Ocarina of Time 3D Out of Print?

SpraykwoN

SpraykwoN

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So, with the announcement of Majora's Mask 3D, I decided it was finally time to pick up a copy of Ocarina of Time 3D for my DS.  I remember it being readily available everywhere prior to a couple weeks ago.  Now, everywhere I look, it is either not available, or extremely high in price.  I know it is available in the eShop for digital purchase, but I collect games and would love to get my hands on a physical copy.  I found a guy on eBay selling a new copy of the game bundled with a brand new LE 3DS XL from GameStop (you know the NES themed DS they had released last year), but he refused to sell the game separately from his auction, even after I offered him $75 bucks for it, almost double what it went for new.  He declined lol, so I spent the better part of the weekend looking all over town for a copy.  I tried Best Buy, Walmart, GameStop, Amazon, GameDude, you name it, and noone has any in stock.  I have heard the game is out of print, and it makes sense as it has been out for almost 4 years now.  I know, I should have bought it when I had the chance.

So, I was wondering if ayone on here has seen any copies of this game new anywhere?  If so, I would love a copy and maybe we could work out something.  I would also be willing to pay for a new copy if someone can purchase it and ship it.  Hopefully someone on here can help a fellow collector/gamer out.

Thanks in advance!

 
Gamestop has a used one near my work. They must know it is getting scarce too. The new price is $39.99, but the used price is $10 more. If you could find one complete with original art, that's probably your best bet. $50 is better than paying $75 or more for a new one...
 
So you are willing to pay $75?  There is amazon seller selling it at $50 + shipping, cheaper than ebay.

 
I am willing to pay $75.  I had read that some Best Buy stores had some in stock, but everywhere I checked near me, nobody has one, and the sku has been pulled from their inventory.  The guy I spoke to said it was moved to CLEARANCE.  It's funny because they JUST had new ones for sale on their online store last week.  Then once the Majora's Mask announcement hit, they pulled the sku and it was no longer available.

Do you have a link to the Amazon seller?  I looked this morning and did not see any for that low.  I would prefer new though.

 
SpraykwoN said:
I am willing to pay $75. I had read that some Best Buy stores had some in stock, but everywhere I checked near me, nobody has one, and the sku has been pulled from their inventory. The guy I spoke to said it was moved to CLEARANCE. It's funny because they JUST had new ones for sale on their online store last week. Then once the Majora's Mask announcement hit, they pulled the sku and it was no longer available.

Do you have a link to the Amazon seller? I looked this morning and did not see any for that low. I would prefer new though.
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Yea it was new but it sold out, now cheapest is $76

 
I might have to check.  I was hoping someone might have seen some new ones at a store and could buy me one and ship it after I paid to save me a few bucks.  Guess not haha

 
With digital distribution, Nintendo probably feels even more justified in printing fewer copies of games. Given their tight financials this gen I'm not surprised. it also means fewer used copies in circulation so people might be more inclined to purchase it on the eShop.
 
Thanks pacifickarma.

And I agree johnnypark.  Cheaper to distribute digitally and charge the same price.  It sucks but thats the reality of it.  I won't be surprised if the next gen of consoles/handhelds all flip to digital media only.  I always buy physical unless the digital versions come with some sort of exclusive content, like Killer Instinct did on the XBOX ONE.  Otherwise I buy everything hard media.

 
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pacifickarma said:
No luck at my Best Buy or Target. I have my own sealed copy, but I'm not sure if I'd sell it.
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Well if you have 2 (one sealed and one for your personal collection) I would be willing to buy it. I just want one for my personal collection. Very difficult to find at this point.

 
There's one at my local Best Buy, hidden behind some shovelware. To answer the topic--why would this still be in print?

 
Querjek said:
There's one at my local Best Buy, hidden behind some shovelware. To answer the topic--why would this still be in print?
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My guess would be its still popular to this day, granted it was released 4 years ago. Although, I could see Nintendo doing a re-print of it after MM releases. I could even see them doing a two game bundle or something of both games. Who knows. I am just glad I got a copy of it.

 
Does anyone have a copy they would sell to me? I'm going crazy looking for it. Or if someone found some copies at a sore near them and they would buy it for me. I would pay you for it and for you time and energy.
 
