Super Smash No's : Stock issues

[Rummy]

(Yeah. I punned that thread title. Pun Stock, or Stock Pun?

 

Now let me start - this is probably going to be a 'negative' thread. In that, it is disapproving of Nintendo's handling of a situation. They do occur here, and often, and people express their displeasure - but this issue might be a great example of why.

 

Nonetheless, I don't want it to become too much of a 'but...but....' sort of thread. I.E 'But Nintendo DO do this...' or 'Yeah but XPY do this...'. I just want to discuss the current, arguably diabolical, situation with Smash's release and various availabilities. If I get super upset with this thread I'm gonna pull rank and ask someone to delete the fuck out of it.)

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

 

Anyhoo. The biggest game of the year or even of console for some of us; certainly me, came out Friday past - Super Smash Brothers 4 Wii U. The game I bought my Wii U for. The game that I'd essentially bought into before it even really existed. Now following on the heels of its successful sort of little brother of Smash 4 3DS comes Smash 4 Wii U.

 

And yet, I don't have it. Why don't I have it? I'll explain it to you, if you'll take a seat. Why don't I have it? Well, because; Nintendo rather excellently recognised the appeal of Smash to a lot of Nintendo fans - a game franchise played/playable for the last 12 years with the Gamecube pad(some will say the best of all pads so far, but let's not). Not a only a game played with this pad, but a game whose original GameCube iteration inspired an incredible competitive scene(as the Smash Bros Documentary will enlighten you to), and many Nintendo hardcore fans loved. Inspired to such a point that the Wii's version, released 6 years of the 12 years ago, was additionally compatible with the GC pad, due to the fortunate aspect of the Wii's backwards compatibility options.

 

Even prior to the Gamecube's Melee and popular competitive scene, the game spent 3 years playable with what people may have before told you was the best pad and arguable pioneer for a few reasons I won't get into here - the N64 controller. So of the now 15 years existence of Smash, over 3 iterations, and played again and again and beyond its time - it has spent 12 of those years playable with the Gamecube pad. 80% of its life. And it continues so moving forward! With the wonderful Wii U!!

 

 

Buuut. To make this possible, given the Wii U lacks the Wii's comfortable Gamecube back compatibiility, Nintendo have had to release a well anticipated and hoped for peripheral for many in the form of the Wii U Gamecube Adapter. Taking up 2 USB ports and providing for 4 'traditional' GC pads worth of smashing, it's been very well in demand. Additionally, with this latest entry in the series not even being its traditional maximum 4 player, but rather going up to a potential massive 8-man local smash off - why is there such a great shortage of the hardware??

 

 

This comes back to why I don't yet have Smash. Because I can't get the adapter bundle I was expecting/promised as and when I wanted it. Right now, there seems to be shortages in both EU and US regions - and the biggest question on my mind is why?? Did Nintendo not see this coming? Are they being conservative? Do they simply not care? There seems to be enough solus copies of the game around - did they just ignore the previous generations given the WiiU's clearly limited success? Or are they trying to turn a profit on separate hardware in the form of separate GC pads(at £50 a pop), or the licensed 'character based' pads to plug into your wiimotes(at £25 for comparison)?

 

Or do you think it's something else?

 

 

Did you get your hands on a gc adapter bundle? Have you settled for the game alone and an alternative control method for now? Are you going to keep on waiting, or cave to desire? What are your thoughts on the entirety of the situation, its impact on Nintendo, the Wii U, and any other things associated?

 

(P.S @Goron_3, here you go, though I didn't make it at all brief :p)

[The Peeps]

I had to settle for the game alone. Amazon failed to deliver not only the adapter bundle but the controller as well. The controller would've been here yesterday if I hadn't cancelled it (more fuckery on their part as to cancel the game & and adapter bundle I also had to cancel the controller as it was ordered at the same time despite it being a separate item apparently?) but the adapter and game were not going to arrive until the 19th. I ordered on ShopTo on release day and the copy came today (wasn't able to cancel in time) and I went to Asda on the off-chance, thinking I could just cancel the ShopTo order (just going to return to Asda now) and managed to get a copy there.

