Now, we didn't pull punches in our assessment of Devil's Third, awarding it 5/10 (average) in our review largely thanks to the ambitious online component, with the solo campaign faring less well. That said, we did try to consider some of its positives, and for benevolent gamers that can look past flaws it offers some harmless (albeit potentially pricey) fun.
Its North American release on 11th December passed with zero fanfare from Nintendo of America, however, with the subsidiary even burying it low down in its official Download Update press release. It seems that the lack of enthusiasm for the game at NoA has extended to a lack of retail stock, as it's rapidly sold out across major retailers. While there's undoubtedly been some enthusiastic take-up from fans, it does seem as if very few copies were available in the first place; we've checked Walmart, Amazon US, GameStop and Target, all without any copies online at the time of writing.
Amazingly, this game is now generating its own pricey market on eBay. At the time of writing there are over 20 listings for the North America versions that are demanding anything between $150 and much more, with some optimistically looking for over $400. Some are paying, though, as this seller has shifted a copy for $199.99. For a fairly mediocre game that even has a free-to-play PC version on the way, that's scarcely believable.
The eBay sellers are clearly tapping into the desires of collectors, primarily. The game can be bought for $59.99 on the eShop in the US, and copies of the European version, in particular, can be found at a cost little more than a cinema ticket with some online searches. These inflated values in North America are the result of stock shortages, plain and simple, and bring to mind the madness of early and under-stocked amiibo waves.
We have asked Nintendo of America for comment on this, and will update the article should we receive a response.
Thanks to Paul Lind for the heads up.
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Comments 75
dumb
I feel sick
Crazy! £17 on Amazon UK...
If NoA really didn't want to publish the game, they just shouldn't have. It is a disservice to fans to produce so very few copies. Really poor behaviour from the company tbh. Another publisher could have stepped in and printed enough copies to satisfy demand.
Not sure if this is an issue of Nintendo not making enough copies or if retailers didn't stock enough to meet demand. Either way, I feel bad for folks paying $200 for this throwaway game.
NoA probably fulfilled pre orders and a few extra copies and will produce a few more runs of the game to have it available here and there but no reason to over produce. As far as people buying it on ebay for 300% markup or more....just dumb. I guarantee you will be able to find it for $15 in 3 months
Really tempted to flip my $30 copy from Dell . . . .
@bluedogrulez Same here. But I'd regret not having it later.
I was far more interested in this game than in Xenoblade, and I'm pretty pissed off now that it's impossible to find anywhere. Leaving indie games aside, digital is not and option for me when big publishers are involved, same reasoning applies to Fatal Frame V, I won't pay more than $ 1.99 for them in that format.
What's so weird about it? It's a good game, great multiplayer.
i think this is awesome.come on guys.a game that got completly shot down by anyone(for obvious reasons)now gets the chance to become a cult classic or whatever.this makes me smile.still...i think the game sucks.
I CAN'T FIND THIS GAME ANYWHERE!!!! sigh I'm going to give it a month or so...after that I'll get it from the eshop. This is insane. I thought nobody liked the game? I just want a standard retail copy because I was looking forward to playing it...
well, I had no issue paying $60 for this. is it not nearly as bad as reviewers would have you think. I feel this game is a B game. It isn't the best game, but it is worth having if you a wii u owner starved for shooters. 2nd, ive felt like the gaming community just blasted it since it was planned for 360/ps3 and was cancelled only to be brought back for wii u.
If you guys really want it, just get it off the eshop. These prices are above ridiculous. It's almost like NOA wanted it to fail.
I would love to hear if Nintendo plans to make more copies. They are losing out on money, again. I would like to own this game, and NO I don't want some stupid digital version. I want games physical whenever this is an option. So annoying.
And don't worry folks, there will be a shortage of Shovel Knight amiibo soon enough too based on other reports coming out today.
@C-Olimar it's not disservice to the fans.
It costs them money to make them and the demand was nearly nonexistent, so to make the supply very high would be stupid.
@KilleyMC Forgot about Fatal Frame V, but yet won't buy that because we should have a physical edition. Good grief Nintendo. There is a small digital market, and the STILL bigger physical market. Cater to the BIGGER market.
