Wii racer Excitebots came out in April in the US. But there’s been no word on a local release. We’ve got some bad news.
The follow-up to Wii launch title ExciteTruck, which exchanged trucks for all kinds of robot animal vehicles, will not be released in Australia.
Speaking exclusively to Kotaku, Nintendo Australia managing director Rose Lappin confirms the no-show:
“At this stage, we won’t bring Excitebots in.”
It appears the reason is twofold: one, lack of interest from local Wii owners and two, poor sales in the US.
“I know there’s a group of people who want it, but at our minimum [stock order]it’s probably too much for us to carry. I know in the US there’s a lot of that stock around,” explains Lappin.
“We’ve got to make that evaluation. We’ve got to try and support our consumers where possible, but unless we can sell the minimum we need to bring in, that makes it very difficult.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to matter how silly, charming and highly enjoyable a game is if Nintendo can’t sell it into the retail channel. But she did say “at this stage”, so maybe – just maybe – if enough people call up their local store… someone, somewhere might change their mind.
Defuniak
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:14 PMAt least I’ll be able to alleviate the US of some of that left over stock by im… oh wait no.
Of the big three, Nintendo is the one that needs to NOT have a region-locked console the most with their crappy support in regions that don’t start with Jap- or end in -merica. :( But of course they are the most draconian about it!
I wish the Wii was good for something!
Escape
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:15 PMthats pretty lame! how are they going to sell it if they don’t stock it? pretty pathetic excuse. Oh, our minimum order size is too large? yeh ok buddy, whatever!
I went looking for a copy of the new Boom Blox the other day, and was told it was “discontinued”.
Discontinued! It’s only 3 weeks bloody old! Hello Nintendo! We can’t buy your games if you don’t stock them for us!!
Aron Q
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:15 PMGod damn it.
Daniel
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:16 PMI called it, how come now we’re only hearing what’s NOT coming out from Nintendo.
David Wildgoose
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:17 PMIt’s one for one, right now, by my tally. More Nintendo news coming through shortly…
Daniel
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:22 PMWhat’s next no Metroid Prime Trilogy? >_>
Bravo for actually asking these questions though Dave! Least they answer,
kaiden
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:25 PMi traded in my copy of boom blox for animal crossing- last xmas.
Sammiebe
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:28 PMWow, and I thought waiting 3 months more than the UK before getting a local release of Punch-Out!!! was bad. This is really disappointing.
David, can you shed any light on the following?:
-I’ve seen the first week sales of Excitebots in the US (13,000)everywhere, are there any more recent figures as to how this has sold to date?
-What would be an approximate minimum stock order that would make Nintendo think this worthy of a local release?
-Is calling our local store really the best way to raise awareness of this game? Unfortunately from experience there’ll be many employees at game stores will just shrug off the question with “it’s not on our release schedule”.
-Last time I checked there was no UK release date on the horizon, has this changed as I will be importing this if I have to.
Daniel
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:56 PM@Sammiebe
No UK release is probably the EXACT reason we’re not getting it. We just feed off the UK disks which are printed for all PAL regions. If NOE ain’t printing disks we’re not getting it.
There is cases where Nintendo has printed their own, that was for Animal Crossing on the GameCube and for various demo disks but it’s rare and uber expensive most likely.
Michael
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:42 PMWait…what?
So they release those crappy kids games and crap shovelware in droves, but they won’t release an actual good game? Where is the logic in that?
NegativeZero
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 3:11 PMThe problem is that people *buy* the shovelware in droves, but they won’t buy the few genuinely good releases the Wii actually manages to get.
Roger
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:49 PMSooo… They didn’t sell enough in the US and have surplus stock in that region, and before shelling out more money to print stock for other regions they want to sell that stock. Oh and based on projections they don’t think the minimum possible order for stock would sell.
mikezombie777
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 2:00 PMOkay so, another reason to pirate then?
Okay. No problem. Keep digging your own grave.
Namey McName
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 2:23 PMWell you could always import instead, but that’d require you to actually spend money, which you obviously don’t have. So yeah, go ahead and steal it instead.
Mr Waffle
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 3:06 PMYou would have a point if importing was actually an option. Except, you know, Wii games are region locked. Fail.
sjt333
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 2:12 PMHey nintendo remember that thing called advertising? yeah both this and punch out would have sold better if you FREAKING ADVERTISED THEM!