 

So I was able to get the game with extreme ease from two separate retailers on release day. It does seem that the adapters and/or controllers are the understocked items and not the games which seems ridiculous to me. Nintendo must've seriously underestimated the amount of people willing to buy the game and the controller adapter.

 

The only thing I've taken from this is not to pre-order games from Amazon but it's not really damaged Nintendo's reputation in my eyes - they've must've already hit rock bottom as far as I'm concerned :p

[Gizmo]

Also waiting for an Amazon order of Smash+Adapter. Emailed Amazon to complain and got a stock, unhelpful reply: sent them another ~3 days ago and still to hear back. Very unimpressed. Unfortunately most other sites are also out of stock or even not listing anymore so I'm just going to have to wait it out.

 

I am very tempted to download the game off the E-shop and demand compensation from Amazon but given how unhelpful they've been so far I doubt I'd actually get it. So frustrating.

[Cube]

I got the game and adaptor bundle on launch day. My controller came today.

 

Nintendo seem to have massively underestimated how much nostalgia people have for the GameCube controller. Perhaps they thought that people would have been put off by the "only for Smash" part of it. One thing they also don't seem to have considered is that people may be buying it for PC (compatible drivers came out pretty quickly - although rumble isn't working yet).

 

I think the best thing that Nintendo could do is to increase production and patch in support for other games like Mario Kart 8 and perhaps Wind Waker, as well as supporting it in upcoming games and patching it into the Virtual Console. The interest if certainly there.

[Rummy]

I got the game and adaptor bundle on launch day. My controller came today.

 

Nintendo seem to have massively underestimated how much nostalgia people have for the GameCube controller. Perhaps they thought that people would have been put off by the "only for Smash" part of it. One thing they also don't seem to have considered is that people may be buying it for PC (compatible drivers came out pretty quickly - although rumble isn't working yet).

 

I think the best thing that Nintendo could do is to increase production and patch in support for other games like Mario Kart 8 and perhaps Wind Waker, as well as supporting it in upcoming games and patching it into the Virtual Console. The interest if certainly there.

 

Where'd you get your bits from?

 

Re:GameCube nostalgia - is it even really nostalgia? Like...as I said, essentially 12 years of this game had been gamecube compatible. The first 6 years gamecube mandatory, the second 6 gamecube compatible. Take the scene off the original, or just the comfort for many of the original control scheme offered again - why wouldn't you? For a highly popular and successful competitive(for anyone, by nature of the game) franchise, why would people want to necessarily mixup to new control schemes? One might even argue it was a problem of their own design by allowing it with Wii. Is it really 'nostalgia' if I've been playing brawl(or PM) or melee, in the last few months, with my GC pad - and wanting to play this with it too?

 

My big issue is for a game lacking full voice chat/online options, to focus on a local multi experience when gamecube play/control is so heavily built in and to then completely misjudge that demand - I find it seriously astounding to believe they managed that and under-manufactured. Again, solus copies seem very easy to come by - were they expecting a different market, not caring, intentionally milking or what??

[Pestneb]

My big issue is for a game lacking full voice chat/online options, to focus on a local multi experience when gamecube play/control is so heavily built in and to then completely misjudge that demand - I find it seriously astounding to believe they managed that and under-manufactured. Again, solus copies seem very easy to come by - were they expecting a different market, not caring, intentionally milking or what??

 

It's possible that they manufactured enough according to the demand coming from retail. Then retail realised this was actually quite popular, so placed a heavier order that Nintendo weren't able to, at the short notice, satisfy.

 

Nintendo obviously aren't going to turn around and say "retailers fault" in that scenario, as they are trying to build a stronger relationship, so less damaging for them to keep quiet and try and make as many gc adapters as needed.

 

As for the retailers, again it is easier to say "Nintendo failed to supply us" than explain "because we failed to order a sufficient quantity in a timely manner"

[Rummy]

But surely they'd realise that demand is usually under-represented at retail/pre-order stage? It's almost like they've completely been taken in by the shitness of the WiiU and expected even one of their biggest titles of all time not to actually sell well. Honestly, what proportion of people do you think are buying this game with no intention of playing it with the GameCube Controller?

