Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Ni No Kuni Fiasco & Value of Wizard's Edition

Ni No Kuni is a Japanese role-playing-game developed by Level-5 (makers of Dragon Quest IX and Inazuma 11 games) and published by Bandai-Namco. It has received great reviews with the gaming press. Unfortunately the special edition has turned into a public relations fiasco for Namco, but a collector's dream.

Ni No Kuni's special edition is called the Wizard's Edition and includes the usual special order type items - music CD, guide book, custom character figure, and the game itself. Namco originally started selling the Wizard's Edition in August 2012 on their e-commerce website.

On January 22nd the game released and the regular edition and Wizard's Edition were supposed to ship to customers. Besides small isolated stock issues, the standard edition has been readily available. The game resells for about $8-10 less than original MSRP, which is normal for a game four weeks after releasing. Wizard's Edition is a completely different matter.

On January 25th Bandai-Namco announced they had oversold the Wizard's Edition. Their website partner had continued accepting orders for the limited edition after the release date even though every copy had already been sold.

Namco said they would cancel all orders beyond what they could fulfill and they would offer $20 credits and free player's guides to all those customers.

At this time prices for the Wizard's Edition were $300-350. The $20 credit didn't sound like a very good deal compared to an item worth 15x that amount.

This same problem occurred with Kingdom of Amalur Signature Edition. They inadvertently sold 12 extra copies of this edition. Instead of canceling orders and sending token refunds, they created 12 "Exclusive Signature" editions that were even more rare than the originals.

Many people have asked Namco to do something similar, but at this point they have refused. If Namco ever does make new copies of the Wizard's Edition resale prices will plunge. In the mean time, Ni No Kuni Wizard's Edition is one of the most valuable PS3 games ever made.

Ni No Kuni Trailer and Images

8 comments :

Anonymous said...

Interesting info on probably one to the rarest game on the ps3. Its good to see Namco is on the up and up on this generation.

Anonymous said...

I can see this game dropping in value very gradually as Ni No Kuni has been out for a while. In no more than a year, a used Wizard Edition will likely be worth no more than $150. What we are seeing right now is people losing their minds over a hot new game that has received widespread praise. Prices on the Wizard Edition have already began dropping little by little and will continue to do so. This game is rare, but not nearly as rare and many seem to believe it is.

JJ Hendricks said...

@anonymous - I can see what you are saying about the hype dying down and the value dropping. One unknown is nobody really knows how rare the Wizard Edition is. It might turn out that people realize it is much MORE rare than they thought and prices increase.

The same happened with NBA Elite 11. The first few sales were $300 or so and then prices jumped to $1,000+ as people realized how rare it actually was.

Anonymous said...

When you consider that some very famous people worked on this game, that its a one console exclusive and that its likely to become a popular franchise, i think the wizard edition could become extremely sought after, especially given the seemingly limited print run.

Anonymous said...

Zero value, poorly made game

Anonymous said...

You guys are dumb as hell if you think a studio ghibli limited edition game that no one can get to begin with is going down in price. EVER. This game will be worth thousands in a few years. Bet you anything. IF it is worthless than try and find one new and sealed for under 350. An its only been a month or two. Just wait a few years, but hey whatever helps you sleep at night. Maybe I will pick up another couple worthless copies ha.

Anonymous said...

Thank you that makes my point dead on and adds to it not only does it have zero value but it proves that someone can sell frozen ketchup popsicles to someone if you tell them its taste great an rare lol. Their is a sucker everyday and i am sorry but you are the sucker.

Chaostraveler said...

I've stumbled on this about a year later and can say that the Wizard Edition is still $370 on Amazon, or $299 from the list you have to do a double take for. Pity, I really wish I could have gotten a copy.

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