Daniel
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 3:25 PMInstall the Homebrew Channel and GeckoOS and voila, instant Region Free.
Daniel
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 3:25 PMOh I’ve replied to the wrong person >_>
Xander
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 2:14 PMI’ve had this title on order from the US for a couple of weeks and I received an email today saying that the delay has been because Nintendo are out of stock.
Sporkachu
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 2:42 PMWell, there’s no other way to put it: This sucks.
I loved Excite Trucks and was getting really excited about ExciteBots. ExciteBots would have been an instant purchase for me.
Between this and Punch-Out (there are no JB Hi-Fi stores in my region, one will open soon but no idea when that will happen), this is a disappointing day in Australian Nintendo news
A game’s not going to sell if you never give it a chance to sell.
DansDans
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 2:44 PMYep – the Homebrew Channel is looking more and more justified
Sorry Nintendo, No Money For You! – I’ve give it to Sony and Microsoft instead
Punkarella
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 4:38 PMAgreed. Nintendo AUS are back to their old tricks, mmm remember the gamecube days?
GekoOs and homebrew channel all the way, region lock this!
brad
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 4:48 PMNintendo are really screwing us today aren’t they?! How exactly do they know what the customers are asking for? The target audience for the wii are casual gamers who IMO wouldn’t know whats coming and when. They go into their local Target/Kmart have a look at whats there and buy what they think they/their kids might like. I already have Excitebots and Punchout. Only because they have screwed us with the release date. Normally I am more than willing to pay for my games. Yet they wonder why piracy is so rife on their console!! With each day that goes by I regret my wii purchase more and more. I will absolutely NOT be buying a Nintendo console again. I have had each nintendo console since I was a kid when the original NES was launched (and yes even a few game & Watches). Wow what an awesome console that was. But, look what they’re doing to their original fan base now.
R.I.P Nintendo.
MasterCyl
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 5:06 PMI got a mate who’s been begging to chip my Wii and decisions like this don’t make it easy to hold out.
Nintendo Aus has no balls and no clout, I wouldn’t be surprised if they sat around all day near a big red phone waiting for head office to tell them they can take a dump.
I’ll decide in the near future if I chip it or Ebay it, most likely Ebay. It’s been sitting unused in my bag for nearly a year now, due to a lack of decent titles. One less Nintendo Fan Boy in the world can’t be a bad thing.
Scruffy
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 5:48 PMYet more proof that region locking is fail. We could have bought that excess US stock, but nooooooo…..
If it wasn’t for Metroid: Other M and No more heroes 2, i’d probably trade in my Wii now.
Nitrowii
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 6:10 PMBefore thinking its time to trade in your wii, think about using homebrew to get what you want, makes region locking non-existent
James A
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 7:39 PMYeah, I have excite bots, it’s alright, got myself a £30 wasabi DX chip. Sorted.
Duskbringer
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 9:48 PMAre you kidding me???
The amount of absolute garbage on the shelves here and they refuse to bring in a high(er) quality title because they might not move enough copies?
What does this say about your current situation, Nintendo?
I haven’t plugged in my Wii for almost a year now and the only reason I haven’t sold it is the promise of 4 player Super Mario Bros and Metroid Other M.
So, no, I would not have bought this game to be completely honest, but is this the answer? Damn, Gamecube Deja Vu.
I’d be interested to see some attach rate figures.
timbizcut
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 10:10 PMMasterCyl I’m the same as you. Iv’e held off chipping my Wii, but first thing tomorrow I will be at Carribean Market, getting my Wii chipped. With such a shortage of quality titles I can’t believe that they are not going to release this in Oz. I own a gamcecube, so for me, there is no point in playing Res. Evil 4 or Pikman 2 or Mario Tennis or any of the other rereleases. It is a tossup between my 3DO and my Wii as the most underused console I have owned. The lack of quality titles at this satage in it’s lifecycle is a joke. Who bets they do bring out a Hi-def version of the console with the new games for this machine unplayable on the current Wii.
DansDans
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 9:50 AMDON’T CHIP IT!!!
Just install the 4.0 menu and use the bannerbomb exploit to run the Homebrew Channel and 002 Gamma Fix Channel – then you can play imports and region free the WiiWare stuff (and pirate games if you are that way inclined..)