Reggie Compares New Metroid to The Wind Waker, amiibo Stock to Majora’s Mask New Nintendo 3DS XL

It’s no secret that the reaction to Metroid Prime: Federation Force has been overwhelmingly negative. There are a copious number of reasons to attribute that reaction to, some of which may have absolutely nothing to do with the game itself (rather, the game they didn’t get instead). Reggie Fils-Aime decided to respond by asking fans to trust Nintendo, comparing it to a similar situation Nintendo dealt with in regards to The Wind Waker. Put plainly, Reggie feels if social media was a bigger deal back during The Wind Waker reveal, a petition to cancel that game would have likely also existed and gotten a lot of traction:

Fils-Aime: “Here’s what I would state: we know what our fans want. We will also push the envelope in developing something that we know is high-quality and that we know will deliver in the marketplace. The best example I can give you of this, and I think you will appreciate it, is Legend of Zelda Wind Waker. Remember when that art style was first shown. The uproar from the Zelda community was intensely negative. If there had been social media then, there probably would have been a petition to make that game go away.”

Totilo: “I guess you’ve seen the Metroid petition.”

Fils-Aime: “So, the game is developed, becomes one of the most beloved games of all time, one of the most highly-rated games of all time, so I use that example to say: ‘We know what we’re doing, trust us, play the game and then we can have a conversation.’”

He very well could be right. Being big Nintendo fans ourselves, we’re well aware of the reactions the new Metroid game have gotten and it does remind me of the reaction to The Wind Waker. Fans arguably felt just as betrayed over that move, but by and large The Wind Waker was a pretty rousing success. It scored well critically, and everyone who played the game seemed to enjoy. It even sold well enough to justify a HD upgrade many years down the road. Maybe everything will be just fine after all. Speaking of Zelda, he also wanted to compare the amiibo situation to a very similar frustrating situation many of us dealt with earlier this year:

Totilo: “Do you have any strategies to give people more opportunities? I see Amazon will do a limited-edition Amiibo. I may be getting the retailer wrong. And it’s sold out before anybody can even get it. It feels to me like trying to get concert tickets now. You’re competing with the scalpers or whoever. Do you guys have ideas or plans or anything you can share about that?”

Fils-Aime: “I think you have to put the auction person off to the side.”

Totilo: “The eBay flipper.”

Fils-Aime: “Right. The flipper, you have to put them off to the side. This is a consumer who thinks these are like gold. We’re focused on the everyday consumer, and we want that consumer to be completely satisifed. In the end, though, the retailer manages how they execute a pre-sale or how they make the product available. We certainly give suggestions and guidance. The retailer is making that call. And, again, to separate, when there’s a supply issue, that’s Nintendo’s fault, but in terms of managing a pre-sale process, that’s something that each individual retailer controls.”

Totilo: “Right. The 3DS Majora’s Mask was a ridiculously hot item for you guys.”

Fils-Aime: “And we brought that back a second time as well. That’s another case where we saw that the pre-sales were going extremely strong, the production cycle on that is quite long, so we made an immediate decision to make more to get that into retail about a month after the first grouping had sold through.”

I do have to admit, getting the last wave of amiibo, wave 4, was a lot easier personally than many of the other waves have been. I think Nintendo has certainly began to better meet demand in new waves, even if they haven’t fixed demand for the old waves. I still remember the Majora’s Mask 3D New Nintendo 3DS XL fiasco myself, too. Canceled orders at Best Buy, stock stuck out on boats in the pacific, etc. It’s also true that a month later, it was fairly easy to find the system as they did do a full second run of the product. I think this could be a similar case for Nintendo too – where the rare amiibo people struggle to find eventually get a second run, as well. It is certainly a fine balance taking care of supply versus demand.

Source: Kotaku