If you pre-ordered a Super NES Classic Edition from Walmart when they were live for a brief period last Friday, you're in for some disappointment. Earlier today, the mega-retailer emailed all customers who managed to nab one of the highly sought after consoles to inform them that the listing was made available in error, and as such all pre-orders will be canceled. The email has been making the rounds on social media, and we're able to confirm its authenticity as a number of US-based Nintendo Life staffers have received it as well.
Walmart—or any other US retailer, for that matter—has not indicated when pre-orders will begin in earnest for what is sure to be one of this year's hottest products. It seems the wait for US customers will stretch even further. While this is disappointing news, it's hardly unexpected as Walmart already canceled a small number of pre-orders, and other retailers have yet to offer the diminutive device.
Did you have a pre-order for the Super NES Classic? Are you still planning on giving Walmart your business when the time does eventually come to order them? Let us know in the comments.
Comments 103
Not surprised. I do kinda want one but I'll just wait until Nintendo introduces the VC on the Switch.
I knew it was too good to be true! Ah, well. I'll give it another shot when it's available.
That is disheartening. Mine still says processing, but at least I know it's coming. I might still go with Walmart when the time comes, my family member lets me use their associate discount. It seems great since my Club discount ended with BestBuy.
I will burn it down...
The least they could do is offer something to us for all the confusion they put us through, but nope, it's Walmart and they don't care.
Screw pre-orders and let everybody camp out for them. Seems the only fair route these days as online shopping can be hit or miss with Nintendo.
They cancelled mine. They cancelled a mini of mine too. I'll make sure that they lose most of my future business even if that means paying more. That reads as if they won't do preorders. The reasoning being it was made available before release date being the official line.
Sucks, just got this email today as well. Says official launch is 9/29, no mention of preorders before the date.
I hope someone at Walmart understands how many people have been collectively pissed off and disappointed by this. Somehow I'm not surprised though, I'm not sure anyone expects better of them.
Man, I wonder how many SNES Classics Nintendo is actually making. I seriously think it could millions of units between release and Christmas if it gets enough of them out there. And I really want it to.
UGH, why couldn't they have at least kept some of the earlier orders so people don't have to guess about when the next preorder period will be and if that'll even be trusted. I guess I should have gone with my gut reaction, which was to NOT give Walmart any of my money. Hopefully Amazon or Best Buy announce and do preorders that are possible to get...
Taking release day off to camp outside of my Target for a few hours. I want it. I will get it, just like I got my NES mini.
That tag line...pew pew!
Disappointing, but kinda expected. I'm still gonna keep my eye on the SNES Mini, though. Maybe I'll blow that money on an Xbox 360 at GameStop once the cancellation kicks in.
@Manjushri
Nintendo couldn't really increase nes mini supply in 7 months. If this is a test of demand we are all screwed.
This really bums me out. I'm sure the next time I see one available it will be from a third party seller on Amazon. Only place I saw the NES Classic.
@Manjushri I had signed up for an email when this became available and I received that email Friday night. This whole thing is fishy. Really bums me out because I know I won't get another shot.
Anger should be directed at Nintendo. Make enough to meet demand. Doing these limited runs ensures demand will not be met and encourages scalping.
Classy move by Walmart - who'd have thunk'd it!
Bad news for the fans in Canada and the States. The wait must be driving them mad and crap like this just makes it worse!!
Wishing you all good luck over the pond - may your SNESsy dream come true soon!
Welp an intern got fired.
I preordered mine Friday night literally 3 minutes after they went live. And today I get an email saying it's cancelled. All because of a glitch. They should still honor everyone's preorders but Nintendo and Walmart suck. This is NOT how you do business. Seriously.
Awfully convoluted process for it to be a glitch. Emails went out, preorder went up, cards were charged, and they're like "oops, none of that should've happened, you lose". I hope some jobs are lost over this, pretty unprofessional to let it go on this long before canceling them all.