KidSqueek said:
Does anyone have a copy they would sell to me? I'm going crazy looking for it. Or if someone found some copies at a sore near them and they would buy it for me. I would pay you for it and for you time and energy.
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Some guy was selling new ones on eBay for like $69.99 each I believe. Not sure if he still is because I can't seem to locate the auction anymore. You can find a lot of sellers selling the bilingual version from Canada, which is far more common than the US version we got here. Prices range from like $60-$100+ for new ones.

 
The price increase in this game is crazy, I think the same thing is happening to the Starfox 3DS and Kid Icarus games too, as they're a bit more than the other 3DS games. 

 
It seems every first-party Nintendo title that isn't Mario is getting more limited print runs, even more so now with digital distribution making them available. On the Wii U side, Pikmin 3 goes for $80-100 right now if Amazon is any indication. Metroid Trilogy, Xenoblade, Punch Out Wii... they all did the same thing with the previous gen too.

It's enough to make me want to buy a copy of every one that's released (Majora for example) and just hang on to it. I don't approve of people preordering limited goods (like amiibos, Gamecube adapters) en masse just for flipping them just for profit. But in 3-5 years, you might be glad you still have a sealed copy of certain games as they go up in value.

 
johnnypark said:
It seems every first-party Nintendo title that isn't Mario is getting more limited print runs, even more so now with digital distribution making them available. On the Wii U side, Pikmin 3 goes for $80-100 right now if Amazon is any indication. Metroid Trilogy, Xenoblade, Punch Out Wii... they all did the same thing with the previous gen too.

It's enough to make me want to buy a copy of every one that's released (Majora for example) and just hang on to it. I don't approve of people preordering limited goods (like amiibos, Gamecube adapters) en masse just for flipping them just for profit. But in 3-5 years, you might be glad you still have a sealed copy of certain games as they go up in value.
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Yeah, this is making me want to pick up a copy of Majora's Mask immediately since I don't want to have to pay more than $40-50 for it.

 
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I got sick of trying to get my hands on a copy of this. Like, literally spent years waiting for the price on this to come down like it logically should have. If Nintendo wants to secretly start printing less of their games and inflate the market price, fine. I mean the guy at Best Buy was like, "let me check, I can probably find you one." "No, you won't." I said." Sure enough he was blown away by the price online and that no stores had even a used copy.

I'd be perfectly fine with digital if you had a freackin' account to tie it to and not be chained to a single, fragile device copy!

Well, thankfully the flashcart is now available so I've invested in that instead and it works great, can't wait to play MM on it. I'm sad I don't have the physical copy but sure as hell glad to keep the cash. I love ya Nintendo, but man you're stressing this relationship so hard. You and Capcom just can't seem to figure out that fans know what they want from you guys.

 
You have no idea how much this irritates me. I can't believe Nintendo is either doing artificial droughts on purpose, or has no idea of the demand for this game here in the US.  I am willing to bet that Ocarina of Time is not this difficult to acquire in Japan.  I also dispise those whom are sitting on these 3ds cartriges like they are gold.  There are hundreds of these listed on ebay right now.  There are a few being listed for normal values, but these people trying to make money off this game is nuts.  Actually, I'm glad individual people are making more money off of this game than Nintendo ever would.  If that company is dumb enough to miss out on a financial opportunity to sell a physical product to people whom are willing to pay double for, then have at it.

 
This game came out four years ago and has been on sale several times.  When it eventually receives a reprint, I hope that the prices on eBay tank and everyone who wants one can grab a copy.  Until then, have fun bitching on the internet and justifying piracy.

 
ShirtSizeXXXLXT said:
You have no idea how much this irritates me. I can't believe Nintendo is either doing artificial droughts on purpose, or has no idea of the demand for this game here in the US. I am willing to bet that Ocarina of Time is not this difficult to acquire in Japan. I also dispise those whom are sitting on these 3ds cartriges like they are gold. There are hundreds of these listed on ebay right now. There are a few being listed for normal values, but these people trying to make money off this game is nuts. Actually, I'm glad individual people are making more money off of this game than Nintendo ever would. If that company is dumb enough to miss out on a financial opportunity to sell a physical product to people whom are willing to pay double for, then have at it.
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I think it has more to do with them being in a tight financial spot, and trying to only produce as many as they can sell. They'd rather sell through inventory than have a warehouse full of unpurchased games. Publishers actually pay for shelf space in stores like Best Buy and unpurchased stock (say a game tanks, like Alien: Colonial Marines) can be sent back to publishers and actually charged money since the retailer didn't make money in sales on said product.

