Smash Bros. Brawl shortages imminent

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 29th 2008 at 7:00PM }

Japan is poised to suffer significant Super Smash Bros. Brawl shortages when the game is officially released on Thursday, reports Game|Life. Nintendo has failed to supply as much as 75% of pre-order units to retailers; likely due to production delays and oversights. Though the shortage would seem to pale in comparison to Wii hardware scarcity, a meager Brawl launch would underscore Nintendo's continued struggle to operate a functional supply chain.

Game|Life theorizes that Japan's expected shortages explain Brawl's delay in North America, as it will take until March for Nintendo to manufacture an ample shipment of units for the territory – not to mention, fulfill the rest of Japan's demand. Others speculate that Nintendo is intentionally withholding supply to give its WiFi Connection service a chance to adapt to the inescapable surge of online Brawl players. This isn't the first time Nintendo has been accused of such tactics, and – if someone don't fix that damn supply chain – it won't be the last.

Tags: brawl, import, japan, smash-bros, smashbros, ssbb, super-smash-bros-brawl, supersmashbrosbrawl

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Corey B @ Jan 29th 2008 7:05PM

Wow Nintendo really is milking the "Shortage because of Demand" cow. Of course blank DVDs to print on are hard to come by in 2008.

Fernando Rocker @ Jan 29th 2008 7:08PM

Nintendo is not faking...

Every month Nintendo sells the 1.8 millions Wii's that they produce... even a year after.

Stop with the fake demand. The demand is real... month after month Nintendo sells the amout of Wii's that they produce.

Mr Khan @ Jan 29th 2008 7:12PM

Can't be deliberate, unless its more of a conspiracy than most are willing to believe in. The problem is that they delayed it to the point when the game was barely out of the dev studio and fresh off the presses

Basically, this is 1, maybe 1.5 weeks since the game has gone gold, they were bound to have problems at this point

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:17PM

Fernando, simple question. IF Nintendo can manage to push out 1.1 million copies for SMG's launch and WiiFit is already a million seller, what possible excuse could Nintendo have for only being caught with ~300,000 copies to launch Nintendo's biggest title this year?

Maybe Nintendo fucked up and genuinely hit the "oh shit" button when they realized people wanted to BUY SSBB instead of just reading it's daily blog, but it's doubtful.

Also, I really should say this. Most of Wii's components are easy to acquire on the cheap, Nintendo is pocketing pure profit, and somehow they can't seem to meet the shipping quantity of PS2 in it's second year...

Mischa @ Jan 29th 2008 7:21PM

I think it's unfair to equate the shortage of the Wii with the shortage of games. I believe that Nintendo is making Wiis as fast as they can, but seriously, this is ridiculous for a game like this. It's a DVD for crying out loud. Nintendo write me a check, I'll lend you my DVD burner.

Fernando Rocker @ Jan 29th 2008 7:21PM

sheppy

It can be because of many things... maybe the game had a bug or a glitch and they have to correct the problem and start producing the discs later...

Maybe a problem with the discs distributors... a problem printing the covers...

And you are right... if Nintendo managed to launch 1 million of SMG, is obviously that they can do the same with SSBB, but they dont because a manufactoring problem, not to "fake the demand"

Mr Khan @ Jan 29th 2008 7:23PM

I said it already. It's not their lack of capacity, its the fact that this game has been released (in Japan) far too soon after it went gold

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:33PM

fernando, SSBB does have a glitch that it's shipping with (refuses to play on Wii's which haven't been updated since summer). So there goes that theory.

Could be a problem printing the packaging.... but are you really going to tell me they don't start printing items off before they have the discs or more importantly, the manuals are not finalized until the game goes gold?

Or maybe a DVD case shortage. certainly possible, just not probable.

In fact, only Mr Kahn as something even remotely close to a reasonable answer but then this begs the question. Nintendo has stated in the past that their own facility is capable of running off nearly 2 million copies in a week. So if the shortage says it will be around ~300K copies and the game isn't even out yet, did they just decide to run the machines for 5 hours and say "Let's not overdo this."

