Nintendo is all set to release Super Mario 3D All-Stars, a package containing Super Mario
64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy – but there’s a catch.
Like many previous Nintendo products, 3D All-Stars will be a limited edition game, on sale from
now until March 2021.
Nintendo loves this method of releasing products, but fans are less thrilled.
Especially when these highly sought-after, limited supply items fall into the hands of
scalpers who but up supplies and sell them on at exorbitant rates.
This is already starting to happen – in the UK, at least one retailer has reached
capacity for sales, and begun cancelling pre-orders that can’t be fulfilled.
So why is Super Mario 3D All-Stars a limited edition game?
Why doesn’t Nintendo simply produce more of its popular titles, instead of locking
them away once they reach a certain sales targets or dates?
In at least one previous case, Nintendo was actually forbidden by law from manufacturing
more of a special edition bundle once it became popular.
There are all kinds of roadblocks preventing Nintendo from producing more stock.
First things first: why only make a game available for a short window of time?
The timing of the release of 3D All-Stars is not unlike the NES Classic, a similar package
of classic Nintendo games.
When asked after the fact why Nintendo didn’t continue manufacturing the product indefinitely,
Reggie Fils-Aime stated: “We had originally planned for this to be
a product for last holiday…
“From our perspective, it’s important to recognize where our future is and the key
areas that we need to drive.
We’ve got a lot going on right now and we don’t have unlimited resources.”
This makes sense.
The NES Classic released in November 2016, at a time when Nintendo was gearing up for
the release of the Switch and just needed a hot Christmas present item to carry them
through the lucrative holiday season.
After this was past, the company needed to prioritize putting its resources into manufacturing
and shipping Switch consoles instead.
A similar sentiment was expressed by Satoru Iwata when discussing early Amiibo shortages,
when he said: “We are very sorry that we can’t promise
at what point we will likely be able to resolve the current situation because figures such
as these require a considerable amount of time to produce, store shelf space is limited
and it is difficult to precisely predict the exact amount of overall demand.”
So when releasing a product, Nintendo has to be very careful to make sure that they
don’t over-allocate resources.
Everything from production and shipping costs to even the amount of space a product will
take up on store shelves can affect the company’s bottom line.
Over-estimate demand for a product, and Nintendo can be left with situations like the early
days of the 3DS and the Wii U, where sales simply don’t match up with demand.
So, Nintendo will choose to make a game like Super Mario 3D All-Stars limited edition;
available only for a short time, so that the company will be able to guarantee that they’ll
sell their entire stock.
Under the current climate, because 2020 is that kind of year, Nintendo’s manufacturing
and distribution has been severely hindered.
As such, the company needs to be more shrewd than ever in making stock decisions.
A temporary, limited print run for a game allows the company a quick win over the holiday
season, but won’t overstay its welcome should Nintendo come up with another plan for these
classic games in 2021 or beyond.
Considering the popularity of the game, though, and the massive amounts of pre-orders that
3D All-Stars has received, why doesn’t Nintendo simply extend the game’s availability further
into next year?
After all, the company happily did this with the NES Classic when that proved popular?
The NES Classic, though, was never formally labelled as a limited edition game.
Nintendo’s lawyers get very antsy when the company considers extending the availability
of something they’ve previously insisted will only be available for a short time.
In an investor Q&A, Satoru Iwata was once asked about a special limited edition Fire
Emblem package that was available in Japan.
The game’s chaotic and unpredictable availability led to frustration, and the investor wanted
to know why Nintendo wouldn’t simply make the game easier to purchase.
In response, Satoru said: “We completely failed to anticipate the
demand for such kind of special packaged deal of the Nintendo 3DS hardware decorated with
a certain video game character on its surface and the software.
We first forecasted the consumer demand, prepared for manufacture and began selling the product
in limited quantities.
... “As we obtained so many opinions, we actually
considered if we could change the sales method to something different afterward.
According to an outside attorney, however…those who had purchased it at the beginning might
complain that they bought it just because it was a limited edition, and this would be
likely to break the Japanese Law for Preventing Unjustifiable Extra or Unexpected Benefit
and Misleading Representation.
“We would like to comply with as many consumer requests as possible, but at the same time
we are highly responsible for compliance with Japanese laws.”
So that’s that.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars, having been labelled as a limited run game, can’t overstay its
March 2021 sales deadline.
If it did, it might contravene Japanese law surrounding limited edition collector’s
items.
All of this simply means that if you want to get your hands on the game, you’ll need
to act quick.
Once Super Mario 3D All-Stars is gone, it’s really gone.