I was surprised at the news when the preorders were "offered." I didn't expect Nintendo to allow preorders for this thing in North America, just like last time. It's starting to look like that will be the case once again. I don't get why they don't allow preorders in NA. It's like Nintendo has no intention of meeting demand.
Thank you Argos.
@JasonLee99
Oh Nintendo deserves anger for their repeated stock issues. But Walmart deserves anger too for this fiasco.
@Spoony_Tech
Absolutely! Eliminate bots, and allow one per customer! I decided, upon the announcement of the Classic, that I would be camping out!
Here's another idea: Nintendo knows that the thing will sell through the roof! Be prepared for it! Unless they were to manufacture an irresponsible number (10 million), they should have no problem selling through!
@bezerker99
You forgot their official twitter account congratulating those that got lucky enough to get the future cancellation notices.
@sdelfin
I got a preoder on the nes classic from target. I think its the opposite. Stores know this will drive foot traffic to the stores so why offer them online?
PLEASE UNDERSTAND
I'm just planning on camping outside of my local GameStop early the morning of release. I am not missing out on one of these.
Mine hasn't been canceled yet. I'm crossing my fingers that it won't be. It's unlikely to stay though. No email yet...
Oh for God's sakes
Watch as scalpers will probably still leave their preorder entries up for ridiculous prices....
Yes people don't believe that Walmart email that our SNES Classis are being cancelled it's just a email glitch that's all it is we're safe!!
Guaranteed this was NO glitch. Just an abuse of customers' dignity for Walmart's internal purposes.
Cause if Walmart was going to cancel our preorders they would have. Cancelled them already we are safe Walmart has to say that in there statements to calm the other cry baby's out there
Well mine never cancelled so I hope for the best🤷♂️
As disappointing as this is, it's still entirely conceivable that Nintendo are producing a huge amount of stock for the Christmas period. Queues are a way better form of visual marketing than "out of stock" messages online.
This keeps getting stranger. So yesterday I did an online chat with a Walmart CSR who said my pre-order would be honored. Then today I get the email mentioned in the article. Then in the last half hour or so I got an email saying that the shipping date was changed to 9/29 and that I would be getting my SNES Classic. Just checked the tracking on Walmart.com and it says it's good to go. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
No, what is probably happening is retailers know having a big line of people who won't get one means more sales for their stores. People who wait in line expecting an SNES classic are more likely to buy other things in the store, like another game etc.
@cleveland124 firstly, good for you and congrats. Still, it seems preorders in NA were limited, as I've mostly heard of people not being able to do so. Perhaps your local store went rogue. The problem with your theory is that it wouldn't explain Amazon, but there's too much we don't know. Good luck to you when the SNES mini comes out.
This article's subtitle cracked me up.
This is far fetched... but I wonder if Nintendo of America, in the interest of battling the scalping issue and making more units available to actual end-users at launch will be foregoing pre-orders altogether for this launch. I see a couple of reasons for a strategy like this, especially with the understanding that initial orders will sell through no matter if they are available for pre-sale or street date:
1. This is the only way for them to insure that one unit goes to one consumer. Nintendo DOES have control over distribution policies of their retailers through their distribution and allocation agreements with each retailer. They can mandate 1 per customer. They also can mandate pre-order policy, which includes the decision to NOT offer pre-orders.
2. Battling "bots" is easier said than done. While there are technologies and safeguards out there that places like Ticketmaster and others have been investing on for years, like virus devs, scalpers are one step ahead of the technologies out there. So the best way to combat scalpers is to make each sale be based on boots on the ground, waiting in line. A scalper can easily bot multiple e-stores at once and secure multiple units over each in one sitting. But the same person would have to clone him or herself to be in line at multiple stores to come close to the same result. Throw in the limit of one per customer at brick and mortar and the number of scalped units on the market drastically declines.
