Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Special Edition Will Be Made Available Again At A Later Date (US)

Feel like there just needs to be a moratorium on collector's editions of games entirely for awhile. It seems like every single one of the 8,000 of them put out each week is running into production issues and delays and understocks and randomly cancelled orders and just... The whole system right now's busted.

Amazing.

But fine, I'll wait. I hope they come up with ways to order without breaking their website next time.

Their entire store went down in flames because of this — unreal.

I was checking in all day... this is by far the worst product launch/pre-order I've ever experienced. Xenoblade is my favorite series ever so I absolutely want to get this to go with my collection, but today was just a complete mess. Nintendo needs to either get their act together if they intend to use this for all special editions or they need to stick with retailers from now on. I'm not the type to get mad at Nintendo over a lot of things, but I'm really upset with them over this.

Honestly, I'd prefer if they took the Limited Run Games model of just having a month-long open pre-order model and then making enough units to match that. Since the SE contents are coming later anyway, it's not like anyone ordering it would mind a potential extra wait. I just want to know that I've secured one.

I'm sure bots will get them all anyways. From the last story no one here was able to order.

I pretty much wasted all day waiting for this. Glad I don't have to loose sleep over it too. Missed the launch window (I got there 20 minutes after it went live) and never got it. I'm gonna be watching like a hawk on the next announcement

Secured my copy from the Aussie store, everything went smoothly thank god. Wish it included a soundtrack though.

"Were you able to pre-order this special / collector's edition in the end?"

I first entered the site roughly a minute or two after preorders opened. I experienced:

• My account either logging out at random or refusing to log in at all
• A "wait list" that either eventually dumped me on the broken product page or just loaded eternally
• The page saying "limit reached" despite only trying to order ONE copy (Max of two)
• Maintenance screens galore, some with Wario
• Actually succeeding in adding it to my cart at one point, only for:
  A. My preorder to not show up at all
  B. Entering the endless queue of wait purgatory again

In short, nope. Nada. Nein. Non.

I knew My Nintendo Store exclusivity was a poor way to handle this, but even I underestimated how much of a clustertruck this would be. It's really disappointing since I only preorder for series I genuinely love, and I don't normally dive for SEs unless I REALLY like what's on offer. After refreshing pages all day, I'm beyond frustrated at this point. The only ones I feel sorry for are Nintendo's support call center and their social media manager. These people don't deserve the fallout for someone else's screwups.

I knew this would happen as soon as they announced it would be a My Nintendo Store exclusive. Otherwise I could have just pre-ordered it at Gamestop with relative ease like the last couple XC collector's editions.

Imagine being a xenoblade fan since operation rainfall, and being dickslapped all day by clueless Nintendo. Somethings never change.

Sometimes I really wonder what they're smoking at Nintendo HQ.

I ran into the “limit reached” page and even though the “Pre-Order” button appeared to be active, pressing it did nothing.

What a total ***** show

I'll echo what others are saying that this was the worst preorder experience I've ever had. What a mess!

I was lucky enough to get one off our Nintendo Australia site.

Wish I could have just ordered it through a normal retailer though.

Expecting the same thing in Europe and that makes me frightened...poor decision to make in a My Nintendo Exclusive, shame for it to not have a soundtrack and the early release/shipping CE items later is just the cherry on top. Baffling...

As someone who suffered through the botched shambles that was the UK's My Nintendo Store launch last year, I can say this is entirely unsurprising.

All because Nintendo wanted a bigger slice of the pie, they've shown their clear lack of know-how when it comes to retail logistics and in the end it's their biggest fans who suffer the consequences of higher prices when we're forced to buy from scalpers because Nintendo can't get their act together.

@Tyranexx hey, you just described my whole day too!

managed to get it in NZ without a hitch, guts for the US homies that have been left out. I saw scalpers posting stuff like $350 USD for a copy and those auctions actually had bids on them lol

Even if it went fine for me I'd still prefer it if I could pick it up from an actual retailer on launch day so I can be sure I don't get screwed over by shipping delays

I got in the first minute it allowed people to order.

I put one in my cart, only one for me.

I click on my cart to check out.

Go to payment.

Doesn't let me pay.

Forces everyone into waiting queues.

Doesn't let me checkout for around 5 hours.

Puts me in a waiting line for my own cart (which only I should be able to access).

Doesn't ever let me purchase what I put in my cart in the first few minutes while other people who probably weren't there the entire time are allowed to order.

Kicks me and everyone else off (after me waiting for 10 hours), and removes the item from my cart (when a Nintendo customer service rep told me it would stay in my cart even if it took a long time).

TLDR; Nintendo has the worst servers and didn't prepare at all for this and ruined everyone's day.

They should just learn from LRG or the Japanese Nintendo store. Just have preorders and make it based on demand. They won't be shipping the extra stuff for the Special Edition until months later and it's certainly not stuff that's very hard to mass produce.

