I'm not against Nintendo doing DLC, I'm just against how they do it.
Hey there everyone, Happy Gamer here, and ReviewTechUSA recently made a video about Nintendo locking content in the upcoming Metroid game behind Amiibos. As is to be expected, people are kind of upset about it, and Rich says "this is just the gaming industry today, companies lock content behind DLC and Nintendo is just joining the party."
Yeah...about that. See, I'm a bit of an Amiibo collector. I try to get all the smash amiibo I can, and some of the others I'm interested in. I'm also pretty sure you said at one point "I don't like Amiibo." So allow me to enlighten you on one complain every Amiibo collector has, NINTENDO DOESN'T KEEP AMIIBO STOCKED!
See, I quite like the idea of Amiibo. They are one time purchases, are compatible with multiple games, and give you something physical. One thing I don't like about DLC is that it's digital (hence the "D" in DLC). I buy my games physical whenever I can so I have something to display. Conventional DLC can't be displayed though, because it's digital. Amiibo on the other hand, can be displayed, and I quite like how my Amiibo look around my TV and on my store display rack. They're also single purchases compatible across multiple games. I can buy 1 figure, and it can work on multiple games. If I guy a call of duty 4 map pack, it only works on call of duty 4. If I buy a Super Mario Amiibo, it works on over 30 games. Even if Nintendo charged $0.50 for each piece of unlockable content on each of those games, it still would be cheaper to just buy a $13 figure, that's going to continue unlocking content in the future. It's actually a really great way to distribute DLC, in concept.
See, here's the Achilles Heel of Amiibo. While conventional DLC doesn't have the benefits of Amiibo, it does have 1 benefit that Nintendo just can't seem to remedy, it's UNLIMITED. If I want to buy that call of duty map pack, I go to the xbox/playstation/steam store, add the DLC to my digital cart, download it, and that's it. I don't have to call 20 gamestops, best buys, toys r us, targets, meijers, and walmarts to see if they have that map pack in stock ultimately to find out they're out of stock. If I want the character skin in street fighter, I just get it from the digital marketplace without any problem. I don't have to buy the DLC months before it's even announced speculating that I'll want the game, just because I know if I don't buy it within the first couple days of release it'll be gone forever. If I want to get the season pass for a game, I just buy the season pass from the unlimited digital reserve. I don't have to pre-order the day pre-orders are announced because the pre-orders are going to sell out the next day. How is that even a thing? Pre-orders are supposed to gauge how much demand there's going to be, and you ship some multiple of the pre-orders to the stores. You don't say "we're only allowing this much demand for this product, consumers be damned." There is an entire sub-reddit dedicated to "how to find amiibo." You don't see that with any other DLC.
Look, I like Amiibo. They are a great concept, as I mentioned above. But if you go to the Amiibo section of the store and it isn't completely empty (as I've seen multiple times), you'll find 1 or 2 common smash series, a booster pack of cards, animal crossing (except villager), and maybe a splatoon. You won't find Kirby series, Zelda series, Mario series, 8-bit series, yarn series, or 80% of the smash series. The Metroid game in the video that uses smash series Samaus and Zero Suit? Good luck finding both full suit and zero suit in stores. Just bought Splatoon 2 and want the unlockable content with the Splatoon 3-pack amiibo? Unless you bought them over 2 years ago, the best you'll be able to do is the Splatoon 2 3-pack, if you're lucky. Little Timmy asks Santa for a Turbo Charged Donkey Kong Amiibo because it can be used in Skylanders, well sorry Timmy, Santa couldn't get you that Amiibo because Santa didn't go to Meijer at midnight because the following morning was the morning of the big presentation. I understand the store's perspective of "I don't want these to sit here for months" (like the Animal Crossing series), but I don't understand why Nintendo won't do more print runs of the really popular ones, especially when new games come out that use them.
In the early days one of the arguments I got frequently from Nintendo apologists was "they're just collectables, like other limited print action figures, it's not like you're missing out on anything if you don't get them." Well, now they're legit DLC, and Nintendo isn't allowing customers to buy it. This has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and instead of Milking us dry, Nintendo is just teasing us. Bye.
Showing posts with label amiibo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amiibo. Show all posts
Friday, August 4, 2017
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Nintendo Make More Amiibo and Stop Scalpers
If it's in limited supply, eventually it will get scalped.