2. Imagine the press!! If there were no presales, you would have to make a choice to sit at home and order on release day (which means you will get it a couple days later) or get in line, knowing the prospect that a much larger allocation of units would be available at retail. Consumers would actually have a CHANCE to go down, camp out and walk out of the store with one. Online sales would really only be attractive to those folks in remote areas but those people would then have a better chance of gettong one because most people are getting theirs from retail. And Remember, the drastically lowered allocation of online units directed to brick and mortar would drive actual consumers to their favorite store. The press would be incredible for Nintendo with people actually lining up at stores again like the old days.
I see this as a win for all legit entities involved. I would gladly camp out like I did years ago if I knew each store would be getting more that 4 units like recent releases have demonstrated.
@Spoony_Tech "Screw pre-orders and let everybody camp out for them."
Or Ntineod could do something crazy like make enough. How do they apologize 1 week for not making enough NES Mini then like a week later say SNES Mini will only be made for this holiday and then stop? WTF Nintendo. W.T.F.
@sdelfin
Nintendo has no say in if a company offers preorders or not in the USA. It is illegal for Nintendo to tell/force companies not to offer preorders, or even how much to sell their products for (MSRP is just the suggested price, retailers can sell the products for any price they want).
Most likely the reason for preorders not occurring is that it is unclear how much stock will be available, or the FCC hasn't finished testing it.
@Switch81tch (╬ಠ益ಠ)
@AcesHigh
Actually, Nintendo can not dictate things like no preorders, or that retailers only sell one per customer in the USA. Nintendo got themselves into legal trouble in the 1980s and 1990s for similar practices. Dictating such terms to retailers is illegal in the United States.
Besides, Nintendo does not sell directly to retailers (usually). They sell to large distributors, and those distributors sell the product to retailers.
I'll get one somehow someday, but I'd rather see the 21 games show up on the Switch VC. My opinion is the SNES mini is the very reason why the Switch VC service was delayed till 2018. Even though Nintendo does a lot of stupid things, this move is not one of them. They know how to milk those classics lol. Meanwhile I'll be grabbing the Atari Flashback 8 Gold Activision edition and the Genesis flashback too...but only if they addressed the previous emulation issues it had! Unlike the Atari one though, it's a great feature that the Genny one plays your original carts! HD of course doesn't hurt either!
This is all a way to control the scalpers and their greedy ways.
@davey1983 Yes, they can and they do. They do it by way of controlling allocation of product to their retailers (by way of distributors). They dictate, whether directly or indirectly, how product in introduced to the market. These decisions and arrangements are made at the top of retail supply chain between OEM and retailers and distributors with little actual knowledge of the details besides street dates and pre-order dates filtered down to retail management.
There is nothing at all illegal about managing a product launch. It is the prerogative of a producer of goods to work more closely with retailers who work with them on structured launch plans. If one retailer chooses to not honor the marketing plan of a producer, there is no legal recourse for the producer, obvioisly (unless expressly written). However, there is nothing that obligates how much a producer allocates to a retailer, if anything. They simply will not sell through them. There is nothing illegal about that. In fact, there are producers in the table gaming / hobby space that will not allow their distributors to sell product to online-only retailers. They must be brick and mortar. If they find out that the distributor is selling online with no physical chanel, they will lose their distribution rights to their product. Either way, the retailer does not want want to displease a commodity producer, so they will comply. It's really not that sinister. Just business.
No, all major OEMs do this who have commodoty product. They run the show on new product introduction. The retailer deploys it in accordance to their plans or they don't get stock. Been this way for years.
Another fine mess.
@Kalmaro exactly! Thank you for backing us up! 😝
Just curious: To all the people who want the NES and SNES CE that badly, don't you already have most of these games on the VC and cartridges?
@RedMageLanakyn Yep. Coincidence takes planning.
@Don: That thinking was what made me step back and realize that I didn't really need a SNES Mini. Most of the SNES games that I'm interested in are already available on the Wii U VC (barring Secret of Mana), and I've already picked many of them. I didn't desire double-dipping in this case.
