For those of you in the Switch Third Party Society thread - you no doubt know that I'm looking to collect 100% of the physically released Switch games. This effort has produced some weird requirements for certain games - in the case of the NA version of Lost Sphear, it is a Square-Enix online store exclusive.

Last night I was working through my spread sheet (catching up on a few pre-orders that I had somehow missed) and for no reason at all, decided to check the SE online store. I was surprised to find that while Lost Sphear is still readily available for purchase on the PS4, the Switch version currently has a "waiting list" for buyers to join - and I'm trying to figure out (from a non-fanboy perspective) exactly what that means?

Obviously, SE has purchasing requirements of their own (ie. they need to order 500k copies of a given game to be produced, at a time - or something like that) and since the size of the user base currently favors the PS4, I'm sure that has something to do with this...   ...maybe...    ...but still, I would think all publishers go through these ordering requirements - so why would it be any different for SE? Has the game been selling so well on the Switch, they can't keep up with demand? Or, is it the opposite (it sold so poorly, they don't want re-order additional copies)? Or, is it neither and Square-Enix just simply doesn't know how to run an online store????

That's weird.. it's availible everywhere in Europe, not just the SE store. Would be surprised if the requirements for europe and NA are different.

Are you in just for the games released in NA or does it cut it to get one from europe to cover it up?

The most likely scenario is that the initial printrun of the PS4 version was much larger than the initial printrun of the Switch version, so even if the Switch version sold fewer copies overall, it could still manage to sell out long before the PS4 version.

Square-Enix is the company that has been reluctant to publish their 3DS games in America and Europe while they have no problems to make games for other consoles release worldwide. In many cases Nintendo had to provide support for localisation of Square-Enix games, because the "little" Japanese third party publisher couldn't do it alone, unlike a software giant like Atlus. That's why the main factor in the case of Lost Sphear for PS4 vs. Switch has to be a large discrepancy in the volume of the initial printrun.

Another contributing factor are the ratios of physical vs. digital sales on the PS4 and Switch. PS4 owners are much more likely to purchase their games digitally. Switch is a more interesting console for collectors because its games ship on cards instead of discs, so I don't think Switch will ever match the PS4 when it comes to the ratio of physical vs. digital sales. Lost Sphear being exclusive to Square's online store makes it all the more interesting for collectors, because that's a limited physical release of a game.

I will get physical games if they are released outside the US only, but they must have an English option.

For instance, I've purchased Let's Sing and Syberia because there isn't (and there won't be) a NA release. I won't buy Dragon Quest Heroes though, as it's Japan only and no sub-titles. :( 

Right - this is what I was saying about the difference in user base size and the fact that there are likely minimum order requirements when a publisher sends a game into production...

...it sounds like (based on the rest of your post and the tone of your writing) though, you believe this might be a case of the "same old Square" and the bitterness and apathy they've consistently shown towards Nintendo (and Nintendo consoles) in general, since the days of the SNES. And that we can expect more of the "only if we have to" type of support from SE - which is a shame. Maybe this will finally be the generation that Square gets burned for being such arrogant bastards!!! :D

Nintendo is the publisher of Dragon Quest Builders, Project Octopath Traveler and The World Ends With You in America and Europe, so I don't expect anything to change.

It could be just out of loyalty to Nintendo's main competitor. Sony. Remember that these are Japanese companies. The way they do business can be different, in that they're careful not to burn bridges or whathaveyou. It can happen. 

You could just order from the UK, we got you covered bruv

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Square-Enix-220765-Sphear-Nintendo/dp/B077GTMBFN/ref=ice_ac_b_dpb_twi_gam_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1520363548&sr=8-1&keywords=Lost+Sphear
https://www.shopto.net/nintendo/switch/SWLO29-lost-sphear#
https://www.game.co.uk/en/lost-sphear-2216285

All in stock and ready to ship today.

From a cost standpoint, SE makes the most money...

Digital > Disc > Cartridge, so making the least amount of cartridges means the most bang for their buck. The game itself had a very limited budget and I am sure SE was not willing to break the bank on media production.

From a telemetry data standpoint they are seeing that demand for Switch physical for this game is low, so they are treating it on a case by case basis.

Any more than that would be looking at it from a fanboy prescriptive (Prior gaming arrangements, SE shipment/publishing aggrements, the Nin/Sq relationship in the SNES days, etc)

Lol!! I pre-ordered and received my copy last month - all good here, but thanks!! ;(

This would make sense and be true, if the game weren't widely available in Europe as has already been stated.

But it's only the NA release that was confined to the Square-Enix store only, and subsequently only the NA release that's apparently sold out of physical copies...

If the file size is under 8 gigs, there's no cost difference between disc and cart.  If it's under 6 gigs, it starts to be cheaper than disc.