Artificial scarcity is bad for a variety of reasons, from encouraging A completely unnecessary reselling industry Ruined countless Christmases. It makes less sense than anywhere else to see “limited editions” of video game hardware in different colors. Stop it.
At the beginning of this month, Valve has announced that they will be releasing a limited edition all-white version The birth of the excellent portable gaming console Steam Deck. On sale on November 18th, on sale on November 19th, Valve confirmed It’s already sold out everywhere, and it’s reiterated that there are no plans to produce it again. today, Rumor has it Sony plans to launch a black version of PS Portal, but it will only be a limited edition. September, Sony releases limited edition PS5 30th anniversary edition Because inventory was so limited, complex queuing methods were devised, and Even that would be tragic. On and on.
Limited editions are created to create a buzz. When there’s a special edition featuring the design of a popular game or celebrating an anniversary, it gets a lot of attention, but by design, too few editions are made to keep up with demand. They exist to induce FOMO and see collectors rushing to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy another version of something they may already own, versus anyone who just wants to get a new device featuring their favorite IP People are likely to fail. So this is massive advertising for the product, and will likely lead to further sales of the regular, stock version after people find out they can’t get the new, fancier case. So yes: because of capitalism, no bullshit, etc. idiot.
there is nothing need Become a limited edition. For the reasons stated above, this restriction is entirely imposed by the creators themselves, on the grounds that people feel special by having something that no one else can have. A lot of people will defend the forced shortage of inventory on a version of their favorite peripheral that’s designed to look like R2-D2 or whatever because it’s special because there aren’t many of them and it revolves around circular logic. In my opinion, this is a terrible way to feel good about yourself, but we all crave scarcity and the status it brings, and I’m not arguing against that today. I’m here because when it comes to things being black instead of white, it ranges from weird to baffling.
Yes, absolutely, it will cost more money for a company to produce more than one color of hardware. It’s a different production line, uses different ink, and then requires different packaging. But oh my gosh, this is negligible When you’re Sony or Valve or whoever is trying to imply that they’ve discovered the Ark of the Covenant because they produce different plastic cases. And reality doesn’t have to be that way, and there’s no better proof of that than one particular manufacturer of plastic peripherals: Nintendo.
Hell yes, we’re not here to criticize this litigious behemoth today, because when it comes to offering a range of colors without artificial scarcity, it’s hard to blame Nintendo! This has been the case for as long as I can remember. The Game Boy was sold in six alternative colors (instead of plain gray), and this trend of ready-made variety continued with all iterations of the Game Boy Advance, Advance SP, and DS, all available in a variety of colors, and Most of these colors are available.
Come to Switch, it will get better! Sure, the screens usually just have a solid black bevel, but it’s all about the Joy-Con colors, which offer so much variety, and options to mix and match. Heck, this is a defining feature of the launch model, which comes preset in red and blue. It’s enough when my kids have friends to play with fort night or minecraft In the game, there is no confusion about who is who because they are essentially all different colors. Not to mention that Switch Lite has been launched in multiple colors and is even selling like hotcakes Salda and ANIMAL CROSSING Special edition released many years later.
I think this should be normal. Pretending that a console or peripheral can only come in one color, at least until the planets align and Soul allows for special replacements until the next blood moon, is completely ridiculous and eliminates one of the most important things customers want : choose.
Even stranger, this false scarcity created two secondary markets, neither of which benefited the companies imposing the restrictions. There’s also the resale market where people buy as many special editions as they can and then resell them at a much higher price, which of course doesn’t do the original manufacturer any favors. Then there’s the third-party aftermarket, where completely independent companies sell panels and cases, offering a wide variety of options for those who want a unique and colorful device, but often at the cost of losing any warranty because they’re dangerously dangerous to disassemble. screws that were never intended to be removed. And not a penny of that money ever reaches the company that made the original product.
The main result of all this seems disappointing. Of course, it was great for the lucky few who stood in line for a few minutes before it sold out. But they are a minority! Most people are frustrated and there is no recourse unless they are rich/stupid enough to pay massive exorbitant fees to scumbag scalpers! “No,” said the big company, “you can no There is a product you would like to give us money to purchase. Because…because of reasons.
Just sell your product in seven colors! It’s not that complicated! This is a Photoshop color conversion for your packaging design, and buy extra paint for a few extra cents on equipment costs. How do I know they can? Because Nintendo does this for all devices, and they all Do it for their controllers!
Now, to give you an extremely trivial example, I have a black TV on top of a black shelf unit, along with a white Xbox Series S and a giant white original PS5. Looks rubbish! I would buy the black one if I could. I should be able to. I certainly shouldn’t be reading gaming news every hour to see if Sony has announced a seven-second window in which they will sell non-white versions of their fastest Android devices.
Honestly, though, what I really want is everything purple. Purple GameCube, I love you. I will love you forever.
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