 

Btw @DuD - I asked Flubit who their supplier is(at least for my copy?) and guess what they actually told me - but I'm all the more outraged they didn't have a clue about the fucking delays because it seems to be the one retailer who's given any actual time estimate - Amazon. We'll be waiting til the 19th, apparently. I'm gonna just get a solo copy from a big shop til then, and return it when the bundle arrives.

[martinist]

Got my adapter bundle from ShopTo on the 28th of November. I got my GCN pad delivered yesterday which was no big deal since I still had my old pad laying around. The only real delay I experienced was with the GCN pad and they compensated me for it so i'm pretty happy. I've been hearing all over the place that its out of stock pretty much everywhere now so I'm glad I got it when I did

Edited December 4, 2014 by martinist

[Cube]

Where'd you get your bits from?

 

All from ShopTo.

[Pestneb]

But surely they'd realise that demand is usually under-represented at retail/pre-order stage? It's almost like they've completely been taken in by the shitness of the WiiU and expected even one of their biggest titles of all time not to actually sell well. Honestly, what proportion of people do you think are buying this game with no intention of playing it with the GameCube Controller?

 

Btw @DuD - I asked Flubit who their supplier is(at least for my copy?) and guess what they actually told me - but I'm all the more outraged they didn't have a clue about the fucking delays because it seems to be the one retailer who's given any actual time estimate - Amazon. We'll be waiting til the 19th, apparently. I'm gonna just get a solo copy from a big shop til then, and return it when the bundle arrives.

 

They may realise it, but they can't force retailers to take stock, and if retailers are unwilling to take that stock it puts a disproportionate amount of risk onto Nintendo. It's Nintendo's job to predict which products are likely to be desirable, then to make those products available.

 

It's retailers job to predict how much of a product their customer base will want, and to obtain said product in accordance to that prediction.

 

It COULD be Nintendo not making the adapters available in the first place, or it could be that shops failed to predict how many of their customers would want the adapted.

 

In fact, prior to that, Nintendo need their manufacturing partners to produce the adapters in the first place.

 

SO

1) mystery manufacturer

2) Nintendo

3) Shops.

 

I know I got my copy with no problems, I don't know of any one who ordered from Zavvi who had problems. In fact the issues seem to be mostly with ShopTo and Amazon.

 

And as for stock shortages now... I can understand it. Pre-orders are available to reduce the possibility of shortages, with the early adopters giving strong indications of initial demand. I read on here that lots of people made last minute orders.

 

Here's an idea I just had.

NoE expected huge demand. They needed till December 5th to manufacture enough adapters.

Actual reported demand from shops was surprisingly low, so they only need till November 28th. Release date was adjusted accordingly....

 

Then lots of people made late pre-orders. Demand surged... Nintendo (and shops) were unable to meet demand.

 

in that scenario... fault lays at the feet of the late pre-orders (for being so late!), Nintendo (for changing the release date) and the shops (for accepting more pre-orders than they could honour).

 

I can think of dozens of scenario's tbh, some where it is Nintendo's fault, some where it is mostly shops fault, some where whatever companies are manufacturing the things are at fault.

 

But tbh, whatever the issue I would blame the shops primarily, for failing to give a clear indication of which pre-orders where likely to be honoured for release, and which would be post release orders.

 

I can see why they would do that though - suppose Amazon did make it clear, but shopto didn't, shopto would look more attractive... so they are banking on people not cancelling orders when it becomes clear it won't be honoured on release.

[Glen-i]

For what it's worth, I use the Gamepad. It works just fine for me.

I prefer the GC controller, sure. But not to the point where I won't play it just because I don't have an adaptor.

 

Not really gone out of my way to find one either.

[dazzybee]

Where do you live @Rummy? London based? Can borrow my adaptor and even some gamecube pads for your gaming night if you wanted.