Edit: I would have probably picked up a SNES Mini if I didn't already own those games, though. It would be more cost-effective. I'll definitely be jumping for a N64 Mini if that's ever a thing.
@Don I do not. And it's pricier to purchase them all individually, not to mention having to take out old hardware that may be less reliable with age.
@Don plus SF2 isn't even available otherwise.
I haven't gotten an email yet for a canceled order, just an email saying that the date of pickup changed.
@Don I don't collect for SNES.
@davey1983 publishers have "contracts" with sellers and, while they don't get in legal trouble for breaking said contract, the publisher has every right to refuse to sell through them... which has happened before and could happen again. If Nintendo chooses to not allow for preorders, any retailers who offer preorders anyways could simply be denied to buy stock through them... and now the retailer suffers most because the general public blames the retailer when they fail to honor their preorders. A retailer isn't legally entitled to a publisher's support, and breaking their terms can cost them their stock.
At least this time I'll (hopefully) be able to get one because when they went up I was playing Splatoon 2 then went to bed (I live in NY so it was pretty late when it happened) and I had and still had notifications for over 5 stores so I'm hoping.
That sucks...
I did have a pre-order, but this isn't surprising. I'm not even upset.
What Wal-Mart should do is one of two things:
1) Offer customers whose orders were cancelled a gift card of 5 or 10 bucks. These kinds of gestures go a long way with consumers.
2) Automatically place an order for the SNES Classic on behalf of the customers whose orders were cancelled when the listing goes live for real
Sadly, they likely will do neither of these things, though because of our passionate fanbase, any gesture would be appreciated, and no one will be satisfied with a polite e-mail.
The console should just get cancelled all together world wide. Trash systems overpriced and screwing over Switch owners by killing off the Virtual Console.
Shame on you Nintendo! 👎
It wouldn't bother me except it woke me up one night and messed up my sleeping schedule. Fine if I still got one, annoying now that it was for nothing.
Still, Nintendo's purpose with these limited releases is a bit baffling. I can think of some reasons to do it this way, but not enough for it to make any kind of lasting sense.
I'm going to get the console anyways so these pre-order scams don't work with me but sad for those suckers who did pre-order from this garbage retailer.
Welp back to camping on Amazon
My preorder was cancelled. I'm not really that upset with Walmart. I am, however, angry at Nintendo for creating this mess in the first place.
Basic economics: supply and demand. Make enough supply to meet demand. All Nintendo has to do is say "We will manufacture enough SNES Classic consoles for everyone who wants one". Instead, they continue their typical wall of silence and ham-fisted, nebulous remarks and who-gives-a-s*** attitude toward fans. If Nintendo was a publicly-traded American company, their CEO would be removed for lesser offenses.
If I can snag a pre-order from anyone else I will. I don't care that I'll pay more since I can't use my discount. Forget it, rather have a pre-order I can count on than a half assed appology.
Words are cheap
@sleepinglion I had a pre-order too. If they would give us first dibs on ordering 1, I'd be fine. Anything beyond the oops sorry email, don't hold your breath
No worries. If I decide to buy the snes mini I'll buy it on ebay when it's modded with ALL the snes games rather than just 21. Just like I did with the NES classic. Expensive, but worth it.
@Spoony_Tech
Amen.
I know everyone is against lines, but frankly I would rather sit at s store at 4am knowing I have one than playing"is This hour when any info is released"
Internet brings more comfort then leaving and driving to a brick and mortar, but is it honestly more convenient to play this weird guessing game? I've actually had some good experience in line talking to other like minded individuals.
@JJtheTexan
Ironically Reggie did say everyone who wanted a nes classic would get one before later saying it was always a limited product. So yeah Im not sure Nintendo saying everyone at this point will get one would mean much.
@Samus7Killer
If you don't want the product it's fine but no switch vc is on nintendo. They've had two rounds of vc with the wii and wii u and they still don't think there is demand. If anything demand in this product may show nintendo there is demand in reasonably priced retro games.