I was literally waiting on the site when it went live I had it in my cart ….boooted of the site and into a waiting screen for about an hour ….boyfriend waited 4 hours on screen as I went to work and nothing …. like I get Nintendo doesn’t really do this on a regular with pre orders but man this hurts a bit. Hope I can get my self one of these to complete my collection 😔

It blows my mind how NoA keeps boasting that Nintendo's biggest profits comes from the US but they can't even do pre-orders right in the region. They should have expected the load on their servers miles away considering they already waited too long for pre-orders to go up.

This should have been available for preorder at retail. I got the first two collections with no hassle at GameStop. Hopefully they can make the process seamless and with plenty available.

If I’m not able to get it, then a standard copy is fine with me. FOMO is not worth the emotional baggage. Thank goodness for digital games.

Please don't release new hardware for the next 10 years Nintendo. You'll make 1 million and be surprised they seem out in 3 seconds.

@Tyranexx
I don't know that anyone got one. I was there from the first minute after the tweet and the site wouldn't let me make the purchase (same limit reached error). I downloaded Twitter for this. I set the notification as a bird sound, so I would know what it is. There have been multiple tweet notifications a day for a couple of weeks now. I work nights, so they have been disrupting my sleep for days. One time my wife heard it and thought there was an actual bird in the house. And then all this trouble today... I'm pretty close to giving up.

Nintendo dropped the ball so hard it left a permanent impact crater...terrible experience

@QLM17 Exact same thing happened to me, except the customer service rep I spoke to said she could not guarantee it would stay in the cart.

If Nintendo were Smart they would have saved the status of those with it already in their cart and give those customers first dibs to the next batch

I think I’ll just stick with the standard copy. The special edition isn’t anything too special anyway

And when next it becomes available it will sell out once more in a couple minutes.

Why does it feel like, nowadays, there is never enough of anything made to satisfy the demand? How have we still not solved the scalper situation?

Nintendo of America needs to address this because that was embarrassing. 3 minutes in after it went up and I waited 11 whole hours for a damn reschedule notice of all things. Cart limit reached, removed item from cart, logging me out. Worst preorder launch experience I have and ever will have.

Japan's preorders didn't have this problem and Australia went smoothly the same day. There was a month's long notice of tweet comments showing the hyped up demand and the website still failed.

Really fire whoever is in charge of prepping up the NA website servers because their infamy has only grown because of this. Likely lost profit too because people might just rethink the special edition and stick with the simple copy to avoid all this headache.

@Arawn93 Personally, I think a Standard Edition can be deemed "Special" for sentimental reasons. I mean, to SpongeBob SquarePants, anything made with love is considered a "Special" Edition, and if you put in for a little charm, or a T-Shirt you could make, and bundle it with the game, then it's considered special. In the case of Krabby Patties,, SpongeBob puts love into it,, by cooking it proper,, preparing it,, and telling it a bedtime story,, and it tasted better than what Neptune tried to make.. I recently looked on eBay, and there are listing for the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Special Edition that sell for up to $300 US, maybe more.

I had a copy in my cart the whole day but couldn't check out. Then at around 5 I was able to start the check out, then halfway through I got the waiting screen. My cart is empty now. I hope I am able to get a copy the second go around.

We need more of this. How many times have they released a limited edition of a game you’re not that hyped about, and then you play the standard edition and get really hooked? Now you have to track down the used goods from the LE and hope they’re affordable. This happened to me with Xenoblade 2, and may happen again here.

Sucks for those who wanted this, I hope you get it.

I got mine preordered.

As far as special editions go, this one doesn't seem worth the effort to me. I preordered the standard edition from Best Buy as it was more important I get it when they open on release day.

They should have people sign up to be emailed. You’ll have 2-3 days to respond, it saves a preorder in your cart and waits for the cash out.

Sony did it for the PS5, it would work for special edition games.

This one's up there with Fire Emblem Fates and the Majora's Mask 3DS.

@DarthXenos From feedback across the web, that unfortunately seems to match the experiences of many. I expected to have some issues, but nothing on this level.

Love your avatar, by the way.

@crudfish I missed the initial tweet but was refreshing the product page every so often and happened to luck out. Not that it made any difference in the end. I don't work nights, but stuff like this tends to drop in the middle of my work day. My availability isn't guaranteed. I was fortunate to not have any meetings scheduled until yesterday afternoon, so I thought I had plenty of buffer time for site traffic delays. Silly me.

I'll likely try again when the SE is next available. If I fail to get a copy then, I'm throwing in the towel.

wen i got into the nintendo store the button to preorder it was grayed out so hopefully ill get to nab it on the next date wen they release it again without having the server crash

@Waka_the_Prophet I wonder how many (if any) of those listings are legit preorders. I have yet to see a report anywhere of a normal person landing the SE. Selling the promise of having something is fishy and scummy enough, doubly so in this case thanks to all the issues.

Best of luck to your friend. I hope the three of you are at least able to land a Special Edition at MSRP.

