• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Nintendo shipped fewer Nintendo Classic Minis to the US than they did Japan

K

kswiston

Member
November's NPD report is out today, and it turns out that the Nintendo Classic Mini sold an estimated 196k in the United States in November: http://www.polygon.com/2016/12/15/13976920/nes-classic-edition-unit-sales-november-2016


According to Media Create reports, first week sales in Japan were 262.961: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1315464


Given that the US edition sells out of whatever is shipped, this means that Nintendo decided to produce fewer US shipments than they did Japanese shipments. Seems sort of backwards given the move away from consoles in Japan, vs the hype the Classic Mini announcement got in the US.
 
H

Hazu

Member
Too bad for them.

I was interested getting the console for the holidays, but I'll just spend my money on PS4 games instead.
 
J

JoeyJungle

Banned
Could be that they just restocked Japan's units faster. The US's restock shipment are probably delivered by boat, probably take a week and change to arrive at stores.
 
T

Toki767

Member
In a couple months when they flood the market and everyone is over it, they'll wonder why they produced so much to begin with.

The Nintendo cycle in action.
 
S

Somnid

Member
Wouldn't the proximity of Japan to the point of manufacturing make it much easier to resupply? Sure the ratios might be skewed but it's sold out literally everywhere so one vs the other isn't important for sales.
 
K

kswiston

Member
JoeyJungle said:
Could be that they just restocked Japan's units faster. The US's restock shipment are probably delivered by boat, probably take a week and change to arrive at stores.
Click to expand...

The Japanese figure is only for the first 4 days.

EDIT: US figure is for around 15 days I believe.
 
H

HardRojo

Member
There were some in the store earlier today when I went to purchase my laptop. Guy in charge said they had a few and was expecting to sell them all by the weekend. Apparently kids are mostly asking for Pokémon related stuff. This is in Peru btw, before anyone freaks out.
 
C

Curufinwe

Member
763678.gif
 
@

@MUWANdo

Banned
Remember, Japan wasn't even going to get a Famicom Mini until NCL marketing people agitated for it after seeing the NES Mino revealed online.
 
Ailike

Ailike

Member
It would also explain why they thought the tiny cords were a good idea too. Anyone wanna sit on my floor mattress in front of my ten inch TV and knock out a game of Balloon Fight before our national exam?
 
Z

ZSaberLink

Media Create Maven
What was sold in Japan was technically the Famicom Mini. What was sold in the rest of the world from what I can tell was the NES Classic. Considering they may have made the Famicom Mini only for Japan (and maybe some other small set of countries), Japan probably got whatever stock they had of the Famicom Mini. On the other hand, the NES Classic was split across the world.

As such, they likely made more NES Classics than they did Famicom Minis. However, like everyone is already aware, they clearly GROSSLY UNDERESTIMATED demand for these things across the board.

Also the Famicom mini was basically out of stock in Japan after the first week as well btw.
 
G

ggx2ac

Member
kswiston said:
Given that the US edition sells out of whatever is shipped, this means that Nintendo decided to produce fewer US shipments than they did Japanese shipments. Seems sort of backwards given the move away from consoles in Japan, vs the hype the Classic Mini announcement got in the US.
Click to expand...

Is it really because of what they produced? Or what retailers ordered?

It sounds like Japanese retailers had more confidence in the product and ordered more as opposed to US retailers when those plug n' play consoles that have Sega Genesis games is their only reference point for sales data.
 
StereoVsn

StereoVsn

Member
A bunch of monkeys could have done better gauging interest for the Mini in NA. Also considering lack of preorders one got to think this was done on purpose to get people talking about Nintendo. Between that and Mario Run game they behave to be trying to build up hype for Switch launch.

Personally though they lost me as a customer for the Mini as I was planning to buy several (one for myself other as Christmas gifts) and they soured me on he Switch as well. Meh.
 
D

Dark Ninja

Member
Are they talking about shipping NES Classic Mini's or Famicom Mini's because those are 2 different products and different situations if so.
 
O

Obliterator

Member
Yeah this has gotta be one of the more asinine decisions from NOA in a looong time.