[Rummy]

Where do you live @Rummy? London based? Can borrow my adaptor and even some gamecube pads for your gaming night if you wanted.

 

Offer appreciated, I'm in SE london on the edge but thankfully sorted(we've all got our own smash pads already, 3 for my mates already live with me and have done for a few years now, as we'd only really use them for smash), and I've got an adapter sorted thanks to another mate which I can get sat morning(this is a whole smash day!). Where abouts are you though btw? I'm contemplating doing smash things for the future so will keep london folks in mind...

[dazzybee]

Offer appreciated, I'm in SE london on the edge but thankfully sorted(we've all got our own smash pads already, 3 for my mates already live with me and have done for a few years now, as we'd only really use them for smash), and I've got an adapter sorted thanks to another mate which I can get sat morning(this is a whole smash day!). Where abouts are you though btw? I'm contemplating doing smash things for the future so will keep london folks in mind...

 

Bethnal Green! Glad you're sorted. Have fun!

[Gizmo]

Hello,

 

We regret to inform you that we have been unable to source the following item:

 

"Super Smash Bros Plus GameCube Controller Adapter (Nintendo Wii U)"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00O9QW4HS

 

Our supplier has informed us that this item is no longer available. This item has now been cancelled from your order #204-9535465-5789101 and we can confirm that you have not been charged for it.

 

Please accept our apologies for any disappointment or inconvenience caused.

 

You may visit the product detail page(s) above to see if these item(s) are available from other sellers.

 

To view the current status and the costs associated with your order, please visit Your Account (http://www.amazon.co.uk/your-account).

 

Regards,

 

Customer Service Department

Amazon.co.uk

 

ahahahahahaha wut.

[Sheikah]

That's a fucking disgrace that. Demand a voucher.

[Gizmo]

Amazon customer service will feel my wrath, have no fear.

 

Also on the Amazon product page:

 

"2 used & new from £249.99"

 

Wowzers

[Serebii]

I had a thought.

 

What if a lot of the UK Stock for the adapter, controller and maybe the amiibo was in the building that burned down, along with loads of hardware in for repair.

 

It'd sure as hell explain a lot

[khilafah]

I got my game and gamecube adaptor bundle day 1 from amazon. Pre-ordered soon as it was announced.

 

Haven't even used the adaptor as can't find my gamecube controllers.

[Cube]

I had a thought.

 

What if a lot of the UK Stock for the adapter, controller and maybe the amiibo was in the building that burned down, along with loads of hardware in for repair.

 

It'd sure as hell explain a lot

 

That building is a third party repair company who do more than just Nintendo repairs. Stock probably isn't stored there.

[Jimbob]

Amazon customer service will feel my wrath, have no fear.

 

Also on the Amazon product page:

 

"2 used & new from £249.99"

 

Wowzers

 

The beauty of Amazon Customer service is that they are actually pretty good. Unlike other places. You should be ok in getting something back at least.

[Serebii]

That building is a third party repair company who do more than just Nintendo repairs. Stock probably isn't stored there.

Nuts, was hoping for a more logical reason other than Nintendo woefully underestimated demand

[Gizmo]

I got my game and gamecube adaptor bundle day 1 from amazon. Pre-ordered soon as it was announced.

 

Haven't even used the adaptor as can't find my gamecube controllers.

 

Wanna sell it? :p

[Dcubed]

I do hope that they're planning on making more of them. The less of them there are out there, the less likely they are to want to release GCN VC games (same applies for future consoles too. It IS USB after all, so they can very easily be made compatible with any future console they make too!)

[Patch]

ahahahahahaha wut.

 

I got the same email. Oh well. Looks like at our house we'll have to have pre-Smash actual fights to decide who gets the Wii remote / Pro controller / Gamepad.

 

Surely more adapters are coming though. Someone in the biz must be able to get an answer out of Nintendo on this?

 

EDIT: Reddit user SSB4 seems to think so:

 

EDIT 2: Just had another email from Amazon with a voucher worth £3 off my next order.

Edited December 5, 2014 by Patch