I feel certain that people paying those high prices for it are doing it more as a collectors item than just wanting to play it. Not all of them, but 90% of them. People collect rare items, it happens. Look at baseball cards and comic books. Rare ones go for many times more than face value. People buying these will stickem in a closet for 20 years and see what happens then. It's an investment. Maybe not a very good investment, but neither is a liberal arts college degree, and that could cost you $100,000.
If any of you guys live in the Phoenix area the Gilbert GameZone store has five copies in stock so if you hurry you might be able to score a copy!
@King47 As evidenced by this article, supply appears to be lower than demand. This is a disservice to people who would like to buy the game for its regular price.
I believe this was done on purpose. They knew it wouldn't sell so they did not want to publish it first, and when they were forced to, they produced a few copies so it will not only sell, but be a highly sought after article.
Xenoblade all over again, with the difference that Xenoblade was a good game on a console with a higher install base and there was no exclusive retailer this time.
Whoever pays $200 for this is insane.
Another interesting chapter in the story of Devil's Third. Despite the overwhelmingly negative reception, demand has outstripped supply, it's actually hilarious. I'll have to get a digital copy, since the closest store to me that has it is 30 mi. away, and i'm not doing that.
I knew this would happen, in part because it's a niche game and (likely) Itagaki's last console game in light of the rumors that his studio is switching to mobile.
Reserved my copy when it was announced. My Gamestop hadn't even had it unpacked on release day when I came to pick it up; the employee had to go retrieve it from the back. Pretty sure my copy was the only copy in there.
Bought it to play though, not sell, so kind of a moot point. But I did get my hands on it
I had to brave a mall packed for Christmas to get to the closest Gamestop with a copy. I used a $5 GS coupon for it but still think it should've launched at $40 i stead. Its definitely unremarkable but that doesn't equal bad, at least for me. Certainly not a 3/10 as I've far as seen. I'd probably give it like a 6/10. Mindless fun, though it does tey a bit too hard to make its main character seem badass. I haven't tried multiplayer yet but the consensus seems to be that its better than the single-player so I'm sure to give it a shot.
@darklinkinfinite
So far, the single player is better than people give it credit for. More 6-7/10 range than 2-3/10 in any event. It's goods, mindless fun, and the switching between first and third person is more fluid than the reviews made it sound.
I'm about a couple chapters in, though I'm waiting for my (likely) Christmas present of a pro-controller before I continue. The controls definitely do not lend themselves well to the gamepad.
If only Nintendo of America put half the effort into marketing this that Nintendo life put into its tag lines!!
People aren't buying the game just to play it. They are collector's that sense the stock will remain short. Suggesting that the buyers just buy it off of the eshop is pointless.
The sad part is most of the people buying it for those prices are likely not interested in play the game since they would've pre-ordered it or buy it digital. Well I can't complain about it too much since it's that type of mentality that helps drive sales in NA. One example is the amiibo in the sense of "rarity" and staying in the box.
@C-Olimar Perfectly said. Also, they kinda burned XSEED in the process as well from what I've heard which is a bad move on their part as well.
What!!! how dumb it is.....
The sad thing is that if Nintendo of America had priced this as a $29.99 or $39.99 game, people probably would have purchased it because it was something new and affordable. Instead they printed limited copies and sold it at $59.99 which now has it selling for $120 on Amazon new, and most people will just skip it because it isn't worth the asking price.
@Darknyht
People still would have skipped it at $30, because the game has such negative reputation for being "one of the worst games in recent memory!"
You can literally get the multiplayer part for FREE on PC (which is said to be quite good).
Why spend money for the multiplayer portion when you can get it for free on PC?!
Nintendo only published this game in NA due to the massive backlash they received E3 and post E3 from everyone when it was found out that XSeed had publishing duties.
The game has a current metacritic score of 44, being the of the lowest reviewed game of the year from any major gaming company.
I mean the game's nickname is "Devil's Turd!"
Nintendo should have ignored the massive backlash and let XSeed do the publishing.
To be fair NA retailers probably told Nintendo to only ship small quantities due to the lack of demand.
FYI: NA retailers have the right to refuse to stock a product for any reason!
I mean most NA retailers refused to stock Valve's Steam hardware and controller, because they didn't see any demand for Steam hardware and controller.
