And Not Because of Popularity Expectations
Before going forward, it should be noted that this may not be a barometer of what to expect everywhere come this week, launch week for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. Still, there are several reasons to inform you about it.
What’s to know? It’s in a post made Saturday night on the Sega forums by NinMicroSega. He did some checking around on how many ASR copies his local Wal-Mart store is getting. As it turns out, it’s not very many:
My Walmart is only getting 2 copies for each system by Tuesday. How did I find this out? I typed in 11 out of the 12 digits from the UPC numbers of each game into our computer. My Wal-mart is in Seekonk, Massachusetts, one of the busiest stores in the district, yet each version is only getting two copies? WTF? Do they expect this game to sell poorly? Companies only ship out small amounts to figure out demand. Other examples include Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and any of the Nippon Ichi games. This game may be a sales flop, folks, and I’m not liking it.
Why single out one store? For one, Seekonk is in a heavily populated area of the Northeast, in southeastern Massachusetts near Providence, Rhode Island and only about 50 miles out of Boston. This isn’t Nowhere, U.S.A.
Still, in terms of available quantities, your situation may vary depending on where you live. A few comments to NinMicroSega’s post noted some retailers like Gamestop and EB Games will at times stock up to 15 to 20 copies of a particular title per store.
But in framing the case for ASR’s sales success, other comments predicted ease in purchasing the game this week, which isn’t always a good thing.
Here’s what another Sega forumer, axe_ninja, wrote in response–almost a reversal of NinMicroSega’s expectations for launch week:
I went to Gamestation to pre-order this and Final Fantasy XIII Special Edition at the same time. The man at the counter told me I should definitely come in on release on FFXIII (well, ASAP he said) but don’t worry at all about S&SASR (I wasn’t able to pre-order, but it was obvious he didn’t think it would hinder my chance to purchase). It’s funny when you think that Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games has sold 6 million.
In either case, a bleak situation is painted. Either by retailers deliberately ordering less copies, or advertising plentiful availability via low demand, the expectations for ASR’s sales success drop. If sales don’t shape up, neither do the prospects of things like additional DLC for the people who do buy the game, which Sumo Digital staffers have made clear.
The bottom line: when ASR is released Tuesday in North America and Friday in Europe, it will be worth watching how demand shapes up.
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With every new Sonic game that hits the shelf where I live, there’s never really a shortage. I’ll find out this week, though.
Mario & Sonic sold 6 million, I thing we Mario & Sonic in 2011.
I meant we are getting another Mario & Sonic in 2011
Sonic & Tails : Funny thing is 2011 is Mario`s 30th & Sonic`s 20th if that happens I hope to see a platformer
So what’s to discuss?
@Mike: Whatever we want.
It’s our comments!
This is concerning… Just looked at the sundey ad’s, Target is ONLY advertising the Wii and DS editions, and Best Buy is not advertising it at all.
…when it comes to localizing and advertising, even for some really good titles, SEGA have always been a hard group to understand.
I dunno. Mario&sonic was also a multiplayer bestseller
… My friend Ryan works at Gamestop and I asked him about it, he said they’re getting at least 4-5 boxes (cardboard boxes, not game boxes) of the game with around 10 games in each box. Why would it be getting hyped up in Arizona and not anywhere else, unless he’s bs-ing me.