LegendarySyko @ Jan 29th 2008 7:54PM

I don't think they are faking either, why would they want to be denied another million seller to rub in the competitions face? Seriously, the game was delayed so it came out of the devs hands probably not long before it was planned to release, giving Nintendo very little time to print them discs. I'm 99% this is the only reason and not Nintendo trying to create false demand.

Psaakyrn @ Jan 29th 2008 7:59PM

Or maybe the supply problem is to handle SAID glitch. Nothing proved until it's out.

rv @ Jan 29th 2008 8:00PM

Yeah, seriously, wtf?
There should never be a shortage of games. How hard is it to burn?

Mr.ESC @ Jan 29th 2008 8:13PM

The fact here is that you my friends are completely ignorant…….. Also you don't know sh*t about this.

Well I don’t see what Ninty would gain from this? I mean what keep people waiting for your product so they can recur to piracy or buying the Japanese version in Ebay at outrageous prices? I don’t think so.

Well maybe there is a reason I’m not seeing here but since no one here works in Nintendo

*voice: I do

Shut up.

We can maybe and just maybe shut our mouths and hope for the best or just import the Japanese version for OVER NINE THOUSAND Yens.

The truth is that we don’t know and the conspiracy theories won’t resolve anything so keep your crazy revelations for the final character rooster.

Noshino @ Jan 29th 2008 8:32PM

Mr ESC

"Well I don’t see what Ninty would gain from this? "

Well, that is exactly the point from which THIS theory kicks in

"Others speculate that Nintendo is intentionally withholding supply to give its WiFi Connection service a chance to adapt to the inescapable surge of online Brawl players."

Mr.ESC @ Jan 29th 2008 9:13PM

So Nintendo is delaying Brawl because they don't have enough servers? is that it?

Mr Khan @ Jan 29th 2008 9:21PM

I wasn't aware of their capacity, but perhaps it is because they have most of it committed to Wii Fit right now, and are unable to shift production easily enough (and note, it is not just burning, you have to make a master and make imprints, much faster than sequential burning, but requires slightly more work to switch over)

I honestly don't know, but i can't find a reason to assume that Nintendo's doing this deliberately (unlike Wii shortages, which can have a positive effect, this can't give them an iota of benefit)

I'm not defending, i'm just trying to find an answer

BananaBoat @ Jan 29th 2008 11:38PM

This is a joke. They could print millions of these a DAY. THAT'S EVERYYYY DAYYYY. They could easily, and quickly, print more discs than there are Wii consoles out in the wild.

Gah this is so stupid.

giantenemycrab @ Jan 30th 2008 2:07AM

Gaming companies(namely Nintendo) are starting to play the shortage of supplies card like it's some sort of accomplishment. When in reality it's a shortcoming that is unacceptable.

I'm not one to be a conspiracy theorist, but I still have a hard time believing Nintendo and their Wii shortages. Not so much their shortages in the stores, more so the cause of those shortages(and I don't mean demand), the manufacturing shortages.

Let's look at the facts here, fanboyism aside, the Wii is made up of old hardware. It's not cutting edge tech like it's competitors, but instead it's comparable to Microsoft's last-gen offers as far as hardware goes. So obviously this hardware is NOT hard to produce, not hard to come by.

Let's give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt, say they were having problems manufacturing the console when it was first introduced. But I refuse to believe that more then a year later Nintendo is just sitting on their hands saying, "oh well, nothing we can do." No, if they really were still having problems manufacturing the Wii a year later, Nintendo would have fired the whoever is manufacturing the consoles 6 months ago.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 30th 2008 11:19AM

"Nintendo has stated in the past that their own facility is capable of running off nearly 2 million copies in a week. So if the shortage says it will be around ~300K copies and the game isn't even out yet, did they just decide to run the machines for 5 hours and say "Let's not overdo this."

Because we all know that SSBB is the only game nintendo is printing at their facility, right?