OK, so if you don't know what Amiibo are by now, let me fill you in. They are little 3 inch figures that hold game data and special bonuses for Nintendo games that you scan in through your Wii U gamepad or New 3DS. Here is an example of some of them.
They are pretty awesome if you ask me. Well here's a little issue with them. They are selling out everywhere. This is good news for Nintendo because that means that they are printing money and they don't have to worry about excess inventory they need to get rid of. Even the pre-orders are selling out. So many companies would love to have success like that. Here's the problem though, they are being sold out everywhere, and some figures like villager are being discontinued. What does this mean, eBay scalpers charging big bucks for them.
Now I don't have a problem with eBay scalpers. They are businessmen, and while it does suck that people buy things up just to flip them for a profit and now you can't enjoy it, I don't blame them. I'm not a scalper myself, but I do sell things on eBay that I buy at garage sales to sell for a higher price. I'm more of a picker. But I can give a scalper's perspective, so Nintendo, listen up. There is only 1 type of environment where scalpers and resellers can exist, and that's in markets with a limited supply and a demand that exceeds the supply. Scalpers look at a product, see that there is a demand for that product, see that there is a limited supply that will likely be less than that demand, buy at the current sales price, and then sell for a higher price once the item is sold out. And this hurts you somewhat. I'll make up a little example below.
Lets say that I am an apple farmer. I have 1000 apples to sell, and I sell them for $1 each. Some people say "hey these apples are pretty good" and word gets around. After I sell 200 apples, I have $200 and sales just keep coming in. Some people notice this and buy apples 15 at a time. At the end of the day, I sell out of apples and have to turn away a crowd of people. However, I now have $1000 in my pocket. As I drive away, I see some of the people that bought 15 apples selling them for $2 each, and people are buying them. They're making money off of my work, but they bought the apples fair and square. I got what I was asking for, but I could have made even more. I have some more apples back on the farm, but I said tomorrow was orange day.
OK, so the next day, I bring 2000 oranges to the market. Knowing how good the apples were, people start buying oranges up by the basket full. I'm selling them for $1 each. Well, after an hour I have sold all my oranges and now have $2000. As I drive away, I see them again, this time selling my oranges for $3 each. Again, they didn't steal them from me, they bought them, I have the money to prove it, but I still can't help but feel I'm missing out on something.
At this point, I have 2 ideas of what I can do. I can either continue with this business model of bringing a certain number of fruit to the market and let the resellers get my potential profit, or I can invite people back to the farm and sell them the other fruit on an as needed basis for $1.10 each after I sell my initial inventory. I personally would sell the initial inventory and invite people back to the farm to get more for $0.10 extra, and right now you're letting resellers get your profit.
Here is what I propose you do. You have your in store inventory. You ship the 1000 or so units to each store and charge the $13 you currently charge. Once that inventory is done, it's done, or whatever the current set-up is. At the same time, you have a section Nintendo.com where you can buy any amiibo figure (even the discontinued ones) for $20 each. Why $7 extra, because that's the price for security in availability. You produce them on an as needed basis and ship them directly to the consumer. No middlemen so extra cash in your pocket. You essentially destroy the scalper market because there's no way they can compete. These aren't 20 year old NES cartridges. These are 2 month old figures. You still have the molds. These things print money, it would be financially irresponsible to NOT do this. Now I know you might be worried about the deals you have with gamestop and target with the exclusives. Well, the $13 version is exclusive and exactly the same as the $20 version except one is through you and one is through the vender. Given the option between $13 and $20 of the same product, people will chose the $13 version. Your vendors are happy. However, given the option between $20 and $100 for the exact same product, people will chose the $20 version, which means your fans are happy and you get paid instead of scalpers.
While I still have your attention, please make more gamecube adapters and controllers for smash bros wii u. This is more than just a special edition art book or figure to sit on one's shelf. This is a whole different and to many prefered way to play smash bros. These are also at the mercy of scalpers. You sold them separately for like $15, and scalpers are asking $50 for them. These are also printing money. Take advantage of the opportunity. You have infinite supply theoretically, but you're only releasing some of it. Well, this has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and Nintendo, if something is printing money and you have an infinite supply, release as much as you can even if it's for a slightly higher price.
