Wondering why you can’t find Samurai Warriors Chronicles anywhere in Europe or Australia? That’s because it’s sold out, completely. It’s sold out in retail stores, sold out at every online store, and it’s even absent on ebay. Such demand is unprecedented, but 3DS has been breaking records since the day it launched.
A revealing conversation with the Community Manager of Tecmo-Koei Europe has led to them admitting they underestimated just how popular the 3DS would be. “I would say we’ve underestimated it” said Chin Soon Sun on Twitter (@inspchin), who seemed surprised when I pointed out no online stores had the game. Further driving home the impact, he revealed that the company didn’t even have any copies left in their office. Tecmo-Koei have apologised about the shortage, and there are currently negotiations going to get more copies to stores. In the mean time, fans who were lucky enough to get the game early can enjoy a steady supply of free downloadable content.
My own experience with 3DS so far only confirms the huge cultural impact it’s enjoying. I’ve managed to get over 30 StreetPass hits in my city and the system has only been out for two months. I got chatting with one of the people I StreetPassed, and they too were overwhelmed. Joe, from Sydney, opened up to me, “I was surprised when I walked out of my house with my new 3DS, and got 7 StreetPass hits! There were only 8 people in the area!”. 3DS has smashed all records, no other console has had so much wireless StreetPass activity at launch, solidifying it as the fastest selling game system of all time. Samurai Warriors games have been released on Wii, PS2 and Xbox 360 and all of those versions are still available to buy across Europe and Australia to this day, which highlights just how popular 3DS is compared to gaming systems of the past. With sure hits like Zelda and Kid Icarus on the way, it’s only going to get bigger. In the meantime let’s hope Tecmo-Koei can make enough copies of Samurai Warriors Chronicles to keep up with demand, I can’t wait to pick up my copy.
Pietriots 