs?
OP says not for now. Kind of shit situation; "Hey stores clear these out but if you do you'll make a loss and remember you can't be selling things at a loss if you want your team to receive their bonuses".

OK, so what I'm hearing here is: sweet ASDA Wii U deals incoming
Since the averagew Asda store has 0.7 Wii U games I really doubt it. There was a reason why the hotukdeals thread included the words "wild goose chase" in the title.

Not hugely surprised - I'd noticed that the local ASDA Living store (i.e. more homewares than groceries) was selling a ton of Skylanders and Disney Infinity, yet never stocked Amiibo. Given how Amiibo is doing pretty well, I thought there was probably some other reason for it than lack of demand. Stopping Nintendo product as a blanket move would make sense.
I blame the packaging. It is comically large. If Asda were to stock it that would be half of the Nintendo section. Plus they can't keep the things behind the drawer like they do games so they are a security risk (even though the large packaging was meant to reduce this...at least that what GAF told me when I complained about that aspect).

Amiibo are depressing for the UK as the only physical locations with national presence are Argos where you'll see a lone Pikachu or Samus and GAME who charge £15 (£4 more than the RRP) because they are on the road to going bust again. Ordering online has the risk of getting a shit paint job.
 

geordiemp

Member
Indeed their competition is now coming from the likes of Aldi and Lidl who don't even sell things like videogames.

As for Nintendo, this gen has felt very GameCube era, when in fact it's probably even worse than that. They'll really have to do something drastic to turn things around again next gen. They've got to win the minds of not just the consumer, not just the third party publishers, but also the retailers.

The supermarkets have large areas dedicated to gaming. There is just no Nintendo presence as there is no regular demand in UK (check UK PAL charts).

This has been this way for years now.
 

dh4niel

Member
Kinda reminds me of when stores were trying to get rid of Game Cubes. Argos was apparently selling them for 40 bucks back in the day.
 
I wouldn't shop for games in ASDA. If I desperately wanted to buy a videogame from a supermarket, I'd go to Tesco or Sainsbury's - my local Tesco still has Vita games.

Wonder what this means for Splatoon though. And the inevitable Pokemon 3DS game which will be out this holiday.
 

NolbertoS

Member
I remember when I visited the UK, Asda barely had a game section. Reminded me of K-mart TBH, more than Walmart atateside. Tesco is more like Walmart. My ex at that time did most of her shopping at Game and Amazon.uk. Online Delivery is bigger in the UK than the US. You'd be surprised how alot of people would rather buy clothes and games online, compared to the US.
 
Does "supermarket" mean department store in the UK? It means grocery store in NA (or maybe just the US). Or did they sell game consoles at grocery stores?
 

NolbertoS

Member
Does "supermarket" mean department store in the UK? It means grocery store in NA. Or did they sell game consoles at grocery stores?
By the way Supermarket in Canada means they sell clothes, electronics, kitchenware, shoes and not just groceries. A market is where you would find anything, hence supermarket. Department atores don't sell groceries, only the rest of the other stuff.
 

Azzawon

Member
Supermarkets have more shelf space for Skylanders/Infinity now. I was a little pissed when I was hoping to find some Amiibo in my local Tesco but they're online only too, by the looks of it. From my last visit, I would say the shelf space went a bit like this:

Sony (PS3, PS4, Vita, peripherals and wallet/subs) - 30%
Xbox (360, XB1, peripherals and credit/subs) - 30%
PC - 10%
Wii U/3DS games - 10%
Skylanders/Infinity (carry cases etc. included) - 20%
 
It was always weird to me that games (and especially consoles) are sold and agressively pushed in supermarkets in the UK. In Germany you either buy them online or in the major electronic chains like Media Markt or Saturn

Same. Supermarkets simply don't sell games here.
Only Cards for Steam, Eshop etc. can be found in several.
 

Kyari

Member
None of the ASDA stores around me have stocked Wii U for ages at this point, save for 1 or 2 of the top selling new releases, and top 5 3DS games maybe?

Tesco is the same.
 

D4Danger

Unconfirmed Member
Supermarkets have more shelf space for Skylanders/Infinity now. I was a little pissed when I was hoping to find some Amiibo in my local Tesco but they're online only too, by the looks of it. From my last visit, I would say the shelf space went a bit like this:

Sony (PS3, PS4, Vita, peripherals and wallet/subs) - 30%
Xbox (360, XB1, peripherals and credit/subs) - 30%
PC - 10%
Wii U/3DS games - 10%
Skylanders/Infinity (carry cases etc. included) - 20%

I was in a Sainsbury's yesterday and they had a huge amount of shelf space for Skylanders stuff. Right on the end too not just tucked in with the electronics. didn't see any Nintendo stuff but I wasn't exactly looking.
 

Azzawon

Member
So it seems like the only chain the UK that carries it is GAME?