This is why you can only buy Steam hardware and controllers at Gamestop stores.
People also forget that NA retailers rejected Xenoblade (Wii), because they didn't want to stock a "low selling game."
Only Gamestop was willing to stock Xenoblade (Wii) in NA.
Xenoblade's deal was literally down to retailers not seeing the demand for it in NA.
It's also the reason why most PC/MAC games aren't stocked in NA anymore.
£13 for me on Amazon. Chin up yanks
Ayyyyyy, I'm glad I pre ordered it at GameStop
Game is good. Had a few incredible months with the online part while the player count was decent. Will never forget it. For me it was the best online shooter ever. Single payer is fun too.
The current review climate is asinine and lots of reviewers feed their options of each other (at least NL did it a bit better then the rest). Also games will get slaughtered for small technical inconsistencies. Small dips in frame rates get presented as huge problems (mostly digital foundry on ps4 and XBone releases).
People have forgotten that games are meant to be fun. For me Devils Third was the funnest game I picked up in 2015. It gives me what I want in an action game / online shooter. I will forever be bitter about the reviewers frenzy that kept this games from EU players and I'm mad about how Nintendo US handles their release.
@Xenocity You are talking about a game that had a portion of the audience excited despite the negative reviews. And let's be honest, the Wii U isn't exactly swimming in software either.
This game was never going to be a "AAA" title, and it shouldn't have ever been billed as one. This was purely a "B" title from the start as it has everything in common with B-Movies. Ridiculous and non-sensical plot, low production values, and relatively short game. Had Nintendo approached it from that standpoint, they could have priced and marketed it in a way that would have gotten more sales than just shoving it out an airlock to die.
For example, Nintendo of America could have cut the game in two. Release the Single Player game as a B-Title at $29.99, physical limited edition with an eShop digital version. Then put the Multiplayer version out there as F2P (since the PC version will be the same). No matter what the reviews said, everyone that could would have download and tried the multiplayer game. If it gets support keep adding in stuff like costumes (like TF2) and if really supported expand it with additional maps. If not it becomes a small value add for console sales in it's twilight. Either way you risk little, but potentially gain additional sales of the single player campaign.
I am really enjoying this game online, I have had a lot of full matches (16 players) with no issues. There was a report out there that Game Stop (Entire Company) received less than 500 copies. This seems accurate as many people have reported only a few GameStops in an entire State received a copy, usually one. Maybe only enough for pre-orders were sent out?
Literally as I'm reading this article, I've just got an alert from HUKD, (Hot UK Deals), for this game, £13 from PROGAMES, fulfilled by Amazon. How strange!
@Xenocity
Except it's not the worst game in recent memory. It's actually not half bad. And no, not just the MP. Go watch campaign footage and see for yourself.
Secondly, retailers stock anything. It's almost laughable you would think retailers would be unwilling to stock Xenoblade when they regularly stock $2 bin shovelware. No, it was exclusive due to GS paying for exclusivity, as they so often do (Tales of Hearts R, Shulk amiibo, Ness amiibo, etc).
Thirdly, MP being free on PC would be a great point if this site were called PC-Life. But it's not. And most members here do not game on PC. So it's an irrelevant point to make.
Same with Lego Dimensions - it is going for £140+ on eBay at the moment.
Project Zero is not that great too, and yet it's selling for 90 euro USED, or 80 pounds new from uk amazon.
@Pablo17 Have fun while it lasts. I'm in Germany and got a little late to the Devil's Third multiplayer party, so the servers here are pretty much empty. It's a shame the multiplayer is region locked.
And here I was planning to buy a physical copy of the game cause it seems cool and the main character is called the same as me... So much for it (I won't waste $200 for it) Hope more copies surface around.
@Dave24 I read all your posts with (mentally) the voice of Clarence, and I love it.
EBay, you never cease to amaze me. I personally wouldn't even pay the launch price for the game, let alone inflated prices like that.
@manu0 I'm sorry for you that you got in late. Those early days where every week a new region was opened where magical. Decent sized clans where battling it out every night discovering the game little by little. It was great and it would have been better if the reviewers (most of which never played proper multiplayer) hadn't scared potential players away.