I don't mind the waiting as long as nintendo have enough for everyone, what gonna piss me off is the bots and scalper grabbing them all and resell them for triple the price. Already seeing ebay for triple the price. F/# those As%;&# i rather not play the game at all if i can't get this special edition for regular price, no freaking way i pay a dime more to scapler. I waiting 18 month just to get my PS5 from gamestop and screw these scapler.

@Waka_the_Prophet I agree. I think the LRG method of open preorders is a good idea, especially in this case since the extra items are shipping at a later date. I'd be fine with waiting longer if that meant the SE items arrived eventually.

The shared pain in this thread is palpable.

Had to come back here and share my experiences from yesterday, but literally everything that happened to me has been stated multiple times by you fine folk.

I was going to give the benefit of the doubt to MyNintendo because while I waited in the queue all day, I was at work and wasn’t able to keep my eyes fixed on my phone the whole time, and thought, “ah, dang, I missed my chance, *****, this is my own fault…”

Nope. Eff this flustercuck aday. Terrible, Nintendo. Why are you so adamant on being anti-consumer?

I had 2 in cart went to put address and wham maintenance mode. Then told to wait in line for 10+ and now nothing in my cart. Chatted with online and they did squat. I work in CSR and they can redo orders they make PR excuses. My survey wasn't glowing. I did as others phone and computer at work and nothing as well. Their Twitter PR line is a pathetic excuses. This excuse doesn't add up when JPN and Aussie sites had no preorders issue. They allowed BoNet steal preorders is what happened. Later date means Jack if they allow BotNets to steal orders again.

@SwitchForce If this is actually an issue with the BotNets hoovering up all of the pre-orders, than there is quite literally only one real solution that will stop this: we all have to agree not to buy a single copy from eBay. Not one. The ONLY way this crap stops is to make the risk/reward fall too far on the risk end with too little payoff for scalpers. They HAVE to choke on this "investment", preferably fatally.

@Lizuka That's pretty extreme considering this mess was 100% preventable. Nintendo's infrastructure should be capable of handling traffic for a game preorder if Sony can handle it for a PS5. This is entirely the fault of Nintendo's archaic storefront.

@RavenFellBlade they can implement bot challenge or text to registered number to verify the buyer. It's 2022 and they can't do that when eShop is capable of doing this. This is a clusterf$#$=_ that Nintendo did to USA buyers but other countries had zero issues. They still can not explain that.

@Kropolis that's just the tip of the ice berg. If they can't do it give it to GameStop at least that requires in-person to order. They have the infrastructure they were able preorder in other countries but heaven forbid USA customers get screwed over by BotNet buying. So the excuses has no legs to stand on. I knew the moment I read it was exclusive I knew there were problems when it was just Nintendo and no other seller aka GameStop or even Amazon. They had people jump their queue with cheat links and that's also why Nintendo stopped all transactions and those waiting in the line got screwed over and those that did should loose their orders for doing that. By the time those tried to get their cart process by those that cheated they got cheated second time.

@SwitchForce Nintendo won't do anything about it. A sale is a sale to them, profit is profit. They don't give a damn about who bought the product and what they're going to do with it. Which is why it falls on consumers to resist, and to bury scalpers in their own greed.

@RavenFellBlade Chirpping again must be a Scalper on NL. If saying so true why did they wipe clean those in line. You can't answer that one. Talk like a true Scalper. No wonder...we got a Scalper here people.

Pre-orders were easy to get in Australia and stock was available for hours with no website downtime (sorry American friends!)

@GameAndLuke Pre-orders were easy to get in Australia and stock was available for hours with no website downtime (sorry American friends!)
This is why Nintendo and those whom are Scalpers try to deny the obvious Nintendo was currying favors with Scalper BotNets. And those that used the cheat links to jump the que should be denied orders along with Scalpers order being cancelled-they took away those in queue a live person not BotNet their order. And Nintendo Twitter hasn't explained why others Countries had no issue but only in the USA can't for the country that started the Internet can't figure this out? No, there's something more to then them having site issues. They deserve the USA customer backlash here and on twitter and their contact us Nintendo homepage support. No one F(&(&up this bad and can't explain why around the world had no issue but why only USA customers. Let's not fool ourselves here to their PR we are looking into this or available at later date. This is a JOKE.

UPdate: Got a call from a Nintendo CSR making the same excuse he couldn't fix what Nintendo screwed up June 8 and said NO ONE got their orders. I told him check your Nintendo Twitter and plenty of people and Scalpers got the PreOrders in. So at this point they are worthless CSR-I know they can fix orders otherwise why are they working as CSR for in the first place.

@Liam_Doolan US Preorder page is gone again. If you have the link you get the Wario page, and in search results/game lists the Special Edition for 3 doesn't even show. I'm not seeing anything on Twitter from Nintendo about it. Does Nintendolife have anything?

It's now TBD...or USA buyers got screwed over big time.... that is.

Any update on this? It's almost a month exactly to release day, and I still haven't been able to order a special edition.