I agree that they're going about it even more conservatively than may be necessary, but as I said earlier in the thread, digital distribution probably makes them even more likely to produce fewer physical copies since it's still technically available at MSRP and not eBay pricing. Plus they make wayyyy more money on digital sales because the production costs are so much lower. This business strategy though creates a horrible reseller market since people expect Nintendo products to be scarce and then get bought by flippers and not people who actually want them.

 
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I hope this game does get a reprint.  I want it badly.  I do not want a digital copy legal or illegal.  I don't know why, but I have yet to pay full retail price for a digital copy of any game as of yet.  I know it seems I may not have a choice someday, but till then I refuse.  I guess my bitching is mostly directed towards the people flipping these on eBay.  I then get angry at Nintendo for not supplying the physical demand.  Oh well, just thought I'd vent.

Oh, and if anyone here wants to get rid of their Ocarina of Time on 3DS...maybe let me know. 

 
johnnypark said:
I think it has more to do with them being in a tight financial spot, and trying to only produce as many as they can sell. They'd rather sell through inventory than have a warehouse full of unpurchased games. Publishers actually pay for shelf space in stores like Best Buy and unpurchased stock (say a game tanks, like Alien: Colonial Marines) can be sent back to publishers and actually charged money since the retailer didn't make money in sales on said product.

I agree that they're going about it even more conservatively than may be necessary, but as I said earlier in the thread, digital distribution probably makes them even more likely to produce fewer physical copies since it's still technically available at MSRP and not eBay pricing. Plus they make wayyyy more money on digital sales because the production costs are so much lower. This business strategy though creates a horrible reseller market since people expect Nintendo products to be scarce and then get bought by flippers and not people who actually want them.
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Everyone wants to bitch about nintendo because of these shortages. Now first of all, this one is silly to complain about because this game is 4 years old now. It's already received at least one reprint when it started getting scarce about a year ago.

Secondly, everyone wants to throw this on Nintendo but it's also the retailers making their orders from Nintendo. If retailers were ordering more from Nintendo, they'd be making more. Retailers have a timidness with Nintendo now because of how their product hasn't been moving up until these last few months. The retailers aren't ordering as much so Nintendo is playing it closer to the vest in their productions

Basically, no matter what Nintendo does these days it's wrong according to the Internet.
 
I have had trouble finding this game in stores since day one.  I have been looking for it in stores for the past 4 years.  It has most certainly been scarce since the beginning.  I will not pay $75 for this game that releasaed at $39.99.  I have no idea about the innerworkikngs of distribution to stores from Nintendo or how stores have a say as to what games come in on shipment.  I will disagree with you and say, I don't think Best Buy can "put in order in" to Nintendo though for more Zelda games.  Look at the Majora's Mask Pre-orders.  Physical software is the cheapest thing a game company can have produced.  It is insane that there is a "shortage" of this particular game.    There has been a couple people implying that this is a Nintendo bash on my part.  While I am displaying dissatifaction with Nintendo, I am not a hater of Nintendo.  I love every single Nintendo published game.  They make very good products.  Hence why I want to find one.  Nintendo is simply missing out on financial opportunities here. 

 
Nintendo is not "missing out of financial opportunities" because 12 people (or even a hundred or a thousand) want a game they didn't decide to buy 4 years ago. I saw it everywhere when it first came out, and just bought another copy a few months back when I saw one in a store. Nintendo can't make up small batches of games forever, and has even less incentive to do this now that games can be sold via eShop (even though I also will only buy physical unless a game is digital only).

 
Nintendo waited until basically the end of the lifespan of the Wii and DS to release the Player's Choice games, so who knows, maybe they'll do a reprint in a year or two.

