| Imports |
Not Down
to the Mat Yet
It's never cool when an importer gets word that freight has been
delayed, even if it's only a single day. In any case, our courier has re-scheduled
delivery of Square's Wrestling game until tomorrow morning. NCS can
effect overnight delivery by way of Express Mail on Friday so that customers, press, etc
can receive their copies on Saturday morning if so desired. In most cases, the freight
charge for Express Mail is less than what UPS and Fedex charge for overnight. Please contact us if you wish to
make these arrangements. |
Twinstick Economics
We suppose it would be prudent at this point to detail the story of
woe that was the Saturn Twinstick a couple of years back. It may explain the reason why
Sega is reluctant to commit to producing large supplies of this controller for the
Dreamcast although demand appears huge in the global market.
December 1996 Virtual On hits the Saturn scene in
Japan and the Twinstick controller is produced is fairly abundant quantities. The price
for the controller is reasonable at Y5800 or NCS $58 back in the day. Good quantities are
shifted and consumers are happy with recreating the arcade experience at home. Fast
forward a couple of months and distributors in Asia, Japan, et al notice that although the
VO game was well received by press and fandom, there are stacks of Twinsticks sitting in
warehouses. Hundreds of containers collecting dust and drawing rancor as wasting capital.
With no Asian or Japanese outet capable of moving them fast enough,
prices are slashed 50%. At this level, losses are incurred and the Twinstick becomes a
liability rather than an asset. Even at that price, shipments are slow and distributors
hack and slash weekly until the wholesale price sits at US$5. It's a
debacle for vendors but large supplies sat at that price for months, mainly because even
if there was an audience at US$5 from Europe or the States, the freight
charges per bulky Twinstick box was roughly US$22 by air courier. Then there were the
logistical problems of storing Twinsticks which take up precious warehouse space that
could be used for more profitable cargo.
Eventually all supplies were depleted but at painful losses. Memory is
a damning thing and few distributors are willing to take the risk of stocking products
such as the Twinstick for fear of history repeating itself. Sega was too ambitious early
in the Saturn's life cycle and over-estimated demand for the Saturn
Twinsticks. Now, in the DC era, they're under-estimating demand for the
Dreamcast Twinstick and Maracas controllers and the overall market suffers the lessons
taught by history. |
@ NCS |
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