NOA is retarded and I'm not surprised by it anymore. They printed just a few copies of this, not enough for demand. They printed no copies of fatal frame. And they probably printed a million copies of Mario Tennis Ultra Smash that no body wants. They are really disconnected from their audience and it shows via the WiiU sales figure.
I saw somethng that said there was only 420 copies for all of North America. Might have been that MSN page when you log out of outlook or a gaming news site I have liked on facebook, I didn't do much browsing today.
Looking it up now it might be Gamestop got 420 copies for all of North America but still that is a telling indication.
@manu0 I know it will be short lived, I really wish we could all play together, that would extend the online life a little.
It's common knowledge on Miiverse that whoever talks trash about Devil's Third doesn't own it or never tried it.
I've played it every day since Friday, and I f***ing LOVE it. The gameplay is the smoothest I've ever experienced in action games since Bayonetta 2, and all this whining about aesthetics and broken gameplay online? Unfounded, childish and just plain bulls**t.
Frame rate does drop often in campaign but the only situation when it does is when the area is overloaded with explosions and mobs. That's it. The first time you notice this early in the game is during Mission 2 and that's during an even that was better served as part of a cut scene than anything.
What Devil's Third exhibitied, in regards to its gameplay, is an (un)holy matrimony (Unholy because, you know, DEVIL'S Third) between Itagaki's trademark action formula and third-person & first-person shooter formulas - and no, I'm not fanboying.
I'm still working through this week before I'm off from work for winter, but in the 8 hours I've played online the gameplay remains virtually flawless. One does not simply get a 24-8 KDR on a broken combat system, after all, and those kills were a mix between gun and sledgehammer (mostly) kills.
I'd go more in-depth, but I have to get more rounds in tonight.
@Ryu_Niiyama Miiverse is having fun with it, so...
By all means, I guess this will end up a cult hit that Itagaki will have turned his back on.
@JaxonH
Actually Nintendo was the ones who stated that they couldn't get retailers to stock Xenoblade on Wii, because retailers were convinced it wouldn't sell.
Gamestop was the ones who were willing to pay part of the cost for the U.S. release and localization.
This is how Xenoblade came to the U.S. as a Gamestop exclusive.
It's not unusual for a NA retailers to refuse to stock a game from a major company, if the game isn't projected to meet certain profit and sales projections.
It's hard to find Altus and Xseed games at most retailers too.
Shovelware on the other hand tends to be profitable with very few sales for retailer, this why shovelware gets stocked often.
With that said most gamers and customers don't live in a vacuum and have access to decent computer.
This gives the majority access to software such a F2P Devil's 3rd.
Practically every review of Devil's Third goes on about how bad the game is and how you shouldn't waste the money on it.
The same reviews blast Nintendo for funding it and putting their name on it.
NeoGaf has openly been spouting off about how awful the game is, while other gaming forums and sites have been up in arms over Devil's Third.
The verdict is in, the game is bad at holding at 44 metacritic.
This game is literally the 7th lowest scoring Wii U game on Metacritic out of 183 reviewed Wii U games.
http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/wii-u/filtered?sort=desc&page=1
It's also in the running for the worst game of the generation based on it's metacritic score (not all reviews are in yet).
You maybe the first person I've seen so far, who actually finds the single player mode tolerable.
@Xenocity
"Actually Nintendo was the ones who stated that they couldn't get retailers to stock Xenoblade on Wii, because retailers were convinced it wouldn't sell."
Can you link that statement please? I don't remember any such statement. I recall NINTENDO THEMSELVES thinking it wouldn't sell, thus their reluctance to localize, but retailers were never part of the equation.
"Practically every review of Devil's Third goes on about how bad the game is and how you shouldn't waste the money on it"
And that's precisely where you went wrong. These reviews were biased because of offensive statements made by the creator. The game never "great", so it made it all the easier to slam with the lowest score possible. Technically, you can pick apart this game piece by piece and spout a low number. But the whole is still greater than the sum of its parts, and this game is nowhere NEAR as bad as reviews will lead you to believe. The MetaCritic score lost credibility when reviewers started docking it for everything they could out of spite.
"You maybe the first person I've seen so far, who actually finds the single player mode tolerable."
Funny, if you scroll above just a few posts you'll see others who are enjoying the game a fair bit. In fact, this whole comment section is littered with people saying the game isn't that bad.