I'm with you on not paying MSRP for digital games, at least not in the $40-60 range. I think especially with their shitty and confusing account system that's tied to hardware, a $5 discount on digital games would go a long way for starters. Iwata said it's "the same product/software" so it costs the same price, but clearly enough people in this thread like physical copies of games and I don't think a slight discount would hurt physical sales.

 
soonersfan60 said:
Nintendo is not "missing out of financial opportunities" because 12 people (or even a hundred or a thousand) want a game they didn't decide to buy 4 years ago. I saw it everywhere when it first came out, and just bought another copy a few months back when I saw one in a store. Nintendo can't make up small batches of games forever, and has even less incentive to do this now that games can be sold via eShop (even though I also will only buy physical unless a game is digital only).
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You are mistaken. Nintendo is most certainly missing out on financial opportunities. Ocarina of Time came out on the 3DS in North America in June of 2011. Other games that came out around that year are Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, COD MW 3, and Mario Kart 7. Every single one of these games can still be purchased anywhere, as well as digitally. Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the most successful games ever made. There has never been a case of this game being sold out ever. This isn't a question of a missed opportunity and not purcchasing this on release date. It's a question of Nintendo not supplying a demand. I'm sure if shelves were stocked this game would indeed bring in a profit for Nintendo. They aren't in a bad financial state for nothing. Nintendo are fools to not have this game and any other game for that matter available for purchase by consumers.

 
Well if you don't understand production runs, economic order quantities, etc. then we have nothing more to discuss.

If you want to argue that they under-produced at the outset, then that's possible but I don't have their internal data to examine. But to think they should still be making more of this game now is silly.

 
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ShirtSizeXXXLXT said:
I have had trouble finding this game in stores since day one. I have been looking for it in stores for the past 4 years. It has most certainly been scarce since the beginning. I will not pay $75 for this game that releasaed at $39.99. I have no idea about the innerworkikngs of distribution to stores from Nintendo or how stores have a say as to what games come in on shipment. I will disagree with you and say, I don't think Best Buy can "put in order in" to Nintendo though for more Zelda games. Look at the Majora's Mask Pre-orders. Physical software is the cheapest thing a game company can have produced. It is insane that there is a "shortage" of this particular game. There has been a couple people implying that this is a Nintendo bash on my part. While I am displaying dissatifaction with Nintendo, I am not a hater of Nintendo. I love every single Nintendo published game. They make very good products. Hence why I want to find one. Nintendo is simply missing out on financial opportunities here.
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I'm not saying Best Buy can order more now, I'm saying that Nintendo bases their initial print run on orders from retailers. Nintendo doesn't just pick a number and decide that's how many they need to produce.

Also, I don't but for a second that you haven't been able to find the game for 4 straight years. Looking at camelcamelcamel I can see that it was in stock at $39.99 as late as December 2014. You've had plenty of time to get it.

Nintendo has publicly stated numerous times that they don't want to overproduce their games to the point that they devalue them. In fact, they started this with ocarina of time 3d. Yes, the initial shipment sometimes suffers but there's always plenty of time to get their games on a second shipment. And if it's important enough for someone to have Nintendo games at launch then there's plenty of places they can preorder the game at.
 
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And to further our points on this, look at the tremendous markdowns Best Buy had to make to move the over-production of some Nintendo titles this past year. I loved getting Kirby, M&L Dream Team and other games for $8, but that means someone made a mistake somewhere.

 
soonersfan60 said:
And to further our points on this, look at the tremendous markdowns Best Buy had to make to move the over-production of some Nintendo titles this past year. I loved getting Kirby, M&L Dream Team and other games for $8, but that means someone made a mistake somewhere.
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And Gamestop is still sitting on unsold inventory of the NES 3DS XL and Persona Q 3DS XL (which appears to be finally out of stock online but still at just about every store around me) even after a price-cut of $25. And before anyone goes and says, "well they shouldn't have come out with a special edition right before the New XL" they had to do something with the existing supply of components for the XL so why not come out with a couple special editions in hopes of selling off excess components, all they'd have to do is create new boxes and outer casings. Because that's pretty clearly exactly what happened, they realized they still had a shit ton of inventory on the components for the old XL that would be largely obsolete very soon so they decided to turn it into a special edition which would at least have a better shot of selling than more inventory of the standard release colors.

