After a fairly lengthy spell of very few notable Wii U retail releases, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate arrived in Europe on 22nd March as Capcom's latest attempt to popularise the series further in the West. It seemed to help, with the game being attributed as part of the reason for a Wii U sales spike and with the title (both Wii U and 3DS) earning 7th place in the UK all-format chart in its debut week. All positives for Wii U in particular, after a lengthy period of bad sales news.
We did see Capcom's title drastically fall to 39th in the UK charts in its second week, however, and it's emerging that there are serious stock issues around Europe. We've heard of examples where stores had limited stock to just about cover pre-orders, and others that have been out of copies for a while. The situation is noticeable enough that Satoru Shibata, President of Nintendo of Europe, posted the following tweets a couple of days ago.
It's difficult to determine whether the plummet in the UK charts was a result of lacking stock or loss of momentum, but there are clearly issues throughout Europe. With Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate currently carrying the flag for Wii U alongside LEGO City Undercover, this situation can't be resolved quickly enough.
[source vg247.com]
Comments 39
Good to hear that it's sold well at least and is in demand. It's also still high up on the eShop charts.
School boy error from Nintendo
Just download the bloody thing... Stock shortage solved
Stock shortages ? We still got planty in many shops, standard or premium version.
@Einherjar this is a shortage of MH3U not the Wii-U console itself.
@TOMBOY25 I did mean the games It also got some sort of "premium" edition over here, with a stickerset for the gamepad / wiimote and a screen protector. And we still got plenty of games left although they sold extremely well.
No problems here in Portugal, but we are a much smaller market. Both versions of the game are widely available with at least pretty much everyone I know having bought the game already.
@Einherjar really.......now i feel sad i didn't get a sticker set.
Time for digital copies to do their job.
Even if its OOS I'm not paying £50 for a digital copy that I cannot sell on when I'm done with it.
did they think more people would get digital copies? do they not realize that the majority of people do not want downloadable games because they have a play once and then sell mentality? i'm not one of those people but still...
@TOMBOY25 Hmm, i looked it up. Looks like it could be a version especially made for one of our mayor electronic stores (do you call them that ? O.o ) since i cant find it anywhere else.
http://www.mediamarkt.de/mcs/product/NINTENDO-OF-EUROPE-GMBH-Monster-Hunter-3-Ultimate-Premium-Edition,48353,419035,565947.html?langId=-3
But dont be too sad. They are not that pretty. They are cluttered with Logos and trademark symbols and are more or less the standard box logo ton to many pieces.
Managed to find an in-store copy yesterday after scouring most of the local game stores.
Need for Speed Most Wanted also seemed to be missing from the stores I visited.
Ah, I just downloaded it and love the convenience.
By the way, I think nintendo and capcom didn't anticipate the amount of sales this game would generate in the end. Which is, to me, very good news.
Monster Hunter = game that will burnout your disc drive
Do you get an electronic version of the manual with the downloaded copy?
@Einherjar
Read before talking
edit. Lol i should read i didn't know there was another version also media markt in holland didn't have that version
@Noxia How can you ever be done with Monster Hunter? It is impossible. Too many hours not enough time.
@exile20 There will become a point where I feel I've put enough hours into it and will want to move on. There is also the chance I'll hate it. The demo didn't convince me at all but I'm assured it was not a good indication of how the actual game is.
I tought after Xenoblade Chronicles they learned their lesson.
Maybe it makes them think about releasing MH4 on the ocident too.
These Japanese executives (both Satoru's) can't stop apologizing for the mistakes they make. The day we'll see a sincere apology from a Western executive is a long way to go.
There are plenty of copies of the Wii U version in Australian stores, but I'm yet to see any hard copies of the 3DS version.
thank god i got mine for wii u
Sounds like physical copies came and went faster than the wii u's 3rd party support
The end of the disk era!
@Noxia
>>Insinuating one can ever be "done" with Monster Hunter
noxia, im new to monsster hunter and that demo was the first tasste i had of it and i must say the deo definitely gives off a different impression of the game than it actually is. the game itself is so great, im glad i took the chance
This is good news I bought mine on day one I'd never played monster hunter but I was very excited to get into the series and I'm glad I did its amazing
The demo definitely doesn't give a very good impression of the overall game. Although as someone whose completely new to the franchise, the demo held enough interest for me to actually buy a copy and I don't regret it at all. It's pretty much all I've been doing for my spring break.
theres lots in uk,most stores were well stocked.
I'm just going to stick with Tri on the Wii.
@Mikau94
Online support for Tri ends this month, so you'll only be playing solo.
Ultimate is also a much bigger game than Tri, with a lot more monsters. The GamePad also makes a difference, especially for equipment and chat. A great game got even better.
I've played the game 30+ hours and still feel like a newb ha ha, but it is addictive nonetheless. Though sometimes it can be frustrating. Anyone bored with the system owes it to themselves to buy this game.
This is their consumer telling Nintendo that they are not ready to commit to their downloadable view of the future. I cannot blame them. IMO why pay £50 online for something you will never physically own [and is only yours to keep so long as Nintendo see fit] when you can track down a physical copy for closer to £30 in the shops and then do with it as you see fit?
@sillygostly here where I live (Venice, Italy) it's the same: a lot of copies available for the Wii U and no copies for the 3DS.
Copies available in GAME in Bromley if you're desperate!
They should apologize for making people buy Wii-U to play the 3ds version online the game is absolutely beautiful on 3ds its so unfortunate the online went down this way.
@Noxia Every Wii U game has a full e-manual, same applies for all but the very earliest 3DS games too regardless of whether they are disk based or download.
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