OK, so if you don't know what Amiibo are by now, let me fill you in. They are little 3 inch figures that hold game data and special bonuses for Nintendo games that you scan in through your Wii U gamepad or New 3DS. Here is an example of some of them.
They are pretty awesome if you ask me. Well here's a little issue with them. They are selling out everywhere. This is good news for Nintendo because that means that they are printing money and they don't have to worry about excess inventory they need to get rid of. Even the pre-orders are selling out. So many companies would love to have success like that. Here's the problem though, they are being sold out everywhere, and some figures like villager are being discontinued. What does this mean, eBay scalpers charging big bucks for them.
Now I don't have a problem with eBay scalpers. They are businessmen, and while it does suck that people buy things up just to flip them for a profit and now you can't enjoy it, I don't blame them. I'm not a scalper myself, but I do sell things on eBay that I buy at garage sales to sell for a higher price. I'm more of a picker. But I can give a scalper's perspective, so Nintendo, listen up. There is only 1 type of environment where scalpers and resellers can exist, and that's in markets with a limited supply and a demand that exceeds the supply. Scalpers look at a product, see that there is a demand for that product, see that there is a limited supply that will likely be less than that demand, buy at the current sales price, and then sell for a higher price once the item is sold out. And this hurts you somewhat. I'll make up a little example below.
Lets say that I am an apple farmer. I have 1000 apples to sell, and I sell them for $1 each. Some people say "hey these apples are pretty good" and word gets around. After I sell 200 apples, I have $200 and sales just keep coming in. Some people notice this and buy apples 15 at a time. At the end of the day, I sell out of apples and have to turn away a crowd of people. However, I now have $1000 in my pocket. As I drive away, I see some of the people that bought 15 apples selling them for $2 each, and people are buying them. They're making money off of my work, but they bought the apples fair and square. I got what I was asking for, but I could have made even more. I have some more apples back on the farm, but I said tomorrow was orange day.
OK, so the next day, I bring 2000 oranges to the market. Knowing how good the apples were, people start buying oranges up by the basket full. I'm selling them for $1 each. Well, after an hour I have sold all my oranges and now have $2000. As I drive away, I see them again, this time selling my oranges for $3 each. Again, they didn't steal them from me, they bought them, I have the money to prove it, but I still can't help but feel I'm missing out on something.
At this point, I have 2 ideas of what I can do. I can either continue with this business model of bringing a certain number of fruit to the market and let the resellers get my potential profit, or I can invite people back to the farm and sell them the other fruit on an as needed basis for $1.10 each after I sell my initial inventory. I personally would sell the initial inventory and invite people back to the farm to get more for $0.10 extra, and right now you're letting resellers get your profit.
Here is what I propose you do. You have your in store inventory. You ship the 1000 or so units to each store and charge the $13 you currently charge. Once that inventory is done, it's done, or whatever the current set-up is. At the same time, you have a section Nintendo.com where you can buy any amiibo figure (even the discontinued ones) for $20 each. Why $7 extra, because that's the price for security in availability. You produce them on an as needed basis and ship them directly to the consumer. No middlemen so extra cash in your pocket. You essentially destroy the scalper market because there's no way they can compete. These aren't 20 year old NES cartridges. These are 2 month old figures. You still have the molds. These things print money, it would be financially irresponsible to NOT do this. Now I know you might be worried about the deals you have with gamestop and target with the exclusives. Well, the $13 version is exclusive and exactly the same as the $20 version except one is through you and one is through the vender. Given the option between $13 and $20 of the same product, people will chose the $13 version. Your vendors are happy. However, given the option between $20 and $100 for the exact same product, people will chose the $20 version, which means your fans are happy and you get paid instead of scalpers.
While I still have your attention, please make more gamecube adapters and controllers for smash bros wii u. This is more than just a special edition art book or figure to sit on one's shelf. This is a whole different and to many prefered way to play smash bros. These are also at the mercy of scalpers. You sold them separately for like $15, and scalpers are asking $50 for them. These are also printing money. Take advantage of the opportunity. You have infinite supply theoretically, but you're only releasing some of it. Well, this has been Happy Gamer, signing off, and Nintendo, if something is printing money and you have an infinite supply, release as much as you can even if it's for a slightly higher price.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)