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Have you tried to purchase "Tetris DS" recently? Totilo tried to. So did I.
We couldn't find a copy anywhere. It's going on eBay for as high as $60. The situation is even worse at Amazon. It's not in stock at EB Games, Best Buy or any other retailer.
Nintendo claims the title is still in production, but right now, there's no way to buy it. That got us wondering.
How does a company decide when to put a game out to pasture, after months or years of success?
Eventually, interest for just about any game tapers off and retailers stop asking for more copies. If the original game sold enough, maybe it experiences a small revival on a "Greatest Hits" line or an unexpected bump from a sequel's hype.
Multiplayer has spoken to several different publishers and analysts to bring you the answer to a seemingly simple question. As you might expect, it's a little complicated.
But we came out of it with some great stories, which I'll be rolling out in a series of pieces this week and into next. Some questions you'll have answered soon:
* Why the first "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" was so hard to find
* How early on in development companies assigns a sales number to a game
* Who determines those crazy bundle packs you find at Sam's Club and Costco
* How Capcom didn't see "Dead Rising"'s potential until just before launch
* Why the life cycle of a game is always determined in its first week
* Why digital distribution isn't necessarily the end-all be-all solution to this
Readers, have you ever searched for a game and completely struck out trying to find it?
Check back for my continued coverage about discontinued games throughout the week.
