Why does nintendo ship limited copies of their games?

First Pikmin 3 and now Wonderful 101 have had limited copies shipped to stores on launch week in the US. Basically the stores will stock preorder only and maybe one copy for regular buyers. Big chains are also only getting a handful of copies.

Back in the day you would have to preorder an atlus game in order to get it but its surprises me that nintendo fans are now having to preorder just in case of shortage. Why is nintendo doing this especially with AAA titles? Oddly the only game that hasn't been short shipped lately was mario luigi dream team.

Are they trying to create demand like they did when the first wii was launched and shipped small amounts?

 

What is also ticking me off is that they are delaying the Wii U releases in the US for no reason I could see. The Wonderful 101 was available at PAX, nearly a whole month before the US launch (so it was obviously ready to go) and other territories have already had it... And then people complain how the Wii U is floundering in the US. Well maybe if they didn't pull this it would help them. Nintendo has lost it this generation.

EDIT: I think this is also them poorly pushing digital downloads. Yet they skimp out on internal storage and give the system download speeds slower than the PS3.

 

Because Nintendo is still living in the past and they suck.

 

They limit the amount or games to cause hype. Low stock equals high demand which in turns causes more to talk about it which in theory should create more sales.

 

There's 2 causes I can think of right off the top of my head.

1) Gamestop usually bases orders and shipments (how many copies get to a store) on pre-orders, among other things. It could be that the lack of pre-orders causes them not to stock that many copies.

2) Because Nintendo refuses to use a commonly available format (like Sony and Microsoft), there could be a relative shortage of discs. Apparently the Wii U discs are on a Panasonic format, so they could only have x number of discs for each game, and can't get more Blu-Rays because they're stupid and like to control how many of each game are available (see: Nintendo 64).

Then again, it could be any number of other things, I'm just guessing here.

 

If what you're saying is true, it's probably because they've assessed that there's a lower than expected demand for those particular games. Metroid Prime Trilogy had a similar release. I preordered that game, and got it the day it was released. I've never seen another new copy in a store, and I've only seen one used copy. Apparently it had a limited release, because they're worth a decent amount now.

 

No. They don't have a stack of writable discs and have a shortage of them. Discs are pressed in a factory. Also, Wii-U is Blu-ray technology last I heard. Just like the GameCube and Wii they don't call it DVD-ROM, it's a customized version of it though.

My guess if there is a shortage is they didn't believe the demand was there. And while each unit isn't *that* costly to produce, they certainly don't want to sit on a bunch of unsold stock. Nintendo also doesn't like the practice of dropping prices on games just because they are so many months old.

 

The Wii U says "Optical Disc". It's got a polymer on the disc like bluray to resist scratches, but I do believe it's a modified version DVD-DL. Given the size of the ripped ISO's that exist and the download size of their digital versions.

 

They're not poorly pushing digital downloads. They're starting to release the digital games up to 2 weeks in advance. And release them at a lower cost (Zelda Windwaker HD is the first game that meets these requirements). That probably also addresses the issue of limited printed discs. My guess is that they WANT people to do the download of games since they discontinued the 8GB version of the Wii U and are sticking with the larger of the 2. And I'm BETTING they'll release larger size Wii U's in the future once their digital downloads gain steam.

 

They are poorly pushing it if they are keeping their physical copies in a strangle hold over the digital copies. So far, the digital copies do release next to the retail and at the same price. If they are starting to cut the price and release early for the digital copies, then great! But, I hate that they are toying with their physical copies for the sake of digital. We have seen from the Xbox One backlash that most of us still value a physical copy over digital.

 

I have only ever seen 1 ISO for the Wii U, And the file size was 23.27GB. So I believe the modded DVD-DL is out.

 

While wikipedia isn't a great source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_optical_disc
I would fully expect that the Wii-U is a custom Blu-ray based format. Knowing Nintendo from the GameCube days, it may not even support dual layer (50gb) discs. Though the Wii did support dual layer DVDs finally. GameCube sure could have used that with it's tiny 1.3gb~ capacity.

 

Nintendo doesn't seem to like rereleasing their games in large quantities (save for VC) (a notable example would be the Ocarina of Time rerelease only in a special edition of Wind Waker). Also it could be the Gamestop exclusive thing like Xenoblade.

It's still a propitiatory format, even though it's likely based off Bluray tech.

Sony and Microsoft do that too, it's really irksome (and also why I don't buy full priced digital downloads). Digital has none of the overhead of physical sales, so why do they expect me to pay the same price? Because they think I'm dumb and lazy, that's why.

 

Erm why not just buy the games then as well? Surely they'll be cheaper too?

 

The Digital Download argument makes some sense because copies of Wonderful 101 don't have a manual inside! Just the club nintendo and other slips. I was really surprised and if any game needed a manual it was that one (though its an amazing game).

Reminds me of what Sony is doing with Vita, no manuals. So if Nintendo is not taking the time to print manuals in their physical copies that could be an indicator that they're shifting to digital.

 

Yeah, if you can locate one of the three people who actually bought a Wii U.

 

Weren't they doing this in the NES days too?
I remember reading about those legendary "chip shortages" in Nintendo Power to explain the low availability of hit games.

 

Some of those chip shortages were to bully retailers I thought. I don't think they can achieve that now. They certainly couldn't once Sega Genesis took to the scene.

 

Hey now, I own a Wii U. I may not have a lot of choices right now, But for what it does offer Nintendo games it does them well. I haven't regretted it yet, If anything I have a feeling it will turn out to be another Dreamcast.