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 30th 2008 11:43AM

Oh, and everybody here talking about manufacturing clearly already knows 2 things about it: jack and shit. To set up new manufacturing lines, from scratch, is AT LEAST a 6 month lead time, if not longer. Making more Wii or adding more capacity isn't a matter of flipping a switch or turning a knob. New factories have to be contracted, then those factories have to order the correct tooling, machines (if necessary), then they have to do development to make sure all their programming is correct, all the tooling works, etc. Then you have to run at low capacity to make sure you haven't fucked something up. Then after all that, you can ramp up production.

Manufacturing doesn't move at the speed of the internet. Lead time on tooling alone can take 6-8 weeks. Lead time on a new machine and setup can be just as long or longer. Assembly personnel have to be trained, machines programmed, supply chain (for materials) managed.

So shut the hell up about manufacturing. You don't know what you're talking about.

NESv1 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:08PM

I don't think Nintendo should be accused of doing this on purpose. I mean, this just hurts them. And there's no reason for Nintendo to intentionally hurt themselves. Also, when you make a game that, in a lot of peoples' opinion, is a perfect game, it's hard to get enough of it out. Look at Smash Bros Melee. All the way up to present time, it was the best selling game since it came out. And because of that, Brawl will do even better... which is a bit scary when you really think about it. Can't wait!

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:20PM

Simple question...

If Bioshock goes gold and manages to amass 1.5 million copies printed across two platforms within three weeks, where is the problem here?

In the words of Lewis Black... "Are you fucking kidding me?"

reppy @ Jan 29th 2008 7:40PM

@sheppy

Please explain to me how intentionally pissing off customers that pre-ordered a game is beneficial to Nintendo.

This must be that whole "innovation" thing those guys at Nintendo are always talking about, huh?

LegendarySyko @ Jan 29th 2008 8:05PM

Sheepy you still don't understand, the japenese version of the game didn't have 3 weeks between gold and release because of the delay. Don't expect this to happen to the American edition at all.

flameofdoom666 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:08PM

Its a month away- YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fox318 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:09PM

I guess this is a reason for the delay...

I'd rather everyone have a copy then shortages. Hopefully Nintendo will make enough copies for the rest of the world.

This and Sunshine is my only reason I could see myself get a Wii.

Fox318 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:09PM

I guess this is a reason for the delay...

I'd rather everyone have a copy then shortages. Hopefully Nintendo will make enough copies for the rest of the world.

This and Galaxy is my only reason I could see myself get a Wii.

KonohaShinobi @ Jan 29th 2008 7:10PM

Wow, I didn't preorder at all so I'm probably screwed. Then again there is still an entire month before we get it in the US.

I never thought I'd say this, but thank god for the delay.

Phi Nguyen @ Jan 29th 2008 7:11PM

Here's to hoping that Nintendo will offer a free downloadable game as an apology when the imminent crash of their servers occurs due to all the crazed N fans logging in onto the online service on the first day. May I suggest the original Super Smash Bros?

Phi ^_^

FOXHOUND @ Jan 30th 2008 7:47AM

Free DL from Nintendo? Nice... but highly doubtful, man. Hell, count your blessings that the WiiRemote cover and straps were free(upon proof of purchase of the console).

Speaking of those WiiRemote covers, I like how they hilariously bounce IR-side down similar to the old beer commercial about bouncing their bottles across the living room. It's almost as fun as WiiSports tennis. ;]

Joseph Sweat @ Jan 29th 2008 7:12PM

Btw, I'm fine with the delays if it means I'm guaranteed a copy of the game. I don't know what I'd do if the release date came along and I couldn't get it...

Bassir @ Jan 29th 2008 7:18PM

I guess I'll have to pick up my copy at a launch party in Nintendo World. Assuming Nintendo World has a large supply and assuming Nintendo World has a launch party.

