Nintendo Makes It SO DAMN HARD To Buy Switch Special Edition Games 

Do you have luck getting your hands on them? LMK!

90% of switch coverage on RU-vid is either people wondering when a direct is happening, saying “with a grain a salt” when discussing leaks/rumors or being overly positive about the things Nintendo does wrong. So I appreciate when you deviate from that a little.

I remember when the Zelda Majora’s Mask 3DS edition came out, there was a guy on Amazon that was scalping them. Everyone left the guy 1-star reviews and called him out for being a scumbag.

To be honest I think as gamers we need to start having more backbones when it comes to how these companies handle their business. 1) The pandemic shut down has been up for basically 2 years it can no longer be used as a graceful excuse by these companies 2) Hyping up things like trailers and hear say which amps up speculation and when the game is more of a disappointing than a fun experience we just say "Oh well, shame on me" no shame on the company paying people to hype up games or not let them tell the community the truth of the matter about the game 3) Special edition and collectors editions and deluxe editions are a rip off to give the CEO's a bigger bonus (or devs for some companies) 4) How could we take back the power when it comes to the shady moves these big businesses are using agains its consumers?

From a marketing perspective, Nintendo should announce the Special/Collectors Edition further out that they should and allow for any amount of preorders that way they can gauge interest and know how many copies they would really make/order.

I occasionally get special editions of games when it is something I know is gonna be big for me, which is rare. Honestly they usually give us a poorly bound art book, some art cards, possibly a cd soundtrack you can hear online. The stuff they throw in usually amounts to cheap junk that costs them nothing to make.

RG nailed it about content creators that just move on to the next thing when a game is released and says everything is fine for the switch. the pandering is real these days

I think the pandemic has made everything worse. I was easily able to get Xenoblade Chronicles 1 & 2 Special Edition. I got them after release date too. Nintendo is partially to blame but its not always been this case.

Nintendo is to its games, like Vince McMahon is to the current WWE product.

I agrees with you 100% The Xeno3 nightmare has really turned me off to Nintendo's way of doing things.

They should do what limited run games Does and take open preorders until a certain date. Scalpers will buy a bunch like they do on limited run but atleast if you want one you can 100% get one before the cut off time.

I think the reason why XC3 collector's edition is My Nintendo Store exclusive is mostly because of the fact that not everything will be shipped out at the same time. That sucks for people like me who don't live in a country like US. But in some other places, like Taiwan, people can go to an actual game shop and preorder their CE with a voucher to redeem the second part that will come later.

"Life sucks, wear a helmet." Class 🤣

Btw im glad your talking about this. It has made me mad for a while. I feel like they should do like the ps5 and do 1 per household on order through the website only

I liked in the 90s when they would put "collectors edition" on everything, and it would be numbered "#7051/90,000." lol those were the days.

I live in the UK and we've got screwed again. Well said sir.👏 Saying things as they are.

In Xenoblade's case, they bumped up the release date. They could have saved all of the chaos of the special edition by releasing it in September, but no. They have to release it in basically August since it comes out on the 29th. One month. Also, where's wave 2 of the Booster Course Pass? I hope we get those new maps in Mario Kart soon.

Can't wait for the BOTW2 special edition; it's gonna be x5 of a fiasco compared to Xenoblade 3.

"Life sucks. Wear a helmet." Hahaha. Great quote. Tell it like it is. That's what I'm here for.

"Life sucks, wear a helmet." Words to live by.

"Artificial scarcity" you nailed it! Man, we need RGT.

They should really go the Limited Run route of selling special items by taking in preorders and making the product after so you know exactly how much to make and everyone is happy.

‘Life sucks wear a helmet’ is actually some pretty deep philosophy coming from RGT.

Only Nintendo is the only relationship that I have not given up on after getting clearly screwed so much

"This isn't Debbie Does Dallis", lol. I sure do miss pre-ordering collectors editions at brick and mortar. I hate trying to fit in the same hole with everyone else.

