President of Nintendo confirms port strike is partially responsible for U.S. New 3DS and amiibo shortages

amiibo, amiibo everywhere, but not a port to dock

Tired of waiting for that beautiful King Dedede amiibo? Well you can stop blaming Nintendo, at least if you want to be rational. I personally don’t, and am still pining to complete my wave 3 collection, so it’s still Nintendo’s fault in my head. During the Q&A session after Tuesday’s 3rd quarter accounts briefing, President and CEO of Nintendo Co. Ltd. Satoru Iwata stated:

今日のプレゼンテーションで、Newニンテンドー3DSの海外での出足をご覧いただきましたが、おそらく「海外のニンテンドー3DSは今の状況だ とNewニンテンドー3DSが発売されてもムードは変わらないのではないか」という見方をされている方は少なからずいらっしゃったのではないかと思いま す。しかし、現実には世界中の販売店で初回出荷分はあっという間に品切れになってしまいました。プレゼンテーションでお示ししたNewニンテンドー3DS の発売初週の販売数は、発売から（ヨーロッパでは）2日分、（アメリカでは）3日分のデータとお伝えしましたが、実は初日に大半が売れていて、2日目、3 日目は品切れであまり数が伸びてないというようなこともありました。ちょうど今、アメリカでは西海岸の港で労使交渉がまとまらなかったために、この半年ぐ らい荷揚げのスピードが少し遅くなり、港が混雑しているということが起こっています。実はこの影響で私たちが発売前に届けようと思って送った数量全品は現 地には着いておらず、Newニンテンドー3DSや一部の『amiibo』の販売に多少影響は出ています。ソフトは非常に軽いので航空便で送ることが選択肢 として取れますので、ソフトのビジネスにはあまり大きな影響は出ていないのですが、むしろ、家電製品などをつくっておられる会社さんは非常にお困りのはず だと思います。そのような制約の中でNewニンテンドー3DSが順調な出足を見せたことは、「これからプラットフォームサイクルの後半だから、ビジネスは どんどん縮小していく」というのとは違うシナリオを描き得る可能性があると思います。

To save you the absolutely horrifying Google translation, I took the liberty of painstakingly interpreting each sentence in an attempt to present Mr. Iwata’s words as close to their original meaning as possible:

In today’s presentation, we examined the sales of the New Nintendo 3DS overseas. The figures for the first week showed drastically higher adoption rate than during the release of its predecessor. The first shipments to Europe and the United States sold most stock that made it to shelves in the first two (Europe) or three (United States) days. We believe that sales could have been even better in the United States. For the last six months, labor negotiations on the West Coast of the United States have made getting goods to shore slow, as the amount of berths open are lower than usual and therefore the harbors are congested. Many of the heavier goods sent to the U.S. have still not arrived to their destinations. However, this has had little effect on total amiibo and software sales as they are light enough that we can ship by air if we have to. The companies being affected by this the most are appliance manufactuerers that don’t have any other option then to ship by sea. Even though the New Nintendo 3DS has had the handicap against its supply, the public has still shown huge interest in it and sales are phenomenal. Many think because the New Nintendo 3DS is the second half of this platform cycle, business will steadily continue to shrink. I believe that there is a possibility that we can influence a different scenario to occur.

Hopefully this means not only are there a lot more amiibo coming our way, but that the New Nintendo 3DS supply issues may be solved soon. The thought of a fleet of container ships filled with Meta Knights and Majora’s Mask Limited Edition New Nintendo 3DS’s makes me want to pull a Waterworld and chain a bunch of them together to form a manmade atoll where Nintendo eShop credit is the national currency.

Satoru Iwata confirms port strike is reason for shipment woes in US [NintendoEverything]