Wii U Flop ‘Devil’s Third’ Is New Rare, Selling For $250 On Ebay
When Wii U came out with Devil’s Third in August of this year (and in December for U.S.), it became one of the worst-rated titles for 2015. There is no other words for Devil’s Third other than it is a flop, rating a highest 3.5/10 from IGN. It was such a failure that Attack of the Fanboy writes that even retailers didn’t want to touch Devil’s Third.
But reports are coming around that this Wii U failure is reselling on eBay for double to even four times its market suggested retail price. Devil’s Third, if bought directly and digitally from online retailer Best Buy, only deals a small damage of $59.99. But as of this writing, unopened North American physical copies of Wii U’s Devil’s Third is selling on eBay from $110 to as high as $250. What is the reason for Devil’s Third’s huge blow up in price?
When Devil’s Third announced its initial release, terrible reviews started coming from overseas, especially from Japan, where it first launched. Because of this, retailers in America were so scared to stock their shelves with the copy and there was no marketing for the product. Almost no one knew Devil’s Third had come out, or if Devil’s Third even existed for Wii U already. This is the reason why supply of Devil’s Third in online and local retailers has been so scarce. Several online gaming sites like Destructoid went out of their way to scour the state for physical copies of Devil’s Third for Wii U, and no local Best Buy had a non pre-order copy of the game. Online retailers are also sold out on Devil’s Third, while other stores like Target don’t even have the title listed. Nintendo Enthusiast reported that only 420 copies of Devil’s Third were sent to GameStop nationwide.
This is the reason, apparently, why the price for Wii U’s Devil’s Third has blown up. Those who are interested in purchasing the game is now left with no choice but to resort to resellers over at eBay who knows how to play supply and demand. When it came to America, it was basically dead on arrival. But now that people are looking for a physical copy of the game, it might as well become a Wii U rare.
Devil’s Third creator Tomonobu Itagaki has responded to critics of Devil’s Third, indifferent to the hate.
“There’re many people who worry about the criticism against Devil’s Third excessively. So, I will tell my thought to you. You have to know the truth. ‘Heralds or forerunners are always criticized from an old viewpoint.’ “
To give an example, he cited Dead or Alive, which was released in 1996.
“Many people underestimated DEAD OR ALIVE in 1996. But I, my team, and my fans didn’t care about such noise. For the last time, as you know, we had gotten a great victory. Remember how many new features DOA produced. Remember how many games borrowed originality of DOA. The same can be said of 3D Ninja Gaiden. Besides, the same may be said of Devil’s Third. So, don’t worry at all. I will say again. You’re a forerunner. Forerunners are always criticized from an old point of view. So you must not to waste your time.”
Will the Dead or Alive case be similar for Devil’s Third, then? With the starting noise around Devil’s Third, it may not be impossible altogether.
Devil’s Third has been in development for so many years already before it released finally in August this year. In fact, it’s so ancient that it was still being developed before, under the now-defunct THQ, and it was supposed to be an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC game. This got us thinking that Devil’s Third situation right now can mean two things: one, that it could be just as Itagaki suggested, a forerunner that has yet to be appreciated; or two, that it is already a title too late for its supposed generation.
Devil’s Third is an action-adventure genre of a hack and slash shooter video game. Devil’s Third is created by Tomonobu Itagaki’s Valhalla Game Studios and developed for Nintendo Wii U.
[Image via Valhalla Game Studios]
