Nintendo Wii U games not in production already?

[NX17]

I posted on this previously in another thread, but it's flat out shocking how many Nintendo game just aren't in production anymore. It's something that's happened to 3DS too, but with way many more games to track it's probably a much larger list. Most notably I noticed Ocarina of Time - but on Wii U I've already found problems with the following notable games:

- Nintendo Land
- New Super Mario Bros U
- New Super Luigi U
- Lego City Undercover
- Game & Wario
- Wii Fit U (clearanced in some places)
- Pikmin 3
- The Wonderful 101
- Wii Sports Club

There's no price drop, no Player's Choice, no nothing. Checking at the major retails like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Gamestop produces nothing. You either have to hunt down a new copy from some auction site, buy it preowned, or buy it MSRP digitally from Nintendo.

I seriously do NOT get what Nintendo is doing. You have games like New Super Mario Bros U and Pikmin 3 that people would buy at a discounted price, no problem. And it's not as if they have an issue with that philosophy - they've put several games in pricing tiers. Smash Bros and Mario Kart are $60, Yoshi is $50, Toad is $40, NES Remix is $30.

Nintendo's almost become like a mail order specialty service anymore. Either get the games for a limited time at retail or pay a markup in the aftermarket to get it new, or pay MSRP for a digital version with it's own account problems. This is ridiculous!

[Hardcore Sadism]

It sucks how "Apple" Nintendo are becoming. Let's pretend we're not moving on and just butcher support for anything that isn't the latest and greatest thing.

What a joke. Shall we address them as "Big Suits" rather than "Big N from now on and make it a rule"?

[Rev]

The more news I've been hearing about Nintendo lately the more I'm caught myself sighing and getting frustrated. Thankfully I own all of these (that I want) except Game & Wario but I can't help but feel irritated the more I hear about all the wonderful decisions Nintendo has been making lately...

Sadly, I think that this isn't something that will solely be Nintendo in the coming years. It seems like the more that consoles go online, the more that this will happen across the board. I expect to see this a lot more this generation as the consoles mature. If you want a physical copy you better buy it at release or you risk not being able to find the game at all. I'm pretty sure the Vita is doing this as well. Sony and Microsoft may take a little longer to make it to the party but I think that is the way the industry is going...

[Tron]

Nintendo likes to create a lot of money for second-hand sellers. For some reason they don't seem to understand Supply & Demand. Fire emblem on the GameCube is over $100 for a used copy.

I suspect as more producers switch to digital the existing physical products will go up in price. Maybe I should buy some Wii U games now instead of waiting for them to go up in price. This reminds me of the TurboGrafx.

[NX17]

The more news I've been hearing about Nintendo lately the more I'm caught myself sighing and getting frustrated. Thankfully I own all of these (that I want) except Game & Wario but I can't help but feel irritated the more I hear about all the wonderful decisions Nintendo has been making lately...

Sadly, I think that this isn't something that will solely be Nintendo in the coming years. It seems like the more that consoles go online, the more that this will happen across the board. I expect to see this a lot more this generation as the consoles mature. If you want a physical copy you better buy it at release or you risk not being able to find the game at all. I'm pretty sure the Vita is doing this as well. Sony and Microsoft may take a little longer to make it to the party but I think that is the way the industry is going...

You're exactly right about Vita and I think it could become a bigger problem. The weird thing is how different things have become compared to say, 10 years ago. If you had a failing console, things would go in the opposite direction. Companies would get aggressive with pricing and try to become a cost leader, nowadays they accept their niche status and make sure the dedicated individuals who want the system have to pay a premium to purchase it or games for it. Just like the Vita.

If you do a release date search on say, Gamestop for older games at launch for say XBox One, you'll see many are available at retail at very discounted prices. The problem now with becoming an unpopular system is that it doesn't follow the business model anymore of cutting prices to become more competitive. Instead they cut production and no longer print games, then the aftermarket hikes the prices of new games up.

So now you have the few third party games that were released on Wii U, like Need for Speed Most Wanted, very hard to find or at a premium cost because it was barely print - and you have very superior versions of games in this series that came out on PS4/Xbox One you can find for $20 or so. And Nintendo does the same with their own games, a quick Google search found the same issue with others and now Pikmin 3 is difficult to find new:

http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii- ... discontied

It's completely ridiculous now that a console bombing turns games into a niche Neo Geo-esque collectors market.

[Vexer6]

I don't see Sony and Microsoft going down that route(at least not for a while), I think this is just Nintendo's way of trying to milk more money from consumers by creating artificial shortages of these games(something they've been accused of doing with Amiibos as well).

[Sut]

It's very 'Disney' in that they like to keep some of their films on limited rotation keeping demand higher than usual.

[ActRaiser]

I can't believe anyone would pay $70 for Lego City Undercover.

That's crazy! The load times remind me of playing a Turbo Duo game.

Well, it was years before Nintendo came out with their Players Choice versions of games. I guess it's the same for the Wii U as well. With so few games available on the Wii U maybe, that's their only option? Although, that seems a bit weird. You could easily re-release in new packaging at a discount and entice folks that haven't bought to pick up now.

I made the mistake of buying NSMB and Sonic All Star Racing online when I first got my console. Now, that seems rather foolish as it quickly took up a large chunk of my 32 GB.

Ahh, Nintendo, you've become my company that I love to make fun of now. From half finished games that get over hyped and over valued review scores to, figuring out how to make physical DLC, you're the tops.

Oh, did anyone else catch that Splatoon has a good chunk of content locked out unless you buy the $30 amiibos for it?

[scotland]

Interesting conversation everyone, thanks.

I am thinking of my friend Atarifever's post on how Nintendo is trying new things, many successfully, and then my friend Actraisers post on how Nintendo is disappointing many at the same time. Are they tossing everything in the mix looking forward?

Could keeping prices high make WiiU owners happy that games retain value? Does it promote higher attach rates? Is Nintendo moving to all download / amiibo marketplace?

I look at how MS abandoned the kinect 2 and lowered prices versus Nintendo and the tablet controller as two very different business strategies. Makes Nintendo hard to predict, at least for me.

[Vexer6]

I've heard that there are still Kinect games in the works, Microsoft just chose not to mention any of them at E3.