 
Weird to hear this is rare.

Just picked up a used complete copy at Half Priced Book for $15.99 after 20% off coupon.

Was gonna sell it or trade but never mind.

 
Is it completely insane to expect what's consistently considered one of the best games of all time to be consistently available (not in spurts or in a pawn shop)? I would hope not, it's one of their flagship series! And when it's sequel comes out you ignore the fact that those that are adopting the console for the first time or missed out would like to buy and play both? Seems like a pretty big oversight to me.

This notion that it was always available, everyone and my grandma already bought it is so ridiculous. People miss out on games and want to play them in the future when their gaming bucket list comes around! How many of us have a Steam library or wishlist with TONS of unplayed titles? Printed games are going the way of the dodo no doubt, finally caught up to Nintendo.

I'm with ShirtSize on this one, I too have been keeping an albeit casual, but consistent eye on on this title since it was out and I had a 3ds, and it has always been slightly above or increasing in price. I think it was fair that I assumed it would have to come down eventually or they had stopped printing it. Retailers can't just 'demand' more of a game that's not being printed if that's what's happening. Nintendo has clearly moved efforts elsewhere. Will it get a special edition re-release sometime? Maybe, but those will get flipped like hotcakes so be ready lol.

 
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Skyward Sword became kind of rare, too. Check Amazon, used copies still go for $40-50. I think part of the problem is that people don't get rid of their Nintendo (and especially Zelda) games because they're so damned good/popular, which means fewer used copies in circulation, which drives up prices all around. Usually games that aren't available new anymore still aren't hard to find used for reasonable prices, but between Nintendo having more conservative print runs and people actually keeping their games, it drives up prices.

Now I feel inclined to get a copy of Link Between Worlds, too.

 
I've been trying to get a copy of Ocarina of Time 3D since Majora's mask just came out and the last two gamestops that popped up with a used copy (at $10 over new MSRP) both miraculously found that the game was no longer available when I placed hold requests. I'd really rather not pay full price for a digital copy, especially since they become tied to an account and I hate digital copies anyway. I don't think this was posted earlier but according to this article:

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/01/ocarina_of_time_3d_reportedly_no_longer_in_production  

Nintendo officially discontinued production of physical copies of the game. It seems strange that they would discontinue this game right after they released the sequel. 

 
I mean that article says it all, it's a strange decision to those that would like to have a chance to play it. The only conclusion I can logically draw is that this might be a very real effort to convert players to digital copies, otherwise they would definitely be able to sell these things since the demand is clear.

I'm perfectly fine with digital copies of games with a few very important stipulations!

-I must be guaranteed I have access to it whenever, and wherever I want; indefinitely. If a physical version allows this why the hell shouldn't digital?

-As a result, if I buy a new console/handheld/PC I don't want content locked to the old/sold/broken one. This locks the user out of content they've paid good money for!

-These games cannot be sold at the retail price of physical versions. You're saving a buttload of cash compared to physical, you're guaranteed to sell more copies, pass some of those savings on to the consumer so they feel good about their purchase and not cheated by corporate greed.

Nintendo fails pretty much all of these, even the first one because on PC you can always go back to old games, even with new versions of OS. You don't have to pull out your old DOS to play Doom lol. Nintendo doesn't support their old games on newer consoles very well but their efforts aren't bad. It's just not all there. Steam nails this so well and that's why I'm fine with purchasing PC digital stuff, it's just the way to go.

The biggest downside to all of this? Digital copies of games can't be sold, and become practically worthless in monetary terms once they're purchased. Also our digital libraries will probably eventually need their own social security numbers lol, you're screwed if you lose access.

TL;DR If Nintendo is pushing consumers to digital FIGURE OUT AN ACTUAL ACCOUNT SYSTEM FOR USERS.

 
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PCs being able to run old games definitely makes digital more palatable there. The lack of forward support for digital purchases is a huge problem for every console, though - once PS3s and 360s are out of production, I wonder how long Microsoft and Sony will keep legacy titles available for digital download. I mean... in 10 years, publishing rights may change, system upgrades may force taking systems offline like the original Xbox (which had a 100 friend limit, you may recall, and they couldn't change it on 360 until the OG Xbox was offline).