@sdelfin
Target did online preorders with the nes mini and I was able to grab one. Amazon was really pushing the prime now service with all their minis.
Just got the cancellation email. Screw you, Walmart. Also, screw you, Nintendo, for creating this mess. If you know for a fact that every system is going to be snatched up as soon as preorders go live, when aren't you manufacturing systems around the clock and leaving the scalpers with stock they can't move? I guess making money isn't what you're into, then?
Lifelong Nintendo fan here. I just had my preorder cancelled by Walmart. I only ordered 1 despite 2 being the limit. I'm not a scalper. It was just for me and my son. Something for us to spend time together doing that is something from my childhood that I'd be able to share with him.
I completely missed on getting a NES Classic. Yeah, I could've paid a reseller more than retail anytime for one, but I thought Nintendo would keep up with demand for it. I've had to give up on the idea of sharing that with my son the first time around. For me, the SNES Classic order completely erased those hard feelings of us never getting a NES Classic.
I don't get to hang out on a website all day to see if it'll come back in stock. I managed to get a preorder for the SNES Classic by fluke in the first place, the one time each day I'd check for it, it showed up. Now, I doubt we'll be getting one at all. I'm not paying more than retail for one.
Well, there goes Christmas. Whoever's idea it was to cancel the SNES Classic order I chanced into getting for my family. Thanks a lot Nintendo for pressuring Walmart without thinking of families like ours that missed out and thanks for nothing Walmart for giving hope to families like ours and then taking it away.
@AcesHigh
Again amen.
I'm tired of people pushing digital. I don't want a digital game. And as convenient as shoppijg online has become, for some reason game consoles are best done in person.
One person one sale, little opportunity for scalping and the dedicated are able to get one. All I ask is for stores to have decent stock and to have o the door how many units there are.
You know off the rip of you are able to get one and if not then you drive on. Simple
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2017/7/24/16019936/snes-classic-pre-order-target
If polygon is right target will go live with preorders. Which would make this walmart thing even make less sense.
I ordered mine right when it went live and had a pick up date of September. I just received the cancellation notice right now. My friend who works there ordered his 10 minutes after I did still has his order. In fact, he got a different email stating that the date has changed from October to September. This pure f'ing Bs!
@cleveland124 I was not aware Target did online preorders at all last time. Thanks for the information.
Rolling back more than just prices. LOL
I should have known. They cancelled ALL orders of SNES Classic. They were certainly quick to take my money though! Talk about a big slap in the face by Walmart and Nintendo.
@Captain_Gonru What's with you and the side-ways avatars?
And I'm older than you, I remember when the word "pre-order" meant = "Lets' see how many people want so we know how many to make." That's what pre-orders are supposed to be for adn supposed to do. LEt compnaies knwo hwo much interest there is in their product so they know how many to make. Then add more to that for all of the poepel who don't pre-order. This whole way Nitneod does business - let's tell stores how many we are making then let them call them "pre-order" is BS. Just let them come out and people buy them, no point in calling them pre-orders b/c they aren't serving that purpose. And Nitneod shoudln't even be allowed to make these until they make a few million more NES Mini to begin with. I understand peopel like their games, Mario looks great, and Switch is going over well, but I don't see how anybody can defend their almost constant anti-consumer behavior. Maybe Ntineod secretly owns eBay, that's the only thing that would make sense. ugh
It doesn't actually exist. They're going to delay release till April 1st, 20XX
I just made one of these using my old pi 2 and it has every snes game.
@Rumncoke25 Fully agreed! And I love your screen name. Swap rum with Jack and next thing you know we'll be doing karate in the garage!
@rjejr DUDE! You took the words right from my mouth. I posted on one of these similar articles that I miss the days when you had to take the risk of maybe not getting something unless you pre-ordered. But you had time to think about it. Not, if I don't log on within 20 minutes to order I missed the boat.