I think it depends on the size of the supermarket. As I posted above, my local Tesco (probably worth noting it's a Tesco Extra) has a very small selection of Wii U/3DS games. Things like Wind Waker HD, MK8, Pokemon ORAS and Animal Crossing.
 

Azzawon

Member
I was in a Sainsbury's yesterday and they had a huge amount of shelf space for Skylanders stuff. Right on the end too not just tucked in with the electronics.

Yeah, it's getting huge attention in supermarkets. Probably benefits when they put their game stuff near toys for kids too, considering they basically are toys.
 

Taker666

Member
They have? My local Tesco superstore has an entire aisle for Wii U and 3DS.

Well, for 3DS.

They've only ever had about two Wii U games in stock at once, ever.

Must be store specific. None of the massive Tesco's near me have any Nintendo products...and they haven't for two years. I'm pretty much forced to buy Nintendo products online these days. High street retail has left me with no choice.

I'd actually consider going digital only in the UK next gen if I was Nintendo...it's not like there's much point in worrying about upsetting retail when they don't stock your product anyway.
 

sd28821

Member
All video games - even ps4/bone - have seen greatly reduced shelf space recently in my local supermarkets.

Nintendo stuff suffers the most obviously.

yep my local large Tesco only has half a shelf at most for games actually last time i checked they only gave space to 6- 8 game cases now that i think about it.
 

mclem

Member
So it seems like the only chain the UK that carries it is GAME?

Argos does, too.

yep my local large Tesco only has half a shelf at most for games actually last time i checked they only gave space to 6- 8 game cases now that i think about it.

My local Sainsburys - opened fairly recently, a little over a year ago - has never stocked any games for any platform, despite being about the same size as the one in the city centre which had games when I was last there. I think Sainsburys, at least, might be winding down that whole line in anything other than the superstores (not checked that one recently)
 

Neff

Member
Wii U just isn't the kind of impulse purchase to dump in a basket with your frozen peas and jar of pickles, and certainly not with the infrequent release schedules and evergreen RRP. I'm surprised if any supermarket continues to sell Wii U in the UK.

If they're cutting off 3DS too, then it's because maintaining a relationship with Nintendo for 3DS alone simply isn't worth it.

The practicality of selling games and gaming hardware in supermarkets has dwindled significantly over the last five years or so in light of dedicated e-retailer convenience, choice, and savings -in addition to the explosion of digital sales- leaving only room for the big name titles in supermarket chains as their footprint in the gaming retail machine diminishes.
 

sd28821

Member
Wii U just isn't the kind of impulse purchase to dump in a basket with your frozen peas and jar of pickles, and certainly not with the infrequent release schedules and evergreen RRP. I'm surprised if any supermarket continues to sell Wii U in the UK.

If they're cutting off 3DS too, then it's because maintaining a relationship with Nintendo for 3DS alone simply isn't worth it.

The practicality of selling games and gaming hardware in supermarkets has dwindled significantly over the last five years or so in light of dedicated e-retailer convenience, choice, and savings -in addition to the explosion of digital sales- leaving only room for the big name titles in supermarket chains as their footprint in the gaming retail machine diminishes.

honestly i rarely see most of the big name titles to only mine craft and call of duty in fact those where the only titles on the shelf in the tesco i mentioned.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
Not surprised, my local Sainsburys has gotten rid of their Nintendo section and pretty much down sized the gaming sections, which is barely updated.

I did managed to get some games for cheap during there run but ultimately I preferred shopping on-line.
 
Just to say as well that Asda was a huge British supermarket that Walmart bought only recently and still is the same UK shop from my point of view. Merely an acquisition of an already huge name/store.

The Asda's near me stock a fair amount of games and consoles
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
Just to say as well that Asda was a huge British supermarket that Walmart bought only recently and still is the same UK shop from my point of view. Merely an acquisition of an already huge name/store.

It was bought by Wal*Mart 16 years ago...
 

Chris1

Member
It's not like Nintendo have had a huge presence in my local Asda, so this won't change much, but still pretty big news if it's legit.

Yeah the 3ds selection at my Asda is a joke. They have the latest games and that's where their stock ends. I think mine consists of ORAS, Smash, MM3ds, MH4 and a bunch of kids games (big hero 6, despicable me). No MK7, no 3D land, no X/Y. The selection is a complete joke. I don't think my ASDA even stock WiiU games either.

... Isn't going to stop me going in this week and seeing if I can snab up anything cheap though :)
 
Didn't ASDA said they dropped the Wii U in 2013?

Seems they drop it whenever sales are bad, then start selling them again when there's interest. Makes sense, since retailers in the end are all about demand, sales and profits.


Bigger stores still carried a select number of games.
Mine only has Mario Kart, skylanders and Disney infinity WiiU games and no consoles.
 
It was bought by Wal*Mart 16 years ago...

Yeas I know, 1999. Started in 1949. I should've said relatively recently to avoid the quote. 2000 onwards feels like just a few years ago to me..

To show how crazy it is south Manchester we have about 10 Asda's in a radius of about 3-5 miles
 
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