Rumor: Nintendo Plans to Scale Back Initial Ocarina of Time 3D Shipments
Posted on April 30 2011 by Nathanial Rumphol-Janc
This latest rumor has nothing to do with Project Café, but you might want to listen up nonetheless. Sounds like trouble in paradise over at Nintendo: after the 3DS failed to meet sales expectations, Nintendo is going to be holding back on initial Ocarina of Time 3D shipments. This means that the game will likely be in pretty low supply, at least at first. One has to wonder if there are other factors playing into the decision, such as Nintendo perhaps realizing that yet another Ocarina of Time re-release might not be as commercially successful as it sounds, but it makes poor little me kind of worried that pre-orders might run out before I can finish saving to pick this up along with a 3DS come June.
Honestly, since pretty much every store in the country has excess 3DS units just laying around right now, this doesn’t surprise me – and I certainly can’t blame Nintendo for wanting to be cautious. While normally one would think that anything with the Zelda name is a safe sell, with this being a remake it’s entirely possible that it won’t be nearly as successful as an original title might have been – even though it is Ocarina of Time. Nintendo also learned a hard lesson with Spirit Tracks, which quickly made it to the bargain bins after a massive sales dip following the holiday season. Part of me wonders if the drama of the 3DS launch is a bad sign for Nintendo’s handheld market – but then the DS didn’t exactly get off to the best start and it turned things around real quick once the awesomesauce like New Super Mario Bros. started pouring in, right?
Source: Sinobi Blog, via Andriasang