I know 10 people looking for them right now for Christmas presents
 
1

120v

Member
so basically there's only about ~200k of these shipped? either this is a manufacturing issue or NoA was smoking crack
 
D

Dope Skill

Member
They could have done a better job figuring out the demand and making the units in general, but for them I don't think it matters if they sell more in Japan or in the US since they're selling all that they can make anyway.

If they were just sitting on shelves in Japan and not moving then yeah.
 
O

orthodoxy1095

Banned
JoeyJungle said:
Could be that they just restocked Japan's units faster. The US's restock shipment are probably delivered by boat, probably take a week and change to arrive at stores.
Click to expand...

...isn't that something you plan for as a multi-national corporation? Shipping times and restock plans?
 
B

BudokaiMR2

Member
udivision said:
Is this for real?
Click to expand...

I might be wrong but it sounds like Tales from my Ass to me.

If that were the case it would mean that NCL would have moved at INSANE speeds to get the Famicom version designed, cleared internally, settled negotiations with third party rights holders etc. etc.

How far apart were the announcements? About a month? Even less?
 
D

duckroll

Member
I wonder if this has to do with production in general. The NES Classic and the Famicom Mini are totally different builds. But one has to be packaged and shipped to everywhere in the world except Japan, while the other is sold in Japan only. For example, if they were struggling to produce more than 500k units and that was for the entire world, a 200k shipment for the US doesn't seen that ridiculous.
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
massoluk said:
Jesus, they really hate money
Click to expand...

nah, they are gonna shove out a big shipment right before Christmas and will sell every single one, because even people who don't want it for a gift or whatever have it in their minds that they could flip it for $200 (even though the resell price will drop rapidly not long afterwards)

it's beanie babies all over again
 
K

kswiston

Member
120v said:
so basically there's only about ~200k of these shipped? either this is a manufacturing issue or NoA was smoking crack
Click to expand...

The later based on every limited edition Nintendo product of the past several years. Still bitter over the Fire Emblem Fates Special Edition. The Canadian preorder allotment lasted like 10 mins.
 
1

10k

Banned
It's amiibo 2.0. Underestimate demand, people go mits searching for stock, they get frustrated and lose all interest in the product. The product finally comes in stock and all stores have them, but nobody is interested anymore.
 
P

perfectchaos007

Member
So @ $60 a pop, Nintendo + retailers netted ~$12 million.

Lets say only half of them were scalped at an average of $250 (some were going for a lot more though )

That means Scalpers netted ~$19 million
 
D

DizzyCaffeine

Member
When it was announced, I planned on buying one for myself and for 6 friends as Xmas gifts. Now, I'm not even gonna buy one for myself, because fuck Nintendo and their backwards 90s-ass tactics.
 
StereoVsn

StereoVsn

Member
orthodoxy1095 said:
...isn't that something you plan for as a multi-national corporation? Shipping times and restock plans?
Click to expand...
Nah, who needs logistics, capacity planning or gathering customer demand. Reggie just wings that shit.

How in the fuck could they not have known that US demand would be magnitude larger? Answer is they knew, wanted to generate scarcity and didn't give a fuck about anything else.
Edit: Damn, I know recall that debacle too. I was at work and didn't have phone service and thing went up and disappeared quickly. I guess I saved money since I just bought Birthright and called it a day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Bloomberg via Takashi Mochizuki — Nintendo planning to ship over 10 million Switch 2 units next fisical year
News 2 3
118
6K
//DEVIL// replied
1 new Wii U was sold in the US in September. First time a new Wii U sold since May 2022.
Community Event Hype 2
60
5K
Dr. Wilkinson replied
Full Q&A English Summary of Nintendo's Financial Results Briefing for Fiscal Year Ended March 2024
Business
0
453
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
Nintendo Q4 FY 23/24 Earnings Release: Hardware 1.96m LTD 141.32M. MVDK 1.12M, Peach Showtime! 1.22M
Sales-Age 2 3
112
6K
Luminoth-4545 replied
Nintendo Q3 FY 23/24 Earinings Report: Hardware 6.90m, LTD 139.36M. SMB Wonder 11.96M
Sales-Age 2
86
6K
Oberstein replied
Top Bottom