Nintendo's Strategy for Brawl Release

[ZenfoldorVGI]

Note: This is all speculation by me.

 

Well, if you've been following sales this month, there are a few Wii's missing in there somewhere.

 

You also know that SSB:B is set to release and be supply constrained at about 4 to 6 hundred k for its Japanese launch, not nearly enough to fill preorders according to Kotaku.com.

 

The final assumption that we all believe is that Brawl will have staggered releases in NA/Others/JP.

 

Now, lets assume that Nintendo is aware of the popularity of SSB, that it had preorder numbers, and had enough time to print the game to meet demand if it so wanted to.

 

If we assume those things, here is what I believe the obvious Nintendo marketing strategy and secondary purpose is for the Brawl:

 

Nintendo plans to stagger game shipments in each region instead of frontloading its supply. At the same time, Nintendo plans to dump units of Wii larger than standard shipments on said region for the first several weeks the game is available, pulling units from other regions during that period.

 

The purpose of this is two fold.

 

A. To create buzz around the game.

 

B. To take advantage of the games "system seller" status by increasing theoretical demand for the Wii.

 

These two things will work together to ensure relatively large shipments of Wii's sell in the selected areas during the period Brawl is released. This will keep interest in the game and the Wii up too launch level hype over several weeks after launch, in their selected areas. It will create more demand for the game and the Wii in the selected region.

 

After the time frame alloted has ended(time between release dates of JP/NA) Wii shipments will be reduced in JP and increased in the US. Again, initial units will be kept to approximated preorder only status(not as bad as in Japan, for PR reasons). Many will be turned away, and forced to return the following week. With all the hype surrounding the games continued demand, the Wii's will also sell faster(theoretically it will increase demand, though selling faster is doubtful for obvious reasons), increasing demand for the console in the short and long runs.

 

Basically, releasing this game at full capacity in one week would reduce the impact it had on Wii demand short and long run(since Wii is constrained this is theoretical demand, not actual demand). It will also create more buzz around the game, leading to increased purchases of the "still hot" game, which ends up being a marketing advertisement better than any marketing campaign you could buy with money, for free, because news will appear to be unbiasedly reporting how "hot" the game is, when in reality it is likely a carefully planned strategic staggered release by Nintendo attempting to increase real demand for their software and theorhetical demand for their hardware.

 

Planned or not, it couldn't have worked out better. In the end, this will sell more copies of the game and more hardware in all regions, no matter how pissed of it makes the consumer.