Yes, pre-orders used to be a way for retailers to know how to diatribute their allotments. Not even to know how many to order. For commodity products like new consoles, all retailers get what they get (based on volume of course). There is never, "well I only want 300,000 based on my pre-sales". Or "give me a million". They get what their relationship with the producer warrants (again, based on historical volume mostly). The pre-orders were just a way for the retailer to know how to properly distribute to their stores. Don't care what the people behind the desk say. They don't have all the information.
But yeah, there WAS a day when pre-orders were walk-in only. BECAUSE of that, there was enough (or at least enough over the life of the pre-sale window) to almost guarantee a unit. You just had to commit to plunking cash down ahead if time. Once pre-orders went online (im thinking maybe starting with the PS4, XBone and WiiU era) entire allotments were sucked up by "bots" employed by career scalpers. These are scripts that crawl sites and process multiple transactions faster than manual entry can. And yes, sophisticated bots work aroind the captchas and "confirm you are human" safeguards.
Stop the pre-sales and get back to giving people who really, really want these products and are not afraid to stand in line with their fellow gamers the opportunity to actually buy one!
Yo that headline is priceless. Love it! Rolling back Loren than just prices!!😂😂🤣🤣
@cleveland124 That article didn't say anything we don't already know. With no time frame at all mentioned, just "at a later date", it's kinda like saying Keith Richard's gonna kick the bucket. Well yeah... but WHEN??? (no disrespect. My money is in him outliving Justin Bieber)
Just received an email from Wally World saying my preorder releases on Sept 29th. Wtf is going on?!???
https://twitter.com/bezerker99/status/890441086086381568
If there's millions released for store purchases, none of this will really matter. I can't believe Nintendo won't satisfy customer demand this time.
Well this will make some ebay sellers look really stupid now:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Nintendo-Entertainment-System-Mini-Classic-Edition-PRE-SALE-/172791841963?hash=item283b3244ab:g:PhcAAOSwjJRZdTaP
"Walmart pre-order! Will ship within one day of Walmart's pickup date"
Well not any more you don't mate.
This is a saga now Dave...
This feels a little bit like Nintendo have broken a pool cue in half, thrown it to the fans and said you guys battle it out to buy our product.
@AcesHigh
It's the only place I've seen mentioned that target will go live with preorders. If it's true, it invalidates an argument that a number of people here are arguing. That argument being nintendo won't allow preorders and walmarts hands were tied here.
The only reason I'd be interested in a SNES Mini is for the completed version of Star Fox 2. I waited in line for three hours during mid-afternoon on Thanksgiving to get a $100 New 3DS, but I'm not sure I'm willing to camp out overnight just for Star Fox 2...
And yeah, why anyone still gives Walmart their business is beyond me. They're the worst American retailer chain in existence- they have no ethical boundaries.
@HalBailman What incentive does Nintendo have to meet SNES Mini demand? They want to push people towards NS whenever it's in stock.
@AcesHigh Good point about the online. I've just had way to many arguments over the past few years where everyone else says "A pre-order guarantees you get it." and I have to explain to them, "No, it does not." and then they say give me 1 example. And then I give them examples. And then they say - oh, that was just that 1 time. People wanna believe the system works I guess. I just wish Nintedo woudl get a little better w/ their system. They should just be up front and number every item they make and tell us how few there will be.
Oh, and besides just people pre-ordering online, we now have eBay, makes it much better for the scalpers. I know there has always been reselling, I'm thinking concert tickets back in the 80's, but between Nintnedo's seemingly always limited supply and people reselling stuff on eBay, well normal people are always going to lose out. If scalpers gave out awards Nintendo would probably win every time.
@Kalmaro Assuming there will be a proper VC... Which there's no guarantee of. For all we know, there could be nothing other than these Mini's and whatever happens to be available in the NS online subscription for the foreseeable future.
@PlywoodStick Hope springs eternal. I'm really hoping we get something. The Switch is PERFECT for VC.
