Gamestop Selling a REAL “Virtual” Console
December 15th, 2007Nintendo is desperately trying to meet the holiday demand for its Wii console, ramping up production to 1.8 Million Wii’s a month, double what they were producing at the same time last year during the same period. The Wii is already selling a ridiculous amount of consoles (almost a million just in the U.S. in November) and they simply can’t keep enough in stock. So what to do?
Well, perhaps spurred on by the kind of news showing that Nintendo is losing out on potentially over a BILLION dollars because of their hardware shortage, Nintendo has apparently authorized or approved Gamestop to sell a full-priced “raincheck” for a Wii to be picked up in January on December 20th and 21st while, get this, “supplies” (of the “raincheck” receipts, I suppose) last.
Wow, now that is impressive. So, Gamestop and Nintendo get to sell a console for FULL PRICE to someone without actually giving them the hardware for a month! So not only will the Wii hardware continue to sell out, but now we can look forward to seeing reports of early morning winter line-ups and eventual sell-outs just for a slip of paper that says they can get a Wii someday.
But honestly, it works out for everyone, right? Gamestop gets to keep everyone’s $250 for a full month without actually having to sell a product, Nintendo gets to report that they sold a record billion more Wii’s in a single month (due to actually being able to sell a piece of paper in their place), and the customer is “guaranteed” a Wii sometime in January, which is clearly worth the short-term loan of $250 they need to hand over to Gamestop for it.
So everyone’s happy now… except, of course, the poor kids who open their gifts on Christmas morning expecting a Wii, only to find a piece of paper informing them that they can’t have it until after school’s back in session. Doesn’t anyone ever think of the children?
Posted in Business, Commentary, Jeff, Nintendo, Wii |
December 15th, 2007 at 4:55 am
Sorry to derail your precious article, but look at what I found:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=205110&highlight=jappy
Just ignore the first post, and see post # 9 and onwards.
More here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2680078&postcount=1923
That second link actually dates back to January 2006…so this may be old news. But not to me.
Damn, Team Ico am gods. PS3 is looking like my least favorite console, about on par with last gen’s xbox, but god I hope we see a sequel to SOTC on PS3 with all those extra assets….and of course with different new twists! Can’t have the same been-there gameplay, now can we?
December 15th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Why do you break irrelevant (non-)news in unrelated posts here?
December 15th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Does anyone else get serious deja vu about this? It reminds me of star wars. or at least documentaries about star wars. How the demand for toys was so high that stores began selling IOUs for the figures.
It is a pretty big testament to the popularity of the console that it can literally get people to put down money for nothing.
December 16th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
I bet some people figure it’s better to pay $250 to Gamestop now than $350 to some guy on eBay around Christmas time. At least the kid gets the guarantee of a Wii….
December 16th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
I just never saw those colossus and that got me really excited. I apologize then.
On topic:
I think this strengthens my argument that Nintendo has plenty to gain from these shortages. And Geoff, I believe that the IOU slip, so to speak, must be matched to the exact GS store and location, and before or by Jan 29. Which says that:
1. “At least the kid gets the guarantee of a Wii….” is wrong.
2. Lots of people are going to Ebay this slip or whatever form it is. And seeing as how most of these soccer moms and grannies and ‘mainstream’ people are stupid, uneducated, and just plain dumb when it comes to checking on facts of gaming matters, many are going to be disapointed for neglecting to note the above information.
3. THey just bumped the pre-order price from $5 to full price.
God, I hope alot of these Wii casuals get burned in this Raincheck, and Nintendo get the backlash for pulling this stunt.