I bet there will come a point where all 3 companies have to say "Okay, download everything you bought if you want it, because after January 1, 2025, you won't be able to" and people will just have to deal with it. I love digital games for the convenience, and, for the right price, will gladly purchase them. These end-of-life sales on PSN and XBL with $5-10 games is wonderful, because at that price I'll feel like I got my money's worth even with no resale value. But $40-60 for new games? Nah. That's not happening with very very few exceptions.

 
brian_fin said:
Is it completely insane to expect what's consistently considered one of the best games of all time to be consistently available (not in spurts or in a pawn shop)? I would hope not, it's one of their flagship series! And when it's sequel comes out you ignore the fact that those that are adopting the console for the first time or missed out would like to buy and play both? Seems like a pretty big oversight to me.

This notion that it was always available, everyone and my grandma already bought it is so ridiculous. People miss out on games and want to play them in the future when their gaming bucket list comes around! How many of us have a Steam library or wishlist with TONS of unplayed titles? Printed games are going the way of the dodo no doubt, finally caught up to Nintendo.

I'm with ShirtSize on this one, I too have been keeping an albeit casual, but consistent eye on on this title since it was out and I had a 3ds, and it has always been slightly above or increasing in price. I think it was fair that I assumed it would have to come down eventually or they had stopped printing it. Retailers can't just 'demand' more of a game that's not being printed if that's what's happening. Nintendo has clearly moved efforts elsewhere. Will it get a special edition re-release sometime? Maybe, but those will get flipped like hotcakes so be ready lol.
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Let me be clear here, earlier in this thread, I stated the following:


RedvsBlue said:
Secondly, everyone wants to throw this on Nintendo but it's also the retailers making their orders from Nintendo. If retailers were ordering more from Nintendo, they'd be making more. Retailers have a timidness with Nintendo now because of how their product hasn't been moving up until these last few months. The retailers aren't ordering as much so Nintendo is playing it closer to the vest in their productions
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That was then replied to with this:

ShirtSizeXXXLXT said:
I will disagree with you and say, I don't think Best Buy can "put in order in" to Nintendo though for more Zelda games. Look at the Majora's Mask Pre-orders. Physical software is the cheapest thing a game company can have produced. It is insane that there is a "shortage" of this particular game. There has been a couple people implying that this is a Nintendo bash on my part. While I am displaying dissatifaction with Nintendo, I am not a hater of Nintendo. I love every single Nintendo published game. They make very good products. Hence why I want to find one. Nintendo is simply missing out on financial opportunities here.
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Now, the point I was making is that the original shipments are based on retailer orders, NOT that retailers could call up Nintendo tomorrow and have them start printing any old game they want. Nintendo bases their print runs on orders from retailers, they'd be ridiculous not to do so. The difference between Nintendo and say Activision with Call of Duty is the degree to which they print above their retailers' orders. Nintendo can not, in their current state overprint games and have them sitting in warehouses. They're playing it tighter with their productions in order to reduce costs and overhead. Going back to the Call of Duty reference, it's the excess produced inventory that leads to those pricedrops and sales down the road, Nintendo doesn't have that excess inventory and thus no reason to drop the price.

If you'd like to see what happens when a company starts vastly overproducing their games there's a great documentary on Xbox Marketplace regarding the E.T. cartridges buried out in the desert, it's called "Atari: Game Over."

 
That's a good point re: retailer orders. When Xbox One sales were doing not-so-well, Sony would say "4 million PS4s sold!" and M$ would say "4 million Xbox One's shipped!" - as in, on retail shelves, not in the hands of customers. Similarly, retailers started rebelling against all the Guitar/Band Hero madness because of the giant boxes accompanying every new music game and the fake instruments that came with them. That's a bubble that inflated and then burst, and lots of retailers had to put them on clearance to get rid of that stock, and eventually told publishers they may not stock as many. I'm trying to find a link about it but it was a few years ago.

 
I picked up a copy in Dec from Amazon at full retail price. Now I'm glad I did.   Looks like the same might be happening to A Link to the Past. Gotta get that one too. 

 
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