@cleveland124 Ah! I see. Well, I posed the question above about the possibility of Nintendo not doing presales and how they could actually use it as a press op. But that didn't mean I thought they might. I think ot would be a great idea and somehting actually progressive in it's retro thinking. But that would mean Nintendo actually CARED about it's customers. A concept I am quickly losing faith in which started with Amiibo scarcities and pretty much solidified after the NES classic fiasco.
Twitter is ripping them a new one which is always pleasing to see, though I feel bad for the lowly workers who have to deal with the rage making minimum wage. Walmart refuses to offer anything more than just, "we're sorry." You know what, I'm sorry too Walmart, but you deserve all the backlash you get.
@AcesHigh
You are incorrect (in the US at least, I can't speak to other countries or specialty markets, which Video Games are not a specialty market). Producers can not dictate to retailers how they sell their product. If Walmart, target, etc. wants to offer preorders there is nothing that can be done about that. Producers can't refuse to sell to retailers due to such things (runs afoul of antitrust laws). Reread my post-- Nintendo generally sells to big distributors and they sell to the retailers-- Nintendo can't tell the distributors not to sell to any given retailer. Again, Nintendo got themselves in legal trouble back in the 1980s and 1990s for similar practices.
You are also incorrect that contracts can be broken with no legal recourse. That is what the courts are for in the US-- contracts (despite what some may claim about having 'good lawyers') are incredibly hard to break.
edit: here is a link to an article from 1991where Nintendo settled their price fixing case (Nintendo told retailers what price they would sell things at, and Nintendo would refuse to ship product to any retailer who refused to go along with it-- exactly what AcesHigh and others are claiming Nintendo has a right to do which they don't in the US): http://www.nytimes(dot)com/1991/04/11/business/nintendo-to-pay-25-million-in-rebates-on-price-fixing(dot)html
BURN EM TO THE GROUND!!!
But no really, this sucks that all preorders are cancelled. I would rather preorder at Target, Best Buy, or about anywhere else when (and if) preorders open up. I can't think of any other company that would just open up and then cancel pre-orders like this. Any other company would just let it stand providing they had sufficient pre-order stock.
@davey1983 I never said contracts can't be broken. In fact I said, "unless expressly written" - which would mean a fully executed contract. Read carefully.
And I'm sorry, you are simply wrong. There are several examples in real world scenarios TODAY where producers and publishers refuse to sell to retailers based on certain criteria. The criteria are identified to the retailers and the distributors are charged with ensuring compliance in selling to their retailers if there are distributors involved. I gave you one example. Im sorry if you dont believe it. Its there for you to look into if you wish.
To think that a producer or publisher is forced to do business with every and all distribution chains and retail channels due to anti-trust laws is simply ludicrous. There are so many examples of exclusive distribution agreements out there from tools to kitchen blenders to cosmetics and jewelry its mind boggling that we're even having this discussion. And even IF a distributor or retailer wanted to go to litigation because they wanted to carry product but didn't want to play by the release plan of the producer, they would get a single shipment. There... you have the opportunity to sell. The rest are reserved for those that play along with the wishes of the commodity producer. Why on Earth do you think its a big deal when a retailer breaks a street date?! Why don't retailers put their stock on their shelves as soon as they get their product (yes, each store gets their stock a day to days ahead of the street date and keep them in the back). Why do all are pre-orders start on the same day?? Some kind of honor among retailers to be fair to their competitors?
You are right in one thing in that lawyers will find a way and prescedence to bend existing laws to the needs of their litigious clients. But the burden of prosecution is on their shoulders to prove any wrong doing. And that is a very difficult thing to do when prescedence of existing ditribution deals are so prevalent in all channels.
There's a reason why we are still seeing street dates upheld and pre-order availability timed perfectly across all large retailers and it is for the reason I stated. Unless you have real world experience to share working with OEM operations, new product introduction, supply chain and work through logistics and distribution chanels that I do not.
Well mine did eventually get canceled. I got an email saying it was coming sooner than October sometime in September, then a few hours later I got a cancellation email. Pretty lame if you ask me.
Tap here to load 103 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...