The Artist formally known as Jesus @ Jan 29th 2008 11:29PM

Those Nintendo World parties get pretty damn crazy

glass soldier @ Jan 29th 2008 7:22PM

well i guess its pretty understandable why we have the delay, plus i dont want to wait in a 3hour line for a midnight release

deaftly @ Jan 29th 2008 7:24PM

yeah... theres this thing called a preorder ive heard so much about

Catprog @ Jan 29th 2008 7:40PM

The article says that there is enough for pre-orders.

sheppy2.0 @ Jan 29th 2008 7:40PM

You'd have a point about that... if not for

"Nintendo has failed to supply as much as 75% of pre-order units to retailers;"

Only one out of every four preordering people in Japan get their units at launch. Well, admittedly that's the worst case scenario.

Mr.ESC @ Jan 29th 2008 7:58PM

I find you new avatar disturbing and at the same time far,far more interesting.

playwhutyalike (needs to quit being a d@k) @ Jan 29th 2008 8:08PM

lower....lower.....yeah, that's right......daddy like....

deaftly @ Jan 29th 2008 10:23PM

well thats japan, if you preorder at gamestop you're going to get a copy none the less. for the first batch, all that is sold are preorder copies

fuzzy @ Feb 1st 2008 7:22PM

There is no Wii hardware scarcity in Japan.

You can walk into all sorts of places and pick one up. The US, not so much. But I was just in Japan a few weeks ago and I saw Wiis for sale at every game store I went to, and they weren't even marked up.

SoulBlade @ Jan 29th 2008 7:39PM

I gotta think this would resolve itself pretty quickly as it's probably much easier to manufacture games compared to wiis...

Mr.ESC @ Jan 29th 2008 7:41PM

Hey talking about SSBB ,isn't it weird that at this point we haven’t seen other companies jumping in the Free publicity bandwagon? I mean I haven’t seen a single Nintendo gamer fuel or a Samus Mountain Dew,Nothing.

Well if it’s get delayed (again) in America they could at least add an extra character like (Not going to happen I know) Megaman, Viewtiful Joe, Master Chief, Gordon Freeman, Gman, Zero, Bomber man or Duke Nukem

SoulBlade @ Jan 29th 2008 8:31PM

viewtiful joe would be a cool addition - gotta figure out how to incorporate his time shifting goodness

wickedpheonix @ Jan 29th 2008 7:45PM

I gotta go with the conspiracy theorists on this one - these are friggin' games we're talking about. EVERYONE can mass-produce games - COD4, Halo 3, all these games expected to be best-sellers went gold a couple weeks as normal before they went on sale (to my recollection) and were manufactured in that standard amount of time. I do think that Nintendo now thinks that they can just restrict supply and keep people salivation and keeping demand up.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, the honest consumers, this means out of stock stores and $100 copies of the game on eBay. In the mean time, you can't spell "conspiracy" without "piracy" and that will be a popular option I think for a lot of educated owners who want the game but can't wait like 20 years for it to go in-stock.

vidGuy @ Jan 29th 2008 7:58PM

There's no conspiracy other than, why the hell didn't they delay it in Japan too? Development went so long that they haven't had time to produce the supply needed and demand has been much higher than expected. A delay should have been made.

Smaller supply+larger demand = shortage. You can pretty much guarantee that there will be Japanese copies selling for much more than retail shortly after the release. Luckily we shouldn't have this problem in the US.

Co @ Jan 29th 2008 8:00PM

Man Nintendo is amazing. The. Best.

umm....hello??? @ Jan 29th 2008 8:02PM

ummm....duh?? this is a HUGE game in Japan....the closest thing the Wii has to a FinalFantasy/DragonQuest release.

SergeantSalad @ Jan 29th 2008 8:09PM

You know, if they need some extra dvd burners, I can lend them a few...

m1nk3y @ Jan 29th 2008 8:18PM

Dear Nintendo:

Fire your head of Operations and Logistics. You are a multi billion dollar company. Start acting like it and get your shit in together and start predicting the demand for your products with a bit less modesty.

Hugs and Kisses,

-The Undersigned.

P.S: Please fix this shortage problem before March 6th or I will be forced to post another comment on the resulting Joystiq story....and nobody wants that.