Yes this is true. I stopped trying with special editions. They make it difficult to get. Great video on this topic.

I've always wanted to buy a Special Edition of a Nintendo game but then my Wallet would tell me this:"Don't do this me please your making me suffer to much for 2022 games!"

My biggest ANNOYANCE with XC3 is that the CE was ONLY up on Nintendo’s website, so I didn’t even realize I had missed the preorder window until AFTER they were all snatched up (and this is coming from someone who managed to get CEs for Link’s Awakening, Metroid Dread, SMTV, and XC1 and XC2).

This business model is used by several companies. I collected sneakers for years and this is something we have been battling within the sneaker community for the last 15 years.

I think online selling is inevitable. Just like u said, special editions don’t really sell in retail stores, so most likely retailers aren’t willing to take the risk. Selling online makes is available for people that doesn’t have retail stores close to them or retail stores that has them. However, that also makes it more accessible for scalpers and bots. I honestly don’t know a solution for this.

I still remember that day long ago that both Wii and PS3 preorders went live. Standing outside EB Games chatting with friends and strangers, all excited to play games. And then there was this one guy bragging about how hes buying as many ps3s as possible to re-sell. No body wanted to talk to him, everybody could tell he was human garbage.

This is what happened with Baldurs Gate 3 collectors edition. The current price on the eBay is CRAZY. I wanted to buy it, but they were sold and now the price is unbelievable

One of the main reasons I love your videos is specifically because you call out Nintendo on their BS. Keep doing what you’re doing 🤘

I’m in the uk and have literally just had my email from Nintendo saying xc3 won’t be ready so I’ll have to buy the game separately and they will email me in September about the rest of the stuff that goes with the collectors edition 🤦🏻‍♂️ It can’t be that hard surely? My money here Nintendo!!!

Nintendo should make it an open pre-order system where they just make enough to fulfill preorders similar to LRG or do them in waves like Steam Deck and Analogue Pocket.

I like the idea of buying it separately. Sometimes they put stupid things that you do want later on because it was pre-order or collector edition only. I never do either but would be more inclined to go buy something after I've played the game and have more of a connection to the characters. Of course, you then end up with the resale bots so it's kind of hard to pull off.

Can you imagine the cost the special edition for breath of the wild 2 will be if they decide to do that

Even Hideki Kamiya is trying to assure fans, even the ones in his homeland, that there are still a few copies of Bayo 3: Trinity Masquerade Edition left to pre-order.

This has been an ongoing problem for the toy collecting community with exclusives selling out in seconds and the majority of the sales went to scalpers. I'm not surprised this has impacted the video game industry too. An open preorder period where anyone who wants a collectors edition can order it is the best option. For all of Limited Run Games faults, they at least get this right. Whether its a toy or video game these websites are not designed to handled the massive amount of traffic from people or BOTS buying up the limited stock.

This could also be said for Super Mario 3D All-Stars for so many people, but that game is not actually the case, because there are so many copies of the game still available online online at Best Buy & Walmart, in new condition.

That Debby does Dallas reference tho lololol

Wow! I had no idea Xenoblade 3 was so popular!😳🙉 (I mean, it's not - it's the skalpers going after all those limited editions...😅😓) It was also very interesting to hear that the rise of the popularity of special editions is a very new thing!😲🔥👍🏻

Forgot to say made in abyss has a special edition that you can pre order right now if there are any made in abyss fans here already got mine.

What really pisses me off about collector's editions in general, is when it's only available in certain countries and not in America. For example the triangle strategy collector's edition was only available in the UK, and Americans only got stupid little character cards or whatever for pre-order bonus. And then of course scalpers.

It has more to do with the ongoing maintenance on the My Nintendo Store in Europe, which unfortunately will continue beyond the release of Xenoblade 3. That's not the reason they wouldn't get it right logistically "My Nintendo Store is currently under extended technical maintenance, which we expect to last a few weeks. During this period you will not be able to place orders or use and view My Nintendo Store as you normally would. Any recent orders will be delivered as specified in your order confirmation email. In case of any questions you can contact our Customer Service team for more details about the status of your order(s)."

