Pre-orders for the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Special Edition sold out instantly in the US today and are now scaling for more than triple the price on Ebay.
The Special Edition, which comes with a steel bookshelf and an art book, has a suggested retail price of $89.99 and was exclusive to Nintendo’s online store.
However, problems with the website left many potential pre-order customers empty-handed.
At the time of writing, the Special Edition is being sold for between $250 and $350 in numerous listings on eBay.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 – Direct Teaser Trailer
Much of the customer frustration seems to stem from Nintendo’s decision to only sell the item through the official store.
The likely result of this was widespread outages on the site when pre-orders began.
At the time of writing, the game’s product page is suffering from issues, with users seeing a queue page that says, “We’re currently having a lot of visitors. Hold on, we’ll be with you soon.” Despite the queue, the product is reportedly out of stock.
Many took to Twitter to express their frustration at the launch.
This is the second time the item is available for pre-order on the Nintendo website. The first round of pre-orders also caused problems as Nintendo allowed two copies of the special edition to be purchased at the same time, leading to similar scalping issues.
It’s unclear if Nintendo is planning a similar launch of the special edition in different territories, or if there will be a third stock wave.
The frustration is compounded by the fact that the Japanese Nintendo Store has left pre-orders open for the game and plans to produce as many as needed, albeit with the caveat of longer wait times for the special edition items.
In Europe, the Special Edition has been delayed and will not be released alongside the game itself.
Nintendo announced in April that the Switch RPG sequel, originally scheduled for September, has been pushed back to July 29.
However, the Collector’s Edition, which comes with other physical items, is not brought forward to July in parallel, effectively “delaying” it.
Last week, Nintendo announced plans to release a Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass.
It costs $29.99 / £26.99 and comes with four waves of DLC, which Nintendo says won’t be available individually. The first wave, coming with the game on July 29th, will include a selection of helpful items and outfit dyes.