Nintendo’s Handling of the Majora’s Mask 3D Console and Statue is Brilliant, but Frustrating

I was at GameStop yesterday trying to squeeze into the two hour window that the Majora’s Mask New Nintendo 3DS XL was available to order again. I didn’t quite make it, which frustrated me and I am sure many others in the same situation. In fact, there is very little about this preorder stuff that has been fun for us as consumers.

Still, after chatting a bit with the local manager something came up, something that I never really considered before. It may be anti-consumer, but it’s creating insane demand for a product that otherwise wouldn’t likely sell as well as it is. Nintendo made the A Link Between Worlds bundle widely available, but the actual sale of that particular system wasn’t too popular at GameStop. Same with The Wind Waker HD bundle.

Nintendo has been having a hard time producing sales of both the 3DS and Wii U in the last year. That doesn’t mean they aren’t selling at all, just that their sales are a bit lackluster. The Wii U is showing some growth, but it’s still not really selling that well. What is selling well for Nintendo? Limited edition anything. It sells out, and by making it “limited” they are creating high demand for something that, otherwise, wouldn’t be as highly demanded.

I’ve criticized Nintendo’s handling of all of this in the last episode of the Boss Man, but beyond that I have to look at this from the other side: I just went out of my way after work to get something I knew I likely was way too late to get. Why am I doing this? Why are all of us refreshing our browsers on various retailer sites?

Because Nintendo has created demand by limitation. There is some feeling they did this with the Wii – intentionally only shipping so many units after launch to help continue the supply strain, creating demand. People want what they feel like is hard to have. That not everyone can get. Forget collector’s value – we want this because not everyone can have it on launch, even if we don’t want to admit it to ourselves. The less of these there are available right now, the more we want it.

Nintendo may have seemed off just throwing the preorders out to retailers the moment it was announced, but it worked. It sold out. Demand outweighed supply. In Nintendo’s world, they won. The Majora’s Mask New Nintendo 3DS XL is likely going to be the bestselling New Nintendo 3DS XL at launch on February 13

^th, and they did it all by clever marketing design. Creating demand by limiting supply on something they themselves never said was going to be limited. Seriously, go back and watch the Direct. This isn’t confirmed to be a limited edition. Yet, it’s getting the limited treatment.

What feels like anti-consumerism has turned into massive demand. If these ever appear on store shelves in the coming months, we’re going to snatch them up assuming no more are coming.

I feel terrible for myself and fellow fans that can’t seem to get one, but Nintendo made a bold decision that has ultimately benefited them. I am not annoyed enough that I am not going to be buying Majora’s Mask 3D. You’re probably not either. It sucks, but reality is that Nintendo is coming out way ahead on this venture – thus they have reason to keep doing this in the future. If this had been the case with the A Link Between Worlds special edition, it too would have likely sold out, and sold more units overall.

Nintendo is onto something. They are figuring out how to create massive demand and get fans the world over to desire something. Let’s all forget for a moment that the Monster Hunter 4 edition of the console arguably looks 10 times better – despite being at one retailer it was still easier to reserve. The Majora’s Mask version is at a handful of retailers and sold out the moment they appear. Limitation to create demand.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Nintendo has to go this route in the future, even if it does work. As the GameStop employee suggested to me, Nintendo could have created pre-order waves. The first wave is now. The launch console. If you made it into wave one, awesome. Wave 2 could be a week from now. These orders are filled a week after launch. Maybe two weeks. Wave 3 is the last ditch wave – you might wait an extra month to get it, but you have ensured you’ll get the console eventually.

Yet, all indications are that Nintendo isn’t doing waves. They aren’t even putting this product on store shelves outside of the Nintendo World Store. Retailers have control, but it was Nintendo that told retailers when to make the orders available.

Love it or hate it, Nintendo made a brilliant marketing decision. Now all the rest of us can do is wait, hope, and pray we somehow nab one when more stock randomly appears on whatever retailer’s site.