So what's the difference between those saying it's not that bad and those making it out to be "the worst game in recent memory"? Well, the fact that those saying it isn't that bad ACTUALLY PLAYED THE GAME, rather than judge it from a sofa based on the biased criticisms of modern journalism.
"
With that said most gamers and customers don't live in a vacuum and have access to decent computer."
That's just not true. Most have access to a decent PC, yes, but not one that they game on. Don't believe me? Google search the percentage of console gamers who actually game PC. Better yet, isolate that demographic to just Nintendo gamers. You'll find that VERY FEW do.
Wait, the game actually came out?
Nintendo fanboys sure are dumb but it's their money. It's like the whole amiibo shortage all over again and in the end what happened? Nintendo restocked it.
They want to spend $150+ on a video game then let them do so. It's their loss.
@ikki5 It did.
@kensredemption You are correct, nicely said.
I knew this was going to happen when word broke that Gamestop had only a couple hundred copies in its entire inventory system.
This is absurd. I doubt that markup is because of an actual lack of options to get the game, but rather stupid "collectors" that think a physical copy of this game will be worth anything in the future. I don't know of any terrible games that sell for big money years later. It's the ones that were rare and also well received in there time, like Earthbound, that go for actual money.
@Captain_Gonru The fact that we are even having this conversation, and that Nintendo basically did this with such a small print run. Man what is up w/ that company? Too many exclusives and lack of advertising and downloads. Such a piecemeal way to run a company. Much too small of a budget for all of it.
Glad you got a copy though. They should have given you a free one to make up for your AC:aF pain and suffering. Can't be too many people interested in both DT and a full blown AC game.
WTF Nintendo! The game could have sold SO much more at launch! Whats weird is i only saw amazon, gamestop and bestbuy.com carry a few copies. Anyhow as soon as it is available i will grad it but not for 150.00 on amazon. Nintendo will be lucky if this sales 100 lifetime now.
I thought about getting this after a price drop but if this is going to be the trend I may not be able to...
LOL. Just LOL.
Just purchased on amazon prime for £16....not bad.
Artist's Shit (Italian: Merda d'artista) is a 1961 artwork by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. The work consists of 90 tin cans, each filled with 30 grams (1.1 oz) of faeces, and measuring 4.8 by 6.5 centimetres (1.9 in × 2.6 in), with a label in Italian, English, French, and German. On October 16, 2015, tin 54 was sold at Christies for the astonishing sum of £182,500.
@SquidxKid
Same. Hip hip hooray for reflexively preordering every third party Wii U exclusive. =P
@Captain_Gonru It's way too early in the morning for talk of Venn diagrams. OK, not really, I'm just jealous I didn't think of it first.
500 sounds about right actually. Nintendo keeps prices high but then doesn't produce the games. Yes, I'm still hung up on Lego City Undercover. And my kid wants 2 year old Zelda:ALBW on 3DS and it's still $40 but Amazon doesn't have it in stock. $35 used on eBay. Well at least amiibo stock seems to be getting better. And they are on sale like the other toys every few weeks. I'm still looking forward to 2016 for Nintedo, I feel like the new President will get things moving along w/ DeNA, game releases, My Nintnedo and NX. Maybe even Select lines for 3DS and Wii U in the US. Could turn out to be a really good year for them - and us - w/ some basic management decisions.
Goes to show how dumb people can be since you can buy it on the eshop for $60
@kensredemption so recognize able. I was there the first weeks of the EU launch. Wish I could relive that time again. I envy you. Happy hunting and don't forget to pick up a RPG 32. Those fortresses will improve, The RPG 32 will be handy as a door knocker and you will earn crazy points destroying strongpoints.
Clever reference to "The Usual Suspects".
10+ hrs into the sp campaign. Plays fine with the pro controller. Unreal engine grafx looks fine too on a 50 in hdtv. Don't get all the hate this has gotten. If you enjoy a movie series like say The Expendables, you'd probably like this. I'm enjoying it.
It's funny how some think rarity equates to value.....
I'm going to sell the one of a kind pile of poop my dog produced yesterday.....$399 sounds good.
I always find circumstances like this very funny. Is it rare? yes.
It is rare because it sucks? Also yes.
Sucky product = more value?
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