Yeah I’m pretty bummed at the way Nintendo handled Xenoblade chronicles three special edition. I have the special edition for all the other games in the series but was not able to get my hands on one of these. And I’m not willing to pay scalper prices. Nintendo really screwed the pooch on this one!

I couldn't agree more with your point! Open Preorders a few months ahead of time and then make enough SEs to cover the preorders. That way the people that want them.....I don't know...FUCKING GET IT!

Never thought I'd hear RGT say that "we need bigger holes"

All the gaming companies need to stop making their majority sales online and have them in store this is the reason I only have the standard Nintendo and haven’t bought the PS5 I’m not paying more

Living in Australia actually makes it easier to get your hands on those special editions. I have several.

The reason why you are talking honestly and also talk about the downsides of Nintendo and the Game Industry in general is exactly the content I was searching for in YT. So keep going and thanks for that RGT 85 ❤️🤝

This is what people deal with with shoes, clothes, and other products. The companies know it will be high demand but they don’t care. They will supply enough product for what they want to make back and after that everyone could kick rocks. It sucks but this is common in 2022 now with any high demand product.

I appreciate the TMNT Shredders revenge music in the background dude, I've been binging the soundtrack like a fucking lunatic it's so goddamn good

Surprise you didn’t bring up how here (US) are in the same boat. Nintendo stated they will mail out the game and the extra content will be mailed later. The only good to come from this is that it screws the scalpers since they won’t have all of the extra goodies day one. Supposedly this happened because the game was supposed to release in September, but with the new date, they didn’t have time to speed up the process.

Life's not all rainbows and butterflies, as an adult or adults. We Clearly know this, and unfortunately this only comes with age and youngans just can't grasp this

Scalpers are cancer. That said Nintendo should really do bigger runs for the special editions.

What Nintendo SHOULD do: Require an active Nintendo online account to preorder. Limit 1 per account. DON'T HAVE ANY LIMITS ON PRODUCTION, just have an open pre-order period for 1 or 2 weeks, and make EXACTLY as many as get ordered. THEN have the person's order name printed on the box (i work in print this is ridiculously easy to do, just requires a simple data merge file sent to the printer) and that way scalpers wont want it because they can't resell it with someone else's name on it, and if everyone who wants one can get one, there's suddenly no extra demand

I hate long replies like this but there’s a lot to say about this. TL;DR - Aside from the lack of stock Nintendo puts out for Special Editions, this is mainly an incident that’s isolated to Xenoblade 3. The only reason the Xenoblade 3 Collectors Edition pre orders are having this many issues is because the game got pushed forward July. In every region where pre orders opened, they will send you the game around release (July 29) and they’ll send you the rest of the stuff (Steelbook, Artbook, and the actual collectors edition box) in September. Does September sound familiar? That’s because Xenoblade 3 was originally going to release in September. These “logistical issues” Nintendo UK is facing isn’t just happening in the UK, it’s happening in all regions because of this release date change. Nintendo probably ordered these months in advance to be ready in September, but things changed. Now they have to work around this. Let’s compare this to the Bayo 3 SE that was announced last week. Pre orders opened online at Best Buy this morning and 6 hours later (as of the time of me typing this) they’re still available. Bayo 3 was planned for a late October release for a while now internally so Nintendo could plan for this. Xenoblade 3 had a huge shift in release date that they couldn’t plan for. The main reason Nintendo is making the Xenoblade 3 SE exclusive is so that they can handle any logistical issues (which there is a bunch of, as we can see) internally.

only push back i have is that if it doesn't sell is they are holding a lot of product. its easy for them to just make less and not risk that. but yes they should make more.

While they don’t need kickstarter, Nintendo can take a page from Kickstarter’s book. Larger companies can open up pre-orders several months before the manufacturing of the items. They can get an accurate number of what needs to be produced while also getting paid for it, then ship out when the game is ready for release. If they have extra made, then put them on their store and have them available for those who couldn’t afford it at the time.

"Life sucks, wear a helmet" 😂

The pandemic has made physical fulfilment a complete nightmare for multiple companies, not just Nintendo. I ordered the Collector's Edition extras for Iron Harvest on their Kickstarter back in 2018. It was supposed to ship by Christmas of 2020. Then the pandemic hit Q1 2020 and Supplier Sources and shortages across the board caused the companies they were going through to create the Mech model, Metal Shell case, art book and even the physical DVDs of the game they couldn't make fulfilment to make that 2020 deadline, so it was pushed back indefinitely. I just received my CE of Iron Harvest last month, and I've been playing the game since its release in Sept. 2020 (owned as part of the Kickstarter). So yeah, be glad it's ONLY a month wait to get a chance at the physical stuff. I'm betting this isn't in Nintendo's control as much as it wasn't for King Art Games and so many other developers for the last couple years. Supply lines still suck and it makes things frustrating for everyone from the developer company all the way to the end user. TLDR; You've absolutely not been wrong on the last few videos you've made criticizing Nintendo, but this one misses the mark. They don't currently have complete control over delays in physical products, so they're just as frustrated as you are about having to do this. I hate this phrase, but Nintendo is probably using it internally right now: It is what it is.

Being honest, if the collector's edition of the games I want to buy don't include an Art book or a CD Soundtrack then I go for the Standard edition.

I got that mail today... But i never got a notification mail about the original special edition....

Scalpers are the worst type of people. I wish they would get real jobs instead of being leeches.

was easier to get a hold of the UK BOTW Collectors edition more than an actual Switch console on this launch

RGT85 is the only RU-vidr who will make a Debbie Does Dallas analogy to explain Nintendo's supply and demand BS, and that's why I'm a fan.

I do wish that the American version did what the uk is doing. They also said on the American version that you’re only getting shipped the game at launch. So they’re already doing it that way here anyways.

RGT85, I am just thankful that they are doing Special Editions for TMNT Shredder's Revenge. Though my TMNT amiibo idea would have been killer. Nintendo could have made a lot of money off of those but no one ever listens to me.

For me that started after the Xenoblade Chronicles-Definitive Edition. Links Awakening SE, Metroid:Dread SE, XC 2 and now XC3. Wasn´t able to get any of these and that sucks big Time.

This is 100% on Nintendo and has been for decades. They are the worst when it comes to under-manufacturing products. I remember this being a thing all the way back in the Zelda II days. Not to mention you still can’t buy an N64 controller on their site.

Bayonetta 3 collectors edition was sold out in seconds, in the Nintendo store UK, with no sign of restocking soon. I had to go get it at GAME

The problem with them doing this crap is that by September, plemty of other games will be coming out that I'm looking forward to and I'm less likely to want to spend my spare cash on an empty box and art booklet for a game I'll already have by that point. Especially not if it's as expensive as I think it'll be. A big part of the fun of Collector's Editions for me is opening them up and all the freebies getting you excited about the game BEFORE you start playing it. Offering us the extra standalone tat 2-3 months later for a premium price is going to put a lot of people off. That only thing I can think of with the 'logistical' problems they're talking about is that Xenoblade 3 had it's release date moved forward, likely because Splatoon 3 was delayed, so the Collector's Edition sets couldn't be ready in time.

Lesson of the day: Business and Marketing Majors at work lol. Remember the Mario 3d collection unvaulting and that mess behind it?

I stopped buying CEs years ago because of this. Nintendo doesn't care, and neither do scalpers. It's saved me a ton of money and shelf space as well.

I love special editions. The thing with pre orders is i like digital but bite the bullet because i like the random crap - mostly prefer statues. I just wish Nintendo and all the other companies that does pre orders let us pre order even if it exceeded what they expected to sell even if it means people get it past the expected release date. Better to have it at the MSRP price than getting scalped.

Majority of people on here probably doesn’t even know what Debbie Does Dallas is 🤣 CLASSIC

i feel you bro i am a big switch collector and i hate how they make us jump through a bunch of hoops to buy something i just recently hit 703 switch games in my collection and im thinking of slowing down because its becoming a pain in the butt lol

We're not saying that RGT should be all smiles and sunshine, but he should be looking at the big picture instead of staring at just a small part of it. Maybe there weren't a lot of games in 2022 that he personally wasn't into, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been a great year for the community.

I love that you tell it how it is and look into whats actually going on rather than just the surface

I never have issues buying the limited and collectors editions in Australia. I think it’s just in the USA because they get obsessed with materialistic things to a point they pay the high prices resulting in scalping . I don’t think this is a Nintendo problem but the people willing to buy it at such high prices .

I dont collect stuff having stuff in a shelf collecting dust is just weird to me.

“Shout outs girl” 🤣😂🤣😂

same thing with the Pokemon cards. when the 25th ultra premium box came out I didn't really bother trying to buy one just to give in to scalpers "investors". I figured ill just wait and try my luck at donating stores/yards sale/flee markets/pawn shops. I know I will find one just like I find consoles and games.

Rgt85 you nailed it kinda makes you wounder how many of these were available before the bots soaked them up

You answered your own question FOMO is why Nintendo and other companies limit product it generates more interest then originally intended hyping product so it sells out versus having more then meets demand and product sitting on shelf but having happy consumers.

Was planning on getting The Callisto Protocols collectors edition but then I saw its going to cost $370 in Canada... can't justify it

Scalpers have also cleaned out the God of War collectors editions.

My country don't even have a shop on their Nintendo site.

I don't know. I have succeeded in getting both the collectors editions that I have wanted this year. Bayonetta 3 and Fire Emblem Three Hopes. I had no problems to get it, days after they were announced. Though I am not a fan of Xenoblade, so there was no desire for the collectors edition. I think the Xenoblade 3 delay is likely due to zero-COVID in China and the shutting down of factories and supply chains. Not much they can do there.

Several companies do this, Disney for example. They’ll release a limited edition item exclusively on their website and it’s gone within seconds. Then within a few mins they’re on eBay at high costs.

It’s not easy to just guess how much Collector’s Edition a company has to make. The same happened with the NES Classic - where they weren’t expecting the high demand the mini console had. Now they’re trying to control the production and the scalper situation via this “interest registration”

Nintendo thought that was a good business model and they’re business men.

someone email this video to Nintendo! lol

Back when ZOE HD came out on the PS3 I had to order it from Canada as Konami didn’t see the uk as special enough so it’s not just Nintendo missing the mark. It is however worse now with scalpers snapping up the majority of items.

Why don't they sell a regular copy online and with that copy you get a code for 1 copy of the collectors edition. That way if you want to scalp it you have to buy more copies. If they try to return a copy simply cancel the code

Sony did the same thing. All they had to do was send out links to people who already had existing PlayStation accounts. That way you make sure the fans get them first. These companies don’t care. As long as that false hype is there they wouldn’t care if the product ended up in the trash. The more people who miss out on an item the more you succeed because the next time those people are going to buy things without even thinking about because the fomo got ‘em. It’s all a marketing game. It’s tons of people with PlayStations and animal crossing edition switches sitting in the corner collecting dust because the hype was at an all time high.

These corporations could certainly do more to quell scalping, but they're not human and therefore incapable of caring.

I really wanted the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 special edition, across the 2 sale days I spent 18-20 hours to try and get one. Once I finally got it in the cart, since it was missing or unable to check out 10 times. Finally it was in the cart and I was able to check out it was sold out.

It's not just the Nintendo Collectors Editions. It's their special controllers as well, like the NES ones etc for Switch. Why are these things so rare for Switch? They would sell like